The BBC has confirmed Alan Davey, the chief executive of the Arts Council, as the new controller of Radio 3.
Davey, a former director of arts and culture at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, succeeds Roger Wright, who left the BBC after 15 years in charge of Radio 3 earlier this year.
He is expected to earn less than the £227,000 of his predecessor Wright, although exact details of his salary will not be confirmed until after he has started the job, a reflection of the pressure on the BBC to reduce the salaries of its highest paid executives.
However, it will still be a substantial pay hike for Davey, who is thought to have earned between £110,000 and £120,000 at the Arts Council.
Unlike Wright, Davey will not be directly in charge of the Proms, with a director of the prestigious eight week summer season of concerts, who will report into the new Radio 3 controller, due to be appointed.
The Radio 3 and Proms roles were combined under Wright in 2007, after nearly a decade when the station’s former controller, Nicholas Kenyon, was director of the concert event.
Davey said: “Radio 3, the BBC Performing Groups and the Proms together form one of our most important cultural institutions and a beacon of excellence, there to help everyone discover the best in music, arts and ideas.
“It is an honour to be asked to lead this wonderful institution and to renew it for the digital age, helping new audiences to encounter the wonderful things serious music and culture can bring.
“I stumbled upon Radio 3 when I was a teenager, and it opened a door to an endlessly fascinating world of sound and thought that has nourished me ever since. I want everyone to have that chance and am proud to be able to make sure they will.”
The BBC’s director general, Tony Hall, said: “Radio 3 is a true icon of classical music and cultural broadcasting in the UK.
“Alan Davey has a formidable track record in the arts and a depth of understating only matched by his passion for classical music.
“His appointment marks a new chapter in the Radio 3 story – one that will extend and grow its rich history of excellence, innovation, and distinctiveness.”
In a message to Arts Council staff, Davey said he felt “excited (and a little dazed) and sad at the same time” and feeling “really conflicting emotions”.
“When I was approached about applying to be controller of Radio 3, I knew that it would be the only job I could conceive of leaving the Arts Council for. Well, I eventually said yes to applying, and now I can confirm that I have got the job,” he said.
“I am more passionate than ever about the power that arts and culture has to transform lives and why it is so important that each and every one of us has the opportunity to experience that for ourselves. We’ve done some brilliant things and there is more to do. And I know that all your skills and enthusiasm will make sure we do those things.
“In spreading serious music and ideas at Radio 3, I will carry with me the flame and the passion of how we do things – spotting opportunities, knowing a great deal about the art and loving it, and never being afraid to try something new.”
The BBC’s director of radio Helen Boaden added: “Alan completely understands why Radio 3 is so important in the lives of its listeners and in the wider cultural life of the nation. He will bring his terrific energy and enthusiasm to Radio 3, building on its huge strengths and invigorating it with fresh perspective.”
Chief executive of the Arts Council since 2007, he was previously at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and in an earlier stint at the then Department of National Heritage was responsible for designing the National Lottery.
Peter Bazalgette, chairman of the Arts Council, said: “Alan has been a brilliant chief executive of the Arts Council, not least because he has an abiding passion for and knowledge of music. The BBC and Radio 3 is fortunate to get him.”
The six-month recruitment process was lengthy even by the BBC’s standards and eyebrows may be raised in some quarters about Davey’s lack of broadcasting experience.
However, the BBC has form in hiring Radio 3 controllers from music and arts backgrounds. Kenyon, Wright’s predecessor at Radio 3, came to the job in 1992 after many years as a music critic, for titles including the Observer, Times and New Yorker.
Wright had a five year stint as an A&R executive at classical music company Deutsche Grammophon in the 1990s, but had also worked at the BBC in various roles, including senior producer of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and head of classical music, before taking charge of Radio 3.
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