Chrysalis Radio chief quits ahead of acquisition

Phil Riley, the chief executive of Chrysalis Radio, will not join Global Radio when it completes its acquisition of Chrysalis. He leaves the business after 13 years without a job to go to.

Riley, who will also step down from the Chrysalis board, is understood to have been offered a role at Global, which is led by former ITV chief executive Charles Allen, but decided against making the move.

Global chief executive Ashley Tabor says: “He had sone a fantastic job building the teams at Heart, Galaxy and LBC as we as the value in the brands. We had hoped to have found an appropriate role for him at Global.

Global is in the process of building its team and has already appointed Richard Park, the former programme director at Magic 105.4, as executive director with a place on the board.

Riley joined Chrysalis as managing director in 1994 and he was made chief executive after five years. He says he will take a “short break before looking at a number of new opportunties”.