“The pips have sounded, and it’s time to get my coat.”
Broadcaster Amol Rajan is to leave BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after nearly five years, as he prepares to launch his own company.
Rajan will continue working with the BBC outside news output, including hosting University Challenge and the Radical podcast.
Announcing his decision, Rajan acknowledged the risk of stepping away from the flagship programme.
He said leaving Today “might be mad”, but added he was “extremely excited to jump into the great digital Narnia of the creator economy”.
It has not yet been confirmed who will replace him on Radio 4’s flagship current affairs show.
The BBC said an announcement would be made “in due course”.
The corporation’s editorial rules would likely have prevented Rajan from presenting a news programme while also running his own company.
Amol Rajan joined Today in March 2021 and effectively replaced John Humphrys, who had departed 18 months earlier. The programme operated with fewer presenters during that interim period.
Before Today, Rajan was BBC News media editor and guest-presented several major programmes, including The One Show and cover roles on BBC Radio 2.
Confirming his departure, Rajan said: “The pips have sounded, and it’s time to get my coat.”
He described the Today team as “the best of the best” and “consistently world class”.
He added that he “couldn’t be prouder” of Amol Rajan Interviews, which has aired in recent years on BBC Two.
Rajan continued: “Twenty years after I first flirted with the idea, I’m extremely excited to jump into the Great Digital Narnia of the Creator Economy and build my own company.
“I’ll still do Britain’s oldest TV quiz and most exciting podcast.
“But Del Boy was my hero growing up, and it’s time to unleash my inner entrepreneur.”
He stressed his ongoing relationship with the broadcaster, saying:
“I am very much not leaving the BBC, Britain’s noblest cultural institution, whose Reithian spirit is such a generous gift to a world in flux.
“It’s that world I’m heading for, and I’m excited.”
Today editor Owenna Griffiths described Rajan as an “exceptional talent with a rare combination of intellectual dexterity, impressive breadth of interest and a brilliant sense of humour”.
Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya said Amol Rajan had “brought a distinctive intellectual energy and curiosity to Today that we will be really sad to lose”.
In a separate Instagram post, Rajan paid tribute to his Today colleagues and said he informed them before the official announcement.
Rajan is the third presenter to leave Today in two years, following Mishal Husain and Martha Kearney. They were replaced by Anna Foster and Emma Barnett.
The programme’s remaining presenters are Justin Webb, who joined in 2009, and Nick Robinson, appointed in 2015.
Before joining the BBC, Amol Rajan was editor of the Independent newspaper between 2013 and 2016.
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