I’m back on the radio tomorrow after my summer holidays. I’m raring to go, to be honest as I’ve really missed it. I always need two weeks off in the summer to recharge my batteries and believe me, I’m at 100% charge again!

From now on the show will be three hours long and finish at 7pm rather than 8pm. So Clive Bull will take over at 7. I’ve been doing four hours now for two and half years. A lot of people wonder how I can do that as it’s a hell of a long time to be doing live radio. In all honesty I’ve never viewed it like that and I have never got to 7 and inwardly sighed, wishing I could finish then. It made huge sense at the beginning because I could retain part of my former audience on the 7-10 show. But when it came to negotiating a new contract we discussed whether it was sensible to continue doing four hours. Had this been a year ago I wouldn’t have countenanced it, or even suggested it, but now that the election is over I think both LBC and I felt it was the right time to change. It means I can get home at a more reasonable hour and also that it’s possible to go to events in London in the evening. When you finish at 8, that’s more difficult. However, even forgetting my own work-life balance issues, from a scheduling and programming point of view it makes a lot of sense too.

I’m so happy that I’ve signed a new contract, which will keep me at LBC for some time to come. It’s the best job I have ever had, and I hope that comes across in my enthusiasm. It also means I’ll be covering the London Mayoral election, the EU Referendum and the US Presidential campaign, all of which I know will be hugely enjoyable and challenging.

LBC is in a very good place, and so is my show. We now have more listeners in London at Drivetime than 5 Live, more than three times the number that BBC London get, and every day we are gaining more listeners across the country. As a station we have more listeners than at any time in our 40 year history, and as more people switch on all over the country we are surely heading for 2 million in the not too distant future.

It’s a great time to be part of LBC and a tremendous honour to be asked to continue to present our Drivetime show.