Ben Cooper’s departure as controller of BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network will herald major change at the station, corporation insiders and music executives have predicted.

Cooper called time on his successful eight-year tenure as controller last week (October 22) in an email sent to BBC staff.

“It was a childhood dream of mine to work at Radio 1 and I’m grateful to have done that not only as a producer but then also as controller,” he wrote. “What ...