John Myers to leave Radio Academy

Radio Academy Chief Executive John Myers is to leave his role at the end of this month, to focus on a ‘personal project’ within the media industry.

He has been doing the job, which includes overseeing the Sony Radio Academy Awards and Radio Festival, since April 2011.

It’s understood Myers will be announcing further details of his upcoming project in the next few weeks.

John took over from Trevor Dann, who left the organisation in November 2010 to focus on independent production commissions including Radio 2’s Sounds of the 20th Century.

Alongside his work a the Radio Academy, Myers has also recently carried out a review of BBC Local Radio for the BBC Trust which was published earlier this year. Before joining the Academy he conducted a similar review of the BBC’s network music radio stations.

Under John’s tenure, the Radio Academy produced its first ‘sold out’ Radio Festival and brought management of the Sony Awards in-house for the first time in the event’s 30-year history. He has also regularly presented the Academy’s RadioTalk podcast and launched a scheme to recognise young talent in the industry through the ’30 under 30′ list.

John Myers said: “I promised The Radio Academy that I would serve a year and, in reality, I have undertaken slightly longer than that. It’s been a hugely successful year and I am pleased to have played a part in securing its future and ensuring the two key focus points are well-managed. Furthermore, I wanted to give something back to the industry I love and having done that, it’s time to move on to something else.”

Ashley Tabor, Chair of The Radio Academy, said: “John leaves The Radio Academy in terrific shape and he has achieved significant success in a very short space of time. The Academy took ownership of the Sony Radio Academy Awards, which was a huge task that John delivered brilliantly and, similarly, the annual Radio Festival was the best yet. He leaves the Academy in a very secure position and we’re grateful to him for his leadership and hard work promoting The Radio Academy across both the BBC and the independent sector.”

Myers was formerly the CEO of GMG Radio, which he ran between 2000 and 2009. He also currently presents weekend shows for Spanish station Spectrum FM and hospital station Radio Tyneside, which John is the Chairman of. He appears on air as ‘John Morgan’ – the name he used while presenting at stations including Century Radio and Real Radio in the 90s and 00s.