TalkRadio (previously styled as talkRADIO) is a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

station broadcasting nationally in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, which was relaunched on 21 March 2016. Based in London and owned by

Wireless Group Wireless Group Limited is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and with radio operations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and ...

, a subsidiary of

News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...

., it is the sister station of national stations Talksport (itself originally known as ''Talk Radio UK''), Talksport 2,

Virgin Radio UK Virgin Radio UK is a national Hot Adult Contemporary radio station in the United Kingdom that launched on 30 March 2016, owned by Wireless Group which is itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is the second incarnation of Virgin Radio in the UK: t ...

and

Times Radio Times Radio is a British digital radio station owned by News UK. It is jointly operated by Wireless Group (which News UK acquired in 2016), ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. As of September 2022, the station broadcasts to a weekly audienc ...

. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 637,000 listeners according to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was calle ...

History

The original Talk Radio started in February 1995 using the AM wavelengths previously occupied by BBC Radio 1 (1053/1089 kHz). It saw a number of presenters host shows in its first two years but settled down to a regular schedule with presenters such as

Carol McGiffin Carol Deirdre McGiffin (born 18 February 1960) is an English radio and television broadcaster, who has appeared on the daytime talk show ''Loose Women'' since the early 2000s. She appeared on the twelfth series of '' Celebrity Big Brother''. ...

, Scott Chisholm,

Anna Raeburn Anna Raeburn (born 3 April 1944) is a British broadcaster, author and journalist who is best known for her role as an "agony aunt", giving advice on relationships and more general life problems. As a broadcaster, she has worked for Capital Rad ...

Tommy Boyd Timothy Leslie Boyd (born 14 December 1952), better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio presenter. Television From 1977 to 1980, Boyd was co-presenter of the ITV children's magazine programme ''Magpie'' replacing Douglas Rae. In 1981, ...

and

Mike Dickin Robert Michael Dickin (28 September 1943 – 18 December 2006), was an English radio DJ, best known as the late-night host on the radio station talkSPORT. Early life Dickin was born in 1943 in Reading, Berkshire. Career Dickin started ...

. It failed to make sufficient revenue and in the late 1990s introduced sports output which increased audiences. In 2000 the station changed its name to Talksport and almost all programming was of a sporting nature other than overnights and the mid-morning show. In March 2012, this 39 hours of non-sporting content was axed from the station. The introduction of a new DAB multiplex enabled Talkradio to be relaunched as a separate channel from Talksport on DAB on 21 March 2016. At launch, the station featured presenters

Paul Ross Paul Ross (born 31 December 1956) is an English television and radio presenter, journalist and media personality. He is the son of Martha Ross and the elder brother of Jonathan Ross. Early life Growing up in outer east London, Ross was educa ...

Julia Hartley-Brewer Julia Hartley-Brewer is an English radio presenter, political journalist and newspaper columnist. She hosts the weekday breakfast radio show on Talkradio. Early life Julia Hartley-Brewer's father, Michael John Hartley-Brewer, stood unsuccessfu ...

, Sam Delaney,

Jon Holmes Jon Holmes (born 24 April 1973) is a British comedian, writer, presenter and broadcaster known for his work on such programmes as ''The Now Show'', '' Listen Against'' (for BBC Radio 4), along with both music and spoken word radio. He has ap ...

Jonny Gould Jonny Gould is a British media presenter, sports journalist, and political commentator. He has formerly broadcast on Sky News, Smooth Radio, and Talksport among others. Gould has commented on antisemitism, conservative politics, and the s ...

, and

Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show '' The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon. Lee's career began ...

across its weekday schedule. At weekends, the station featured

Alexis Conran Alexis Conran is a British actor, writer and presenter on TV and radio, who currently hosts the weekend afternoon show on Times Radio. He is perhaps best known for co-hosting the BBC Three show ''The Real Hustle'' from 2006 until 2012. He was ...

