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BBC will not replace James Purnell as head of BBC Radio
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 28 January 2021
The BBC will not hire a new Director Of Radio & Music to replace James Purnell, who previously headed up radio and music, as well as education output, at the Beeb before he left the organisation last year. The decision will remove a layer of management from the broadcaster as part of ongoing efforts to streamline its executive structure.
According to RadioToday, an email to staff from the BBC’s Chief Content Officer, Charlotte Moore, reads: “We all know that radio and music is a hugely important and distinctive part of the BBC’s content portfolio, and the more we can work together to collaborate on creative opportunities the better … As well as delivering more value to audiences, this simpler, more streamlined system will encourage even greater collaboration and faster decision-making”.
The BBC’s various radio controllers will now report directly into Moore. That includes Controller Of Pop Lorna Clarke, appointed as part of an earlier streamlining of senior management within the broadcaster’s radio division, and who in turn oversees stations like Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, 6music and the Asian Network.
A former minister in Gordon Brown’s Labour government, Purnell joined the BBC as Director Of Strategy & Digital in 2013, having previously worked at the corporation in the 1990s. He was then put in charge of BBC Radio in 2016.
He announced he was standing down last October, to take up a role at University Of The Arts London. His departure came after he lost his place on the BBC executive committee when it was reduced in size by new-ish overall BBC boss Tim Davie.
