Sarah Ward decides to step down from weekly show on Jazz FM

Following a seven-decade career in broadcasting, Sarah Ward has decided it’s time to step back from her weekly show on Jazz FM at the end of the year.

The Sarah Ward Collection has seen Sarah broadcast from the middle of her personal collection at home on the edge of Dartmoor for almost a decade, and before that she re-joined Jazz FM to host Dinner Jazz in 2008.  Sarah was also one of the Jazz FM originals, having joined the station not long after launch in 1990.

She was also a launch presenter on the original BBC Radio 5 presenting the Breakfast Show, and a part of the launch lineup of the UK’s first commercial station, Capital Radio in the 1973, remaining there into the 1980s.  She had also been a presenter of youth programmes for BBCTV in the 1960s.

Jazz FM and Magic Classical Content Director Nick Pitts says: “Sarah has always been a jewel in the crown of Jazz FM’s programmes.  Either as host of her collection or until recently this summer also as our musical tour guide on Jazz Travels, she has always given her every towards her programmes and those who listen, and we are all so incredibly thankful for this.

“As a family member of Jazz FM, the entire team have always had so much affection for Sarah meaning we will miss her so much along with her passion for and her knowledge of the music.

“We thank her from the bottom of our hearts for being such an important part of Jazz FM and everyone sends her and her life partner Ken much love as they get to enjoy more time together.”

Sarah Ward said: “I’ve so loved my time at Jazz FM. It’s been a family affair, making great friends and embracing brilliant colleagues. And the joy of discovering jazz more and more, from both jazz’s rich past and its thrilling present as well has been immense.

“It’s been such a privilege to gather music and share it with the people listening, and I’ve so loved putting my programmes together.

“I will miss our weekly musical conversations. And of course, it all goes way, way back. We’re talking about a career that stretches back to the sixties where I started my broadcasting career in Africa before doing it here in the UK, and that’s where my heart beats.”

Sarah’s final edition of The Sarah Ward Collection will air on Saturday 28 December, 6-9pm. This will be followed at 9pm by a specially produced one hour documentary called The Sarah Ward Celebration in which her broadcast colleagues and the musicians she has changed the lives of will pay tribute to Sarah alongside a rare interview with Sarah herself about her career.

Sarah’s Saturday night replacement will be announced in due course.