Former Emap Performance boss Tim Schoonmaker, who built the company's radio business, has turned his back on the sector to take over the reins at cinema group Odeon.
Mr Schoonmaker left his post as the chief executive of the division - which houses its radio stations, TV channels and music magazines - in a shock move at the beginning of the year.
He had been expected to stay in the radio industry as it gears up for a period of consolidation in the wake of last year's Communications Act, which loosened restrictions on ownership.
According to City sources, Mr Schoonmaker, who spent 20 years building Emap's radio brands such as Kiss and Magic from scratch, had been talking to a number of venture capital firms about launching a bid for one of the big radio players.
But today it was announced he was to join Odeon Cinemas as its new chief executive.
Like the radio industry, cinema has enjoyed something of a renaissance over the past decade as it has consolidated and the big multiplex owners have become more sophisticated in their marketing and advertising techniques.
"I think this opportunity is the right one for me, right now. The business of cinema has got a few years of real change coming up and Odeon has a national brand with regional identity that my days in local newspapers and radio will serve me well for," Mr Schoonmaker said.
A key advocate of digital radio during his time at Emap, Mr Schoonmaker said that he would be driving the change to digital distribution of films over the next few years at Odeon.
"There's a digital play for cinema that is going revolutionise the scheduling of films and could transform the economics of cinema advertising," he added.
A quietly spoken but effective manager, he was credited with building Emap's radio interests into one of the biggest radio empires in the country, rivalling Capital Group and GWR.
He joined Emap in 1983 and founded its radio division in 1991, before setting up the Performance business five years ago, which brought together the company's music-related brands.
After slashing costs at Melody Radio - which was renamed Magic after Emap bought it - he and then Emap head of radio Mark Story set up a series of spin-offs related either to their radio brands or music magazine titles.
In October last year Mr Schoonmaker was instrumental in driving the successful bid for a major new radio licence in the West Midlands with the heavy metal station Kerrang!.
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