Rationale ?

Two tasks rank high on the BBC risk register of reputational damage - closing an orchestra, and moving on a popular DJ. 

It took almost five years to shift Jimmy Young. Why has Head of Station Helen Thomas shifted Steve Wright, surely a key component of Radio 2's massive dominance of the market (16% share, 15 million weekly listeners ?)

Steve Wright in the Afternoon has been a pop music/having a larf brand, with breaks, across Radio 1 and Radio 2 since 1981. The format - audio characters, titbits, trivia, pacey guest interviews - has worked over four decades. It's possible that it has become just too expensive - on top of Steve's £465k per annum, there's the 'characters' to pay, the guests to organise, and some onerous daily editing sessions by experienced studio managers to sharpen up each element. 

Scott Mills, incoming from Radio 1 on a well-trodden path, will have less production effort (he'll also lose Chris Stark), and have an hour less to fill; expect his salary, at £375k to stay unchanged. He's been in a holding position for a while, boosting his salary with excursions on 5Live.  Not an enormous saving, but perhaps symbolic.