Steve Lamacq to scale back BBC Radio 6 Music show

BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Steve Lamacq is to scale back his afternoon shows from five days a week to one, saying he's "a bit knackered" after 18 years.

Lamacq has hosted the station's daily weekday teatime show since 2005.

He will take a break in October before returning with a weekly show on Mondays in January. Huw Stephens will take over his slot from Tuesdays to Fridays.

Lamacq said "the obsessive way I do this job hasn't really left enough time" for his wife and young daughter.

"On top of that, I'm going to be 59 next month and there are some other things which I'd quite like to do while I can," he told listeners on Friday.

One of those things will be to "give something back and try and find a more practical way of supporting the live music circuit, which I owe so much to", he said.

"It will be a wrench to leave this slot full time. But after 36 years in radio and journalism chasing around after new bands, I'm a bit knackered and the family at this point comes first because they've been there for me - and now I want to be there for them."

Samantha Moy, head of 6 Music, described Lamacq as a "legend".

"Committed, passionate, with a knack for finding the diamond in the rough, he is one of our finest," she said, adding: "While we were tucked up in bed, he was at a gig, watching someone unheard or unsigned, that he'll play on the radio, who might then become your new obsession.

"Over 30 years is a long time to be doing that every day of the week, 20 years of them at 6 Music."

Stephens will broadcast his shows from Cardiff as part of the BBC's Across the UK plans.