Sonia Deol is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent.

Background

Deol's

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

career began before she left school, when at the age of 14 she presented a oneoff programme to raise money for

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

on the

BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations. History The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...

station, BBC WM. She graduated from the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was ident ...

in 1994 with a BA (Honours) in

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

Career

Early career

In 1994, after university Deol joined

Sunrise Radio Sunrise Radio is a 24-hour commercial radio station, focusing on entertainment, music and news from the Indian subcontinent. It broadcasts to the Greater London area on 963/972 AM, on DAB (SDL National), and via the internet. History Sunrise R ...

. In 2000, she was a presenter and newsreader for BBC London. Afterwards she went on Asian network Radio XL presenting their mid-morning show, the first ever phonein show dedicated to the Asian Community in the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

BBC Asian Network: Sonia Deol Show (October 2002April 2006)

In 2002, Deol returned to the BBC Asian Network, when it was relaunched from a regional Midlands based radio station, to a national,

Digital Audio Broadcasting Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting syst ...

(DAB) station, presenting the ''Sonia Deol Show''. The show was broadcast live on weekdays from 9.00am to 12.00 noon featuring a phone-in and discussion on news, current affairs and matters generally interspersed with music notably Bhangra. On 26 September 2003 she interviewed Indian film director

Kaizad Gustad Kaizad Gustad (born 1968) is an Indian film director and author based in Mumbai, India. He is best known for his 1998 comedy '' Bombay Boys.'' In his career as an author, he has written three books, ''Of No Fixed Address'' published in 1998 by H ...

about his 2003

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film,

Boom Boom may refer to: Objects * Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill * Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation * Boom (sailing), a sailboat part * Boom (windsurfi ...

. On 6 October 2003, she was the co-host, with then

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

BBC Asian Network: Sonia Deol on the BBC Asian Network Show (April 2006February 2008)

with

Anita Rani Anita Rani Nazran (born 25 October 1977), better known as Anita Rani, is an English radio and television presenter. Early life Rani was born and brought up in Bradford, West Yorkshire to a Hindu father and a Sikh mother. In an episode of ' ...

taking over the mid-morning slot, having previously filled in on the programme. Deol's new show focused on news, music and entertainment and did not have a regular phone-in. On the BBC Asian Network her mission has been to broaden the appeal of the network and encourage listeners from backgrounds other than South Asian while maintaining a service to the core audience. On her programme she has talked to all the main British political party leaders and many other leading figures from politics, media, films, music and other areas from around the world. On 18 November, she was nominated in the ''Best UK Asian Radio Show'' category in the annual ''UK Asian Music Awards'' which was held at the

Hammersmith Palais The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first ''palais de danse'' to b ...

in London on 6 December. She won the Asian Achievers Media Award for 2006. On 24 November 2006, she conducted an exclusive interview for her show, which was later repeated on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

Today Programme ''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is a long-running British morning news and current-affairs Radio program, radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, it is produced by BBC N ...

, with long term prisoner in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Mirza Tahir Hussain Mirza Tahir Hussain ( ur, مرزا طاہر حسین; born 1 June 1970) is a British man who spent 18 years on death row in Pakistan for the murder of a taxicab driver named Jamshed Khan in 1988. Following his conviction, Mirza was held in the Adi ...

, from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, who had been released from prison after his

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

had been commuted to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

by Pakistan President

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

after many years in which Hussain had been found innocent twice and found guilty by different courts and sentenced to death by hanging numerous times. Deol spoke with him on his return to the UK. Deol hosted a special ''Asian Network Report - Big Brother special'' debate, broadcast live from the

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

following on from the

Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy The ''Celebrity Big Brother'' racism controversy was a series of events related to incidents of racist behaviour by contestants on the fifth series of the British reality television show '' Celebrity Big Brother'', broadcast on British televisi ...

. As part of the 2007

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

celebrations on 9 November, Deol presented a Diwali special on her morning show, which included her talking with British R&B singer,

Jay Sean Kamaljit Singh Jhooti (born 26 March 1981), better known by the stage name Jay Sean, is a British singer and songwriter. He debuted in the UK's Asian Underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with "Dance with You", which reached ...

in the studio about his Diwali plans. These included a visit to a KFC and taking a train from Clapham Junction to Victoria, and then back again to Clapham Junction, while talking for the entire time on a mobile telephone.

Other work (February 2008April 2009)

She was a roving reporter on ''The Heaven and Earth Show'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

interviewing the likes of

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

former

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Clare Short Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2003. Short was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 t ...

. In September 2007 she began as working as a co-presenter on its successor ''

The Big Questions ''The Big Questions'' is an interfaith dialogue and ethics television programme usually presented by Nicky Campbell. It is broadcast live on BBC One on Sunday mornings, replacing ''The Heaven and Earth Show'' as the BBC's religious discussion pr ...

'', a Sunday morning debate show, presented by

Nicky Campbell Nicholas Andrew Argyll Campbell, OBE (born Nicholas Lackey, 10 April 1961) is a Scottish broadcaster and journalist. He has worked in television and radio since 1981 and as a network presenter with BBC Radio since 1987. Early life Campbell wa ...

, also on

. She then appeared as an occasional presenter on

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television Breakfast television, breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News (TV channel), BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from ...

at the weekend. She has also presented the West Midlands regional opt-out for ''

The Politics Show ''Politics Show'' is an hour-long BBC One television political programme which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays between 2003 and 2011, broadcasting usually at midday. ''Politics Show'' was superseded by ''Sunday Politics'', a weeke ...

'' each Sunday on BBC One.

Return to Asian Network (June 2008March 2012)

Deol returned to the Asian Network January 2010 when she became the presenter of the 10am to 12:30pm 'morning' show. On Sunday 24 January 2010, Deol presented the BBC 1 documentary, ''1984: A Sikh Story'' where she embarked on a personal journey to unravel the events of 1984, an iconic year for the Sikhs. In March 2012, Deol broadcast her final show on the BBC Asian Network to pursue a personal life in Canada.

Global BC (November 2015present)

On 26 November 2015 it was announced that Deol had joined CHAN-DT (Global BC) as a co-presenter of the station's regional morning news program, alongside Steve Darling. Previously, she worked occasionally for the CBC in Vancouver as a TV host. She now works at

Global BC CHAN-DT (channel 8), branded on-air as Global BC (formerly British Columbia Television or BCTV), is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Global Television Network. Owned and ope ...

as weekend news anchor and reporter.

References

External links

*
Radio XL website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deol, Sonia 1973 births Living people English radio presenters English television presenters English Sikhs English people of Indian descent BBC Asian Network presenters People from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of the University of Hertfordshire