‘You can’t be on Radio 1 forever’: Scott Mills on emotional decision to leave station after 24 years
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The sun is setting on Scott Mills’s 24-year tenure at BBC Radio 1.
The Scott Mills Show has been broadcasting live from Newquay for a week of special programming ahead of Mills and his cohost Chris Starks’s final Radio 1 show on 25 August.
Mills is leaving to replace longstanding DJ Steve Wright on Radio 2 – who is also moving on after 24 years.
“I’ve been on Radio 1 for 24 years, that’s insane. Would I love this to go on forever and be forever young? Yes, ‘cause I still feel that but it can’t. But I actually think that I’m not too sad because I don’t think it’s the end, you know.”
Elsewhere in the conversation about the friendship they’ve formed over the years, Mills and Stark said Radio 1 has provided an “escape” from the stresses of real life.
Stark said: “Coming into the radio every day has been at times for me, and I think for you as well...”
“Like an escape,” Mills interjected.
“Because sometimes we’ve had real personal situations,” Stark replied.
Mills said: “Yeah, because if you’ve been on the radio for that long, like for me, if I’m lucky that’s a quarter of my life right on Radio 1?
“Stuff is going to happen in that time, people are going to die, people are going to be born, you’re going to break up with people, you’re going to get with new people... That all happens, but the radio with you has been my sanctuary. Because you go in there and you can actually forget about it for three hours.”
Mills will replace Wright in the daily Steve Wright in the Afternoon slot on Radio 2.
Wright’s departure was met with disdain by fans who called it “a terrible decision”.
