Zane Lowe talks leaving BBC: 'It hasn't sunk in'

Zane Lowe.

Kiwi radio personality Zane Lowe says the BBC is the best place he's ever worked and he's still in two minds about leaving.

Lowe, 41, who has hosted the BBC music station Radio 1 for 12 years, announced he was leaving the station to take up a position at Apple.

He'll present his last evening show next month, and is expected to be involved in Apple's rumoured streaming service.

In an interview with The Guardian, Lowe said "it wasn't easy" leaving the BBC and "it hadn't sunk in".

"It's about the best place I've ever worked in my life. And it's got the most inspiring people, who do things for all the right reasons - because they love it, they feel proud to do it there, they feel honoured at the privilege of being able to do it for the people, and they take that responsibility very seriously," he said.

Lowe, who has been criticised for his enthusiastic broadcasting style, said there were days when he wished he could be critical about a song or album.

"I really wish I could show that side of me," he said. "Days I think it would be really good to be a dick about a record! But I sort of figured out early on that to go into a situation where you have freedom of playlist and then play a song by someone that you don't like is kind of more arrogant than to go in and say, 'This is great! This is great! This is great ...' because my job here is to give you the great."

The New Zealand-born DJ has a reputation for bringing new musical talent to the airwaves, including Arctic Monkeys, Ed Sheeran and Gnarls Barkley.

He also won an award for music broadcaster of the year at the Radio Academy Awards in 2014.

Other career highlights include exclusive interviews with some of the industry's biggest artists, including Kanye West, Jay Z, Eminem and Coldplay's Chris Martin.

Lowe has also worked as a music producer, earning a Grammy nomination for his writing and production work on Sam Smith's successful album In the Lonely Hour.

The hiring of Lowe is a coup for Apple as the technology giant is believed to be gearing up to launch a music streaming service similar to Spotify.

The service is expected to go live this northern summer. It is also set to incorporate Beats Music, the streaming service set up by rap artist Dr Dre, which Apple bought for US$3 billion last year.

Apple already has iTunes to provide music for consumers, while Beats Music has a subscription service.

- nzherald.co.nz with agencies