Long-standing Today programme presenter James Naughtie is leaving the BBC show in January.
Jamie Angus, the editor of the early Radio 4 show, said it would be "strange to contemplate" the programme without him.
He said: "Usually arriving at around 4.00am in a burst of newspapers, weapons-grade gossip - possibly involving the previous evening spent at the theatre or the opera - and always a slew of ideas of how to take that morning's programme forward, Jim was always a Today night-editor's dream.
"Out of the office and on the road, Jim was in his element. Insatiably curious and always charming, Jim has a knack of grabbing interviews in a corridor or lift you never thought you'd ever get.
"And all of it anchored by his ability as a writer for radio, second to none, always able to conjure up for the audience a sense of place - a US convention, a party conference, moving into Kosovo in a Land Rover, all of it rendered vividly for a generation of Today listeners."
Naughtie, a former newspaper journalist, will work as a special correspondent for Radio 4 and as BBC News books editor when he leaves the show.
Naughtie's duties as books editor will see him return to Today every Saturday morning with a regular book review slot.
He first joined the show in 1994 following the death of Brian Redhead and has interviewed US presidents and every prime minister from Margaret Thatcher onwards.
He hit the headlines five years ago when he made an embarrassing verbal slip over the name of then Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and accidentally replaced the first letter of his surname with a "C".
BBC director-general Tony Hall paid tribute to the broadcaster he said had been "the emotional heart" of the show.
He said: "Above all he's a writer and reporter at heart - he can bring to life a vivid scene on the radio better than anyone - and I'm delighted that on many of the biggest news stories of 2016 and beyond Jim will continue to be at the heart of our coverage."
Naughtie, who will cover the Holyrood elections in Scotland as well as presidential elections in France and the United States in his new role, said he was "thrilled" with the move.
He said: "It was exciting to discover that the BBC and I had the same idea about what I should do next. I'm thrilled to be moving from one dream job to another, and working with the programmes across Radio 4 - including Today - that I love and have known for so long. I can't think of a more invigorating challenge. And after 21 years, I can turn off that 3am alarm at last".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article