Louise Priest is leaving the BBC Look East after nearly 40 years

BBC Look East breakfast presenter Louise Priest is leaving the corporation after nearly 40 years on the air.

Louise first joined BBC Radio Norfolk in the early ’80s as a young news reporter, before becoming a news producer and occasional presenter.

She moved to present BBC Look East in 1987 for three years before having her two children.

Louise moved to Essex for a couple of years with her husband’s job, but kept her hand in both with BBC Look East and BBC Essex.

In 1993 the family moved back to Norfolk where she began to present BBC Radio Norfolk’s breakfast programme for six years.

Louise then spent 18 months presenting the mid-morning show, before returning to BBC Look East as a programme planner and presenter.

She told the BBC: “I feel I have made the right decision to go, but I’m also slightly nervous about life after the BBC.

“So many things have changed over the years. The way newsrooms are staffed, the advances in technology and of course the digital/online world.

“I have been so lucky to have a variety of jobs at the BBC it never occurred to me to leave but, after almost 40 years, I felt the time was right.

“The impact of the 4am starts on my home life was the biggest factor.”