HE'S the undisputed king of radio with 60 years on the airwaves under his belt. And BBC legend Tony Blackburn, 81, has no plans to slow down just yet as he prepares to embark on another mammoth UK theatre tour in 2025. While the veteran broadcaster still feels at the peak of his powers - his weekly Sounds of the 60s Radio 2 programme is the station's most listened to show on BBC Sounds - Tony insists he'll call it a day the moment standards start to drop.
The DJ, who is currently under contract until 2026, has already spoken to wife of 32 years Debbie and Radio 2 boss Helen Thomas about his future . In an exclusive interview with The Sun, he says: "I said, 'if I'm not doing the show as well as you think I could, but I will know that, then I will give it up'. "One or two people I've known who go on there, and they're not as good as they used to be, and they don't do the show particularly well, but they're just hanging on in there because they like doing the show.
I'm not going to do that. "So as long as I can turn up in the studio, and I more or less know where I am, and I know how to operate the machinery, and still enjoy it, I will do it. But I'm not going to hang on, and be 99, and still going in there with a carer.
" Tony, who was the first DJ to broadcast on Radio 1 back in 1967, realised a long-held dream in 2010 when he got his own Radio 2 show succeeding Dale Winton on Pick of the Pops. He's full of praise for the station and its stars, and insists there aren't any egos.
