MIKE Graham has been relieved of his posts as programme director and presenter at the Edinburgh-based all-speech radio station, talk107.
It’s understood the move came following a brief meeting on Saturday between Graham – who presented, shock-jock style, The Independent Republic of Mike Graham, on weekdays, between 9am and noon – and the station’s managing director, Matt Allitt.
Allitt – who has been with the station’s owners, UTV, for over ten years – has been MD of the station since the departure of Peter Gillespie, from the post, in November.
This latest dramatic upheaval among senior figures is bound to fuel speculation that UTV might wish to seek permission from the broadcasting regulators, Ofcom, to add music to the station’s output.
Graham was appointed programme director in November 2006, replacing Colin Paterson.
Launched just over two years ago, the station has parted company with many of its original presenters and production staff, and struggled to establish anything more than a reach of 35,000 – reach being defined as the number of people (aged 15 or over) who have tuned in for at least five minutes per week.
In an email to colleagues, Graham predicted The Independent Republic of Mike Graham will “rise somewhere else”.
Typically provocative, he thanked colleagues for “making [him] one of the foremost presenters in radio”, adding he “will miss nearly every one of [them]”.
It is understood that current talk107 presenter, Scottie McClue, will be taking on this morning’s 9am-noon vacant slot.
Graham told allmediascotland.com: “I am now negotiating with the company and hope we can part amicably. I’ve had a great time working there.”
