Mayo’s quit and Whiley’s back where she began

The result of BBC bosses decreeing Simon Mayo and Jo Whiley should be a double act? Critics and listeners hated it, Mayo’s quit and Whiley’s back where she began …it’s car crash on drivetime! writes ALISON BOSHOFF

Yesterday, following five months of in-fighting, Simon Mayo (pictured with Jo Whiley) announced his resignation from Radio 2

Ask anybody in broadcasting and they’ll tell you that a hugely popular show, with impressive audience figures, fronted by a much-loved big name who isn’t a diva sounds like the impossible dream.

And yet, for eight years, that’s exactly what BBC Radio 2 had with their Drivetime show hosted by Simon Mayo — as popular with the A-list celebrity guests as he was with his six million listeners.

But yesterday, following five months of in-fighting, Mayo announced his resignation from Radio 2.

Those in the know say it had only been a matter of time after the BBC, a corporation obsessed with political correctness, foisted a female co-presenter on him in a clumsy bid to redress gender inequality.

And it doesn’t help that James Purnell — the former Labour politician who is now Director of Radio — doesn’t seem to care about the listeners and is more interested in driving digital traffic.

Mayo was typically polite and gracious when he took to Twitter to tell his 255,000 followers that he wished to focus more on writing.

But the truth is that, committed Christian though he is, it would have taken the patience of a saint for him to continue working at Radio 2.

He had admitted he found it ‘difficult and upsetting’ when producers decided to scrap the afternoon show he anchored alone and parachute in Jo Whiley to present alongside him, scrapping her evening show in the process.

Certainly, a sense of wounded feelings was in evidence in Mayo’s precisely phrased Twitter statements which he used to announce his exit yesterday.

In the nicest possible way he made it clear that he was leaving because his dream job had unexpectedly turned into an nightmare which he simply could no longer see through.

‘So. A few things to say. Very sadly, I have decided to move on from Radio 2,’ he said. ‘Sad to leave the show, sad to leave Jo, sad to leave Wogan House (I thought I’d be dragged out aged 120). But circumstances change . . .

‘Juggling my writing and radio has become increasingly tricky (a nice problem to have). I’ve just signed a new two-book deal with the nice folk at Transworld and they’ll be expecting something half decent before too long . . .’

His statement continued: ‘I know, I know, I’m as surprised at this turn of events as you. But at my grand old age to be setting off on these brand new trails is enormous fun.

‘And all the more so for being so unexpected. There are, however, only so many hours in a day. I’ll continue with the (flagship) film show on 5Live with Mark Kermode and, beyond that, other radio adventures beckon!

Early days: Jo Whiley’s post on Instagram yesterday which was captioned: ‘This pic was taken when I first started out in radio & was working for Radio 4. How times have changed’

 ‘But for now it’s just the sadness of leaving. Radio 2 has been a wonderful place for me — my happiest radio I think. Our listeners are really quite extraordinary.’

He went on: ‘One other thing. Maybe it needs to be said, maybe not but so there is no room for argument I’ll be clear. I’ve loved working with the exceptional Jo Whiley and when the show was “reconfigured” she was my first and only choice.

‘Some of the abuse she has had here has been appalling. Support for a show is one thing, assaulting the dignity of a warm-hearted and loyal friend is another.

‘So by all means discuss what’s happening here, but let’s keep some civility. Thank you. Here endeth the lesson.’

Despite the tactful words, many feel that Mayo’s departure is indicative of a toxic atmosphere at Radio 2, one which can be traced back to the BBC’s publication last summer of a list of the salaries of the highest paid at the corporation.

Mayo’s salary, revealed to be in the £350,000-£400,000 bracket, was a matter for national debate — as was the fact that Radio 2 was overwhelmingly presented by white men of a certain age. Jane Garvey of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour said that the station was ‘extraordinarily male and entirely pale’.

BBC director-general Tony Hall agreed that the corporation needed to go ‘further and faster’ on diversity.

The top brass felt that Radio 2 in particular was ‘an embarrassment’. The last time a woman had presented a show between the hours of 7am and 7pm was Debbie Thrower back in 1998. It seems the knee-jerk response was to mess with two highly successful formats — the Drivetime show and Jo Whiley’s evening programme, all in the name, many felt, of tokenism and box ticking.

Head of Radio 2, Lewis Carnie, apparently tried to fight the rapid imposition of more female voices, and the downgrading of the pay of some of the male stars including Chris Evans and Simon Mayo who were both asked to take a pay cut.

He would have known that it would lead to a crisis for the station, with its biggest names heading for the commercial sector.


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Breakfast host Evans announced last month that he is off to Virgin Radio for £2 million a year, Mayo reportedly is heading for Smooth — and a hefty pay rise.

He and Jo Whiley are friends — as he was at pains to make clear yesterday — having known each other for more than two decades since they worked together on Radio 1.

Yet, despite their friendship, their on-air chemistry was awful. They were tense, brittle and simply toe-curling as a duo. One would crash in on the other’s story, and then both would stop so that the other could continue.

Mayo, so able, so inoffensive, and so good at chatting gently with callers, was oil and water with edgy Jo Whiley.

Whiley, famously pals with celebs such as Bono, is great at interviewing musicians, but the demands of making nice with the little people proved a stretch.

