Mark Lamarr to leave BBC Radio 2

Mark Lamarr, one of the DJs who helped transform BBC Radio 2 into the UK's most popular network, is to leave the station after 12 years.

Lamarr joined Radio 2 in 1998 to present the Shake, Rattle and Roll programme, in which he plays often obscure songs from the history of rock'n'roll. His final show will air on December 14, reports The Guardian.

The presenter and comic, who previously fronted Channel 4's notorious late-night show The Word, was part of a group of presenters who helped Radio 2 shed its fusty image and attract new listeners to beat Radio 1 as the nation's favourite station.

Lamarr also presents a late-night Friday programme on Radio 2, and his final broadcast is due to air in the early hours of Christmas Day.

A spokeswoman for Radio 2 said that Lamarr's shows would be replaced with "equally distinctive content", bearing an even "greater commitment" to specialist music genres.

She said: "Mark Lamarr has decided to leave Radio 2 in December. We are sorry to see him go and wish him well for the future.

"We have a greater commitment than ever before to specialist music genres and feature an extraordinarily broad range of music going back over seven decades throughout the Radio 2 schedule. We plan to replace his shows with equally distinctive content in 2011."

Lamarr previously fronted other programmes on Radio 2, including the Reggae Show, Mark Lamarr's Alternative '60s and God's Jukebox.

He also hosted BBC Two's Never Mind The Buzzcocks, was a team captain on the channel's comedy panel show Shooting Stars and co-created critically-acclaimed sitcom 15 Storeys High, starring fellow comic Sean Lock.