Simon Barnett quits More FM

  • 04/07/2017

More FM host Simon Barnett has announced he's leaving his popular breakfast show. 

He says he'll leave the show at the end of 2018.

"Simon is an outstanding broadcaster and we are sorry that we will be losing him - but after 26 years of getting up at 4am it's understandable he wants a change," Mediaworks group content director Leon Wratt says.

"Simon will be hugely missed when he leaves More FM at the end of next year."

Barnett shared the news with Mediaworks staff in an email, saying: "I have spoken personally with Gary, Bondy, Speedy and Sam and Mediaworks management, in all of these conversations, without exception, those most affected have been most gracious.

"I loathe letting people down or hurting people which has made this experience awfully difficult as the people concerned are not just my workmates but genuine friends who I will miss desperately.

"I have done breakfast radio for 26 years and I just do not have the inclination, desire and passion to keep going beyond the end of 2018. I find getting up at 4:30am every morning less and less palatable and even though I am quite possibly the world’s most boring person I would like to have a social life again.

"It is an amazing privilege to do what I do, Mediaworks have been wonderful to me and I think without wanting to sound arrogant, I have been pretty good to them, it’s just time for a change.

"I have absolutely tried through this whole experience to act with honesty, dignity and integrity. 

"Breakfast radio is brilliant fun, rewarding on many levels but for anyone who has done it over a prolonged period knows, it exacts quite a toll."

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