One radio reviewer said that when talking to callers she was: ‘squeezing out the words with all the ease and enjoyment with which one might squeeze out a kidney stone’.

She and Mayo couldn’t be more different. Mayo, who lives in a £2 million house in Islington, North London, but has managed to retain a common touch, was equally dismayed by the revelations about salaries. He said that he felt exposed and was worried that the list would come to be an ‘annual turkey shoot’ for the enemies of the BBC.

And so he has quit rather than be exposed for a second year, and rather than continue working with Jo Whiley.

Mayo was typically polite and gracious when he took to Twitter to tell his 255,000 followers that he wished to focus more on writing

It was also said that his pay had gone down, and hers had gone up, to make sure that when they co-hosted on Drivetime they were being paid the same amount.

The son of two teachers, Mayo came into radio because he wanted to be a radio engineer. He then ended up doing hospital radio while he was working as a car park attendant for Worthing council — hardly the bright lights of showbiz. His happiest memory is of seeing Bruce Springsteen play a small concert.

Married for more than 30 years, he has three children.

Jo Whiley is famous for her nasal delivery and too-cool-for-school demeanour. She lives in a converted barn with a mass of David Bowie memorabilia and her four children, and has been going to Glastonbury for decades.

His side project is writing novels. Hers is managing an indie band.

Gillian Reynolds, the doyenne of radio critics, remarked that the strain that co-presenting was putting on their 25-year friendship was obvious.

She wrote: ‘If voices can suggest antipathy, theirs are doing it well. Is she trying to dominate every exchange, or is he, craftily, just letting her waffle? Is he deliberately placed off-microphone to make her sound louder? Drivetime with them really is a bumpy ride.’

Some 9,000 listeners were moved to sign a petition directly after the new show started in May this year, asking for Mayo to be given his slot back.

The son of two teachers, Simon Mayo came into radio because he wanted to be a radio engineer

In June, Head of Radio 2 Lewis Carnie hinted at a revamp but said that listeners needed to give the presenters time to ‘bed in’ to their roles.

By August, this view had hardened — Mayo was to put up, and shut up. In an interview with Music Week magazine, Carnie said: ‘I think it’s going very well.

‘Obviously a lot of listeners were unhappy when it started but it just takes a while. When Chris Evans took over from Terry Wogan, it was the same; when Chris Evans replaced Johnnie Walker on Drivetime years ago, it was the same. People tend to be very loyal to us and like what we’ve got.’

So who is responsible for the sorry state Radio 2 currently finds itself in?

One knowledgable BBC source suggests that the blame lies with James Purnell. A former Labour politician who was Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, he is now the Beeb’s Director of Radio and Director of Strategy and Digital.

It is said he has made chasing podcast listeners and fighting the challenge from subscription services like Netflix his priority.

Only this summer he remarked that he ‘doesn’t care’ about the listening figures released by RAJAR every quarter.

 The source said: ‘The problem is that Radio 2, while the BBC’s most popular network, is under the control of Purnell, who knows nothing about radio and cares even less.’

The source added: ‘Bob Shennan (a popular executive who is the BBC’s Director of Music and was previously in charge at Radio 2) knows and cares about radio and has to go round breaking bad news to people. The stars, of whom Mayo is one, feel nobody actually cares about them or the listener.’ Regarding the issue of unequal pay and female representation, Lewis Carnie originally tried to deny that there was a pay gap at his station.

Mayo then ended up doing hospital radio while he was working as a car park attendant for Worthing council

‘There’s no gender pay issue here at all,’ he said. ‘With the exception of Chris Evans, who has an extraordinary market value because other people are after him, everyone else is kind of really in line.’

Clearly this wasn’t true — Jo Whiley who presented five nights a week from 8pm to 10pm was on £150,0000 to £200,000 a year — precisely half Mayo’s pay packet.

He started broadcasting on Radio 1 in 1986 and had presented on Radio 2 since 2001 on and off.

He is second only to Evans in profile at BBC Radio 2, and has managed to remain popular with his audience for more than 30 years.

With Mayo’s tantalising mention that ‘other radio adventures beckon!’ you would be foolish, then, to rule out a move to commercial radio, with Smooth apparently very interested in a deal with him. They made their offer around a month ago.

Jo Whiley, meanwhile, is being sent back to an evening slot on Radio 2 and it seems that Sara Cox will be offered Drivetime.

She missed out on replacing Chris Evans at breakfast, which has gone to Zoe Ball.

What a state of flux Radio 2 is in, with its two highest profile presenters gone within a few weeks and with Zoe Ball’s appointment making her the first female breakfast show presenter on the station.

Mayo’s statement ended: ‘And (one very final thing), as anyone who has worked here will attest, the producers and APs [assistant producers] are a class apart. Brilliant production teams make our jobs a joy. Thanks to each and every one. Onwards.’

What a great shame for Mayo who found Radio 2 the best place he had ever worked.

As he said in an interview two years ago: ‘When I moved to Radio 2, that was wonderful. Like a big Jacuzzi. Everyone at Radio 1 is jostling, everyone wants someone else’s show and it’s all a bit nasty and backstabbing.

‘The presenters in Radio 2, we know who we are and where we fit. Chris, Ken, Bob Harris, Mark Radcliffe — we know what we’re good at. No one wants anyone else’s show. I think this is where I’ve been happiest. I feel as if I belong here.’

How quickly that changed.

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