A BBC radio presenter has taken a swipe at her soon-to-be former employer after confirming she will be exiting the broadcaster after 25 years.
Kirsteen Thorne, famed for her Saturday breakfast show on BBC Radio Norfolk, has quit her job after telling her listeners that her “job has ceased to exist”.
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The presenter had been at the helm of the early morning broadcast for her local area for the past 13 years as well as working with the Beeb for 25.
She is the latest in a long line of stars to walk away from the company following in the footsteps of radio legend Ken Bruce.
In a scathing Tweet, she admitted her final day with the network would be 30th October but she had decided to use up her remaining annual leave as she did not want to return in any capacity until then amid a flurry of local radio changes.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Kirsteen said: “I officially leave the BBC on 30th October. My job has ceased to exist and I’m currently using up my leave.
“Today I received an email about my upcoming appraisal in which I can ‘celebrate my achievements’ and ‘be clear on my future priorities’.”
Taking aim, she added a final swipe by writing: “You have to laugh.”
It was confirmed in August of this year that she would be departing her regular show after the BBC confirmed they would be implementing a series of changes which would see her broadcasting area now encompass eight other counties on top of Norfolk.
Kirsteen was last on air with her beloved show back in August where she confirmed that she would be exiting the programme before making it clear that she would be leaving the BBC altogether.
Speaking at the time, she told her listeners: “Many of you will be aware of the changes that are taking place within BBC Local Radio with a number of our programmes here becoming regionalised to allow more money to be invested into improving the corporations digital services.
“It means this programme and the Sunday morning show will go from being programmes being dedicated to Norfolk to programmes that will be broadcast across eight counties.
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“Now I thought long and hard about what I wanted my future to be here at the BBC and I decided fronting a show covering an area of that size was something that didn’t really appeal to me.”
According to the BBC, local stations across the South and East of England launched changes to their schedules from Monday, September 4.
This switch has seen many local services merged together to target larger regions and have a lesser focus on local content and news features and more closely replicate smaller version of their nationwide sister networks.
The BBC’s radio service has seen a number of high-profile stars and local legends leave the corporation this year amid a turbulent time for the radio industry.
Ken Bruce, notable for his Radio 2 mid-morning show and covering Eurovision on the airwaves, was one of the first big name stars to leave earlier this year.
He admitted he was left “a little surprised and disappointed” after being told that he would be taken off the air within days of his decision to leave.
Ken had expected to fulfil the terms of his then-contract but after making it clear that he had no intention to renew it, he was seemingly given his marching orders by the bosses.
He announced he was leaving the BBC in January before confirming he would be moving to Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio in April to present a new mid-morning show from 10am to 1pm, taking his beloved Popmaster with him.
Kirsteen’s exit bares striking similarities to that of BBC Radio Essex’s Ray Clark who also left local radio last month.
The DJ decided to take matters into his own hands after bosses kept him in the dark about the future of his show.
He fumed: “I heard a year ago that changes would affect my BBC shows. Since, final dates have been moved and been changed with little notice.
“Still with no certainty about final dates, I am taking control.
“I will present my last show on 8th Oct.”
He will remain as a presenter on Radio Caroline, which was originally an “offshore pirate radio station”.
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