Eamonn Holmes Eamonn Holmes (; born 3 December 1959)Holmes receives honorary degree
BBC ...

, Bob Mills, Martin Roberts,

Penny Smith Penelope Jane Smith (born 21 September 1958) is an English author, television presenter, newsreader and radio presenter. She has presented for Sky News, GMTV, Classic FM, BBC Radio London, TalkRadio and is a regular contributor to TalkTV la ...

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show ''Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

, Anna Williamson, and Jake Yapp. The station offers news bulletins every hour. News bulletins from

Sky News Radio Sky News Radio is the radio arm of Sky News, owned by Sky UK. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations ar ...

are carried at weekends. Overnight programming was originally simulcast from talkSPORT until January 2018. In January 2018, Talkradio underwent a revamp to the weekday and weekend schedule in a bid to boost ratings and make the station more news-focused. In June 2020, Talkradio announced that it would be moving from DAB to DAB+. The DAB+ signal began transmitting on 9 June alongside the DAB signal. The DAB signal ceased transmission on 26 June. On 14 April 2022, talkRADIO's Twitter account was rebranded as TalkTV. On 19 April 2022, the new radio app was released on Apple, with the station now styled as ''TalkRadio''.

Controversies

Presenter

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fran ...

was suspended over a 30 July 2018 interview with an alleged sex assault victim that was said by the station to have "completely lacked sensitivity". He was suspended for a week and his show returned on 13 August. He apologised to the alleged victim. Broadcasting regulator

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

ruled in 2019 that two episodes of former MP

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...

's show breached impartiality rules due to the lack of dissenting views to Galloway's own on the subjects of

Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party Allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) have been made since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the party in September 2015. After comments by Naz Shah in 2014 and Ken Livingstone in 2016 resulted in th ...

and the Salisbury poisoning. In June 2019, Galloway was sacked by the station for a tweet in which he praised

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

for winning the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final instead of

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, a team with strong links to the Jewish community; he wrote "No #Israël 'sic''flags on the Cup!" Tottenham Hotspur and Jewish organisations condemned Galloway's comment. In September 2020, presenter

Mark Dolan Mark Dolan (born 17 March 1974) is an English comedian, writer, and presenter. He currently hosts ''Mark Dolan Tonight'' on GB News. He was the host of '' Balls of Steel'' from 2005 until 2008 on Channel 4. Early life Dolan attended University ...

cut up a disposable mask during a Talkradio broadcast, while claiming that wearing masks did not have a significant impact on

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 5 January 2021, Talkradio's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel was briefly terminated without explanation. Within a few hours the station returned to the YouTube platform. In a statement YouTube said "TalkRadio's YouTube channel was briefly suspended, but upon further review, has now been reinstated. We quickly remove flagged content that violate our community guidelines, including Covid-19 content that explicitly contradict expert consensus from local health authorities or the World Health Organization. We make exceptions for material posted with an educational, documentary, scientific or artistic purpose, as was deemed in this case."

News

Until the launch of Talk TV,

provided hourly news bulletins for the network via

Independent Radio News Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom and beyond. The managing director, Tim Molloy, succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009. Perkins had been ...

. Upon the television network launch, that side began to provide those services to the radio network.

Programmes

Current shows

Former shows

Former presenters

* Anna Williamson (2016) *

(2016–2018) *

Sam Delaney Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictio ...

(2016–2018) * Martin Roberts (2016–2018) * Jake Yapp (2016–2018) *

(2016–2018) *

Yasmin Khan Yasmin Khan is a historian of British India and Associate Professor of History at Kellogg College, Oxford. Education and career Born in 1977 to Pakistani and Anglo-Irish parents in Kingston-upon-Thames, Khan completed her BA in history at S ...

(2016–2018) *

(2016–2019) *

Eamonn Holmes Eamonn Holmes (; born 3 December 1959)Holmes receives honorary degree
BBC ...

