Sara Cox, the voice of ladette culture, has been dropped from Radio 1's breakfast show amid falling ratings and competition from other stations.
The station's controller, Andy Parfitt, has wielded the axe just months after the station's listening figures dipped below 10 million for the first time in its history.
From January, three months before her contract was due to expire, Cox will be replaced by Chris Moyles. He boasted last year that he could do her job better: "I could absolutely kick anybody's arse on breakfast, ever," he said.
But Moyles is a risk: he divides opinion with his direct style, currently heard on Radio 1's afternoon show, and a foray into live television on Channel Five, Live with Chris Moyles, was not a success.
Cox and Moyles have been criticised for pushing the envelope on air. Moyles was criticised by the BBC's governors in 2000 for making what they described as "ill-judged" sexually explicit comments at 10am on a Saturday, while Cox has been in trouble for an obscenity-loaded interview with the comic Ali G.
The profanities have not halted the decline in ratings: the station's weekly reach - the number of people who listen for at least 15 minutes - has fallen to 9.87 million, only just ahead of Radio 4 on 9.6 million. Cox's show accounted for much of the losses, dipping by 500,000 in three months.
While the BBC says it does not judge itself only on ratings, there has been much speculation over how long the corporation will tolerate the slide in Radio 1's figures.
Competition is also increasing. Capital Radio in London has just announced that Johnny Vaughan, another presenter with an anarchic style, is to take over from Chris Tarrant next year.
Mr Parfitt had little choice but to act, if only to save his own job. He said of Moyles yesterday: "He was my first and only choice as successor to Sara who has done a great job. In a market that is getting more competitive by the month I think Chris is going to be just what our audience is looking for."
