“I wasn’t really happy,” Paul O’Grady admits as he says goodbye to Radio 2
Paul O’Grady signed off from his BBC Radio 2 show for the final time yesterday afternoon following his decision to leave the station.
After 14 years at Radio 2, he said that it was time to “hang up his headphones and “run free”. Paul joined the station to fill in for Elaine Paige and in 2009 was given his own Sunday afternoon show.
Last February Paul’s show was changed to run 13 weeks each year in a change to schedules. At the time, he posted on Instagram: “There’s a new regime now, I do 13 weeks on and then 13 off which is nothing to do with me as it’s a management decision.”
Ahead of his show yesterday, O’Grady suggested that the change to his programme was one of the reasons why he decided to quit.
In a video on Instagram, he said: “The reason I’m leaving, because everybody’s asking me this, is because I wasn’t really happy with the 13 weeks on, 13 weeks off business. So, I did the honourable thing, honoured my contract, gave me notice in, and now I’m off.”
He also thanked his producer Malcolm Prince, saying that he’d worked with some smashing producers over the years and Malcolm is “way up there”. Malcolm is also leaving Radio 2 after 22 years with the station.
Paul ended by thanking his listeners, wishing good luck to everyone at Radio 2, adding “long may you continue”.
View this post on Instagram
Well that flew by!
Thanks to everyone who joined us
It’s been a real privilege to be part of your Sundays all these years
And thanks to Paul for the laughs (and tears). What a star!
Stay well, and take care x#TeamPOGradio #PaulOGrady #NotTheSameWithoutYOU pic.twitter.com/4r0Dls57tc
— Malcolm Prince (@malprin) August 14, 2022
A class act to the very end#PaulOGrady#TeamPOGradio pic.twitter.com/SG9rG8C3gx
— Malcolm Prince (@malprin) August 15, 2022