(2016, 2018–2020) *

(2016–2020) * Matthew Wright (2018–2020) *

(2016–2020) *

Giles Coren Giles Robin Patrick Coren (born 29 July 1969) is a British columnist, food writer, and television and radio presenter. He has been a restaurant critic for ''The Times'' newspaper since 2002, and was named Food and Drink Writer of the Year at the ...

(2019–2020) *

Jamie East Jamie Alexander East (born 27 March 1974) is an English television presenter, broadcaster, journalist and singer-songwriter. Career He was the lead singer of the band The Beekeepers, who signed to Beggars Banquet in the late 1990s. They reforme ...

(2017–2020) *

Dan Wootton Daniel John William Wootton (born 2 March 1983) is a New Zealand born British journalist and broadcaster. He is based in the United Kingdom and holds both New Zealand and British citizenship. He was executive editor of '' The Sun'' newspaper. I ...

(2018–2020) *

(2019–2021) *

(2016–2021) (Now appears on The Talk & First Edition) *

Mike Parry Michael Alan Newton-Parry (born 29 December 1954) is an English journalist and radio presenter. Early life Born in Chester, Parry attended The King's School and completed his education at Trent Polytechnic (now known as Nottingham Trent Unive ...

(2020–2021) *

John Nicolson John MacKenzie Nicolson (born 23 June 1961) is a Scottish journalist, broadcaster and Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. Since the 2019 general election he has been the SNP Member of Parliament (MP) for Ochil and South Perthshire. He w ...

(2017–2021) *

(2016–2022) * Bob Mills (2018–2022) *

Nick de Bois Geoffrey Nicholas de Bois (born 23 February 1959) is a British Conservative Party politician, who served as Special Adviser and Chief of Staff to Dominic Raab during his brief tenure as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. He wa ...

(2020-2022) (Remains as Stand-in)

TalkTV

In December 2020,

granted a licence to News UK & Ireland Limited, to operate a new television channel on satellite and cable. By April 2021, it was thought that News UK TV would become a streaming-only service which would operate for a few hours a night. By September 2021, plans for a service called News UK TV had been scrapped, and talkRadioTV had been soft-launched as a streaming service on smart/internet-connected TVs, with Mike Graham,

Trisha Goddard Patricia Gloria Goddard (born 23 December 1957) is an English television presenter and actress. She is best known for her television talk show ''Trisha Goddard (TV series), Trisha'' (1998–2010), which was broadcast on a mid-morning slot on I ...

Jeremy Kyle Jeremy Kyle (born 7 July 1965) is an English broadcaster and writer. He is known for hosting the tabloid talk show ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' on ITV from 2005 to 2019. He also hosted a US version of his eponymous show, which ran for two seas ...

and

Robert Rinder Robert Michael Rinder (; born 31 May 1978) better known as Judge Rinder, is a British criminal barrister and television personality. In 2014, while still a practising barrister, he began hosting the reality television#Reality court shows, real ...

featuring as presenters on the service. Later in September 2021, it was reported that the 'Talk' brand would be used for a

digital terrestrial Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

channel that would be available on

FreeSat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Digital UK. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Free ...

and

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

, as well as on

Sky UK Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

and

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

, in 2022. It was also reported that TalkTV had signed up

Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; né O'Meara; born 30 March 1965) is a British broadcaster, journalist, writer, and television personality. He began his Fleet Street career in 1988 at '' The Sun''. In 1994, aged 29, he was appointed editor of the ...

to be a presenter of a programme (which would also be shown on

Fox Nation Fox Nation is an American subscription video on demand service. Announced on February 20, 2018, and launching on November 27 of that year, it is a companion to Fox News Channel carrying programming of interest to its audience, including original ...

in the US and on

Sky News Australia Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...

) and that the new service would also feature current affairs documentaries, programmes about sport, and entertainment features.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 51, 30, 22, N, 0, 6, 24, W, type:landmark_region:GB-SWK, display=title News and talk radio stations in the United Kingdom 2016 establishments in the United Kingdom News Corporation Radio stations established in 2016 Wireless Group