There will be no shortage of plaudits for Roger Wright as he prepares to step down from his role as controller of Radio 3 and director of the BBC Proms, but his 15 years in charge of the station were not without controversy.
Announcing Wright's departure on Monday, the BBC said the outgoing controller had maintained a "unique and distinctive offer" on Radio 3, the BBC's home of classical music which broadcasts a mixture of arts, speech, drama, jazz and world music, and built "record audiences" at the Proms.
However, successive relaunches of the station under Wright prompted accusations from the BBC's commercial radio rivals that Radio 3 had become too populist and has muscled in on territory occupied by Classic FM – charges rejected by its controller.
Memorable highs included Wright's Christmas 2005 season, when the station played the complete works of Bach over a 10-day period.
A Beethoven giveaway in the same year, when the station made the entire collection of the composer's nine symphonies available for free download, was a runaway success with 1.4m downloads in just two weeks but prompted protests from the UK record industry.
The challenge for any controller of Radio 3 is that they are damned if the station is too popular, and damned if it is not.
According to the latest official Rajar listening figures, an average of just under 2 million people, a 1.1% share of the audience, tune into Radio 3 at least once a week.
The station slipped to a record low under Wright, of just 1.78 million in 2007 after he changed the schedule, and is now on the verge of being overtaken by the BBC's digital music station, 6 Music, which is just behind it with a weekly reach of 1.96 million.
A further shake-up of the schedule, in 2011, was described by one critic as "cultural vandalism".
Wright has dismissed accusations of dumbing down, made by lobby group, Friends of Radio 3, as "complete nonsense", saying there was "clear water" between his station and Classic FM.
Former Radio 3 presenter Michael White also claimed the station had become obsessed by ratings. Wright responded last month: "On the contrary – a recent director general expressed dismay when I told him that figures for our breakfast show had gone up."
Well regarded within the broadcasting and classical music industry, Wright's knowledge of and love for music has never been in doubt. Always engaging company, he has no time for BBC management speak (although he did cause a minor scandal with his expenses, claiming £3,561 for a hotel room in cenral London during the Proms).
Wright, who also co-ordinated classical music across all of the BBC's platforms, will take charge at Aldeburgh Music, probably the most significant classical music festival in Britain.
Based at Snape Maltings in Suffolk, it organises the annual Aldeburgh Festival which was founded by Benjamin Britten. He takes over from Jonathan Reekie, who has been appointed director of the Somerset House Trust.
On Wright's first day as Radio 3 controller, he picked up a postcard from a listener which said: "Dear Sir, You clearly don't know what you are doing. There is too much singing. Fuck off." He will be hoping for a warmer welcome on his first day in Aldeburgh.
