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Bob Harris Steps Down From BBC Radio 2 Over Ill Health

He is leaving to focus on treatment after scans showed his prostate cancer has spread to his upper spine, with Radio 2 naming successors for his programmes.

Overview

  • Harris announced on Thursday that he will step down from Sounds of the 70s and the Radio 2 Country Show to concentrate on getting well after his cancer progressed to the upper spine.
  • In April he was admitted to hospital with severe back pain, underwent a two-week course of radiotherapy and has since begun rehabilitation at home.
  • Radio 2 confirmed Shaun Keaveny as the permanent host of Sounds of the 70s and said Darius Rucker will continue as the interim presenter of the Country show.
  • Harris’s broadcasting career spans almost 56 years, he joined Radio 2 in 1996 and is widely credited with championing country, folk, Americana and 1970s music in the UK.
  • BBC Radio 2’s head of station paid tribute and the network has adjusted its weekend decade-lineup as it implements the presenter changes, a shift listeners will hear in coming weeks.