The 67-year-old broadcaster announced the news live on Steve Wright on Friday afternoon.
He said: “Let me just pause for a moment to make an announcement. I will try not to get emotional or self indulgent, it’s going to be a little difficult.
“At the end of September I take a break from day radio. In other words, step out of this program. ”
He added: “The big news is forward and upward. I stay with the BBC and radio to do some very exciting brand new digital projects and develop new podcasts, some of which will actually feature elements of this program Steve Wright In The Afternoon. In any case, everything will become clear in the next few months, because we will remain on this program until the autumn. ”
Wright will continue to present the weekday program until September 2022. He has hosted Steve Wright In The Afternoon on the Radio 2 slot since 1999 and also hosts Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs on the network.
Tributes poured in for Wright, who started Radio 1 in 1980, along with co-broadcaster Jeremy Vine, who called him “one of the greatest radio voices of all time”.
Mills, who will step into the afternoon slot currently held by Wright, has been a radio presenter since the age of 16 – when he hosted a program on his local Southampton radio station Power FM.
After joining the BBC in 1998, Mills hosted the BBC Radio 1 breakfast program until 2004, after which he moved to a weekend afternoon slot for six months.
Scott Mills
/ Jonathan Brady / PAHe is currently presenting the Scott Mills program on Radio 1 between 1pm and 4pm, along with co-presenter Chris Stark who will also be stepping down from his current role.
Speaking about the move, Mills said: “Time actually flies when you have fun, and that has certainly been the case over the past 24 years at my beloved Radio 1. The station I pretended to be in my bedroom from an early age. of six. The station I told my mother I wanted to work at, but never in a million years thought I would. ”