Listeners' favourite John Radford has been sacked as part of a cull of presenters at BBC Southern Counties radio.

The station confirmed last night it has dropped four well-know DJs ahead of a planned relaunch in April.

Mr Radford, whose morning show is among the most popular local breakfast programmes in the region, said: "I am deeply disappointed.

"We work extremely hard and are producing our best ever programming. I know the Brighton and Sussex shows had a tremendously enthusiastic following and yet this is our reward."

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

The station has lost about 100,000 listeners in the last three years after audience figures peaked at 350,000 in 2002. The latest listening figures show the station now has 241,000 listeners - a 4.9 per cent audience share.

Mr Radford, who lives in Worthing and has worked at the station for eight years, said news of his departure and those of fellow presenters Bill Buckley, Dominic Busby and Ed Douglas had caused morale to sink at the station.

He said: "Whatever the situation, my team and I make the best of it but there is a feeling of general malaise. We don't talk about it, we just accept it. We have an almost gallows humour about it all."

Neil Pringle, the station's managing editor, said: "The figures are part of the equation but not all of it. We know this will upset listeners because they build up a strong relationship with presenters, that's the nature of radio. But we had to look at the future of the station and make a difficult decision.

"We think we have a better show line-up for April."

Listeners have been complaining about the changes on the station's message board.

One said: "To cast out some of your best assets for the sake of something new and exciting' is madness."

Another said: "All are excellent presenters who have a good rapport with their audiences. The attempt to gain new audiences will probably result in the loss of the old ones."

Mr Pringle said the radio station was relocating its headquarters back to Brighton after a stint in Guildford and was planning a relaunch to coincide with the move on April 3.

Mr Pringle declined to reveal the new line-up to replace Mr Radford but said it would be announced at the beginning of March.

He told The Argus: "John was a lovely man and a very professional broadcaster. I am sure John is disappointed but the decision was not personal."

Southern Counties FM's headquarters, including the newsroom, will relocate to Imperial House in Queens Road, Brighton, where the station already has a small studio.

Up to 12 members of staff, half of whom are freelance, will be affected by the relocation.