A radio boss has announced the new line-up at a station where four popular presenters were culled.

Managing editor Neil Pringle also revealed the new "harder edged" direction BBC Southern Counties will take after the radical shake-up.

Regular listeners have expressed dismay at the loss of the old presenters including favourite John Radford on the breakfast show.

Mr Pringle said: "It's not that they are bad presenters, it's just that we are looking to focus the station on Sussex, be more reactive and be a bit more hard-edged.

"Some of them couldn't have handled it. We felt we could do better for the audience with presenters who have different skills. I can't conceive that this is not going to work."

Southern Counties has lost about 100,000 listeners in the past three years after audience figures peaked at 350,000 in 2002.

Station sources said falling audience figures prompted a "panic" management decision to clear out old DJs to encourage new listeners.

The changes have come as the station's newsroom moves from Guildford to Brighton.

Mr Pringle, who has been with Southern Counties for 12 years, is stepping down from his management position to take over Mr Radford's breakfast slot. Nicci Holloday of the BBC's training and development unit in Bristol will take over as acting managing editor from March 6.

Gordon Astley will return to the station after an absence of ten years to host the 9am to 1pm show.

Saturday night presenter Tommy Boyd will fill Bill Buckley's shoes presenting the 1pm to 4pm slot and Richard Lindfield is moving from news at Southern FM to take over Dominic Busby's 4pm to 7pm drivetime show.

The weekend line-up includes a new oldies show featuring former pirate radio DJ Dave Cash.

Mr Pringle said the new presenters will give the station a local focus and a more robust agenda.

He said: "We will be the listener's champion. We will use our journalistic skills to call people to account.

"We also want listeners to come up with stories and we will give people a chance to come onto the show and give their contribution to certain stories."