BBC Radio 6 Music announced a raft of changes to its morning lineup on Thursday (Jan. 9).

Beginning in February, Nick Grimshaw will take on the weekday breakfast slot permanently. Previous host Lauren Laverne will move back to a later mid-morning slot when she returns to the air following her recovery after a cancer diagnosis. Esteemed DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, who has been broadcasting on the BBC since 1996, will take a sabbatical and vacate the slot that Laverne will now host.

In August 2024, Laverne announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer “unexpectedly during a screening test” and would take a step back from the show. She has not specified the type of cancer she has been diagnosed with, but said that the treatment she received last year had been “successful” and that she would gradually return to broadcasting in 2025. 

Laverne hosted the show from 2019 and also presents BBC’s Desert Island Discs, taking over the long-running franchise from Kirsty Young. In a statement, Laverne discussed the decision to leave the breakfast slot: “As listeners will know, I had a really tough 2024 and worried at times that I wouldn’t be able to return to the station I love so much.”

She added: “During my recovery I learned all over again about the power of music, the people you surround yourself with and the emotional support and joy radio can provide. I’m so grateful to be able to get back to doing what I love and sharing those things with our brilliant listeners every day.”

Grimshaw, who previously hosted Radio 1’s daily breakfast show between 2012 and 2018, took on the slot following Laverne’s diagnosis. He will host the show on weekdays from February and said in a statement that, “I’m honestly honored to be asked to work there and can’t wait to continue supplying the best new music from the world’s most interesting artists.” He also hosts BBC’s Sidetracked podcast alongside fellow Radio 1 alumni Annie Mac, which delves into the week’s biggest music happenings.

Hobbs, meanwhile, will leave her slot from mid-morning to lunchtime on weekdays and return to the station with a new show later in spring. “My agenda has been to change daytime radio at BBC 6 Music,” she said in a statement. “It was David Bowie who taught me that creative life is progression. Once the work is complete.. stand at the edge of everything you know and ask a different question.”

In December the station announced that their annual 6 Music Festival will take place in Manchester between March 26-29; a lineup is yet to be announced. The station currently hosts show by musicians like Iggy Pop and Elbow’s Guy Garvey on a weekly basis.