Tony Blackburn thinks TV stars are ruining radio.
Tony Blackburn
The 78-year-old presenter believes the industry is being hurt by TV stars who lack radio-specific skills and are instead being hired on the sole basis of their fame.
He reflected: "Very few people are good on television and radio, I always preferred radio.
"Noel Edmonds was good on both but he preferred television because he realised there was more money.
"Nowadays, it’s reversed a bit. Quite often now you’ve got television people, who don’t really know what they’re doing on the radio, it’s a shame."
In recent years, a host of well-known TV stars - including the likes of Rylan-Clark-Neal and Dermot O’Leary - have made the move into the radio industry.
And Tony thinks that a lot of radio bosses fail to understand the industry that they're working in.
The former BBC Radio 1 host - who won 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!' in 2002 - said: "If you’re on 'Strictly Come Dancing' or one of these shows, you immediately get on because you’re a ‘celebrity’.
"I don’t think people who run these radio stations realise that television isn’t as important as it used to be because there aren’t the big audiences any more.
"If you get three or four million you’re doing really well, whereas in the old days 'Noel’s House Party' had 18 million."
Tony added to the 'Moon Under Water' podcast: "TV doesn’t take radio people."
The veteran presenter previously claimed that commercial radio in the UK is "awful".
He explained: "The current commercial radio in Britain I think is awful. They play the same records over and over again. With my shows you’re never more than one record away from a hit, and that’s the secret of getting an audience."