Award-winning broadcaster Aasmah Mir among the latest big name presenters signed up to Times Radio
AWARD-winning broadcaster Aasmah Mir and The Times Literary Supplement editor Stig Abell will host a weekday breakfast show together on Times Radio.
The presenters are among a host of new talent signed up by News UK for the national digital news radio station.
Matt Chorley, editor of the Times Red Box newsletter and podcast, will be in charge of the mid-morning slot, while Channel 4 News anchor Cathy Newman will host Friday drivetime.
Luke Jones, from Radio 4’s PM and The World at One, has also been poached to co-present Friday to Sunday breakfast with talented Panorama journalist Jenny Kleeman.
The latest recruits will join an already-impressive line-up - including ex-BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar, who was previously unveiled as Monday to Thursday drivetime presenter.
Times Radio has been launched as a direct rival to BBC Radio 4 and will provide news, discussion and commentary with a “warm, expert” tone.
BIG HITTERS
More big name presenters are due to be announced in the coming weeks before its summer launch.
The station is part of a partnership between The Times, The Sunday Times and Wireless - the company behind talkSPORT, talkRADIO and Virgin Radio.
Aasmah won two Sony Gold awards - the industry’s highest accolade - for her work on Radio 5 Live’s Drive before going on to co-host of Radio 4 magazine programme Saturday Live.
She said: "I’m thrilled to be joining Times Radio to co-host the Breakfast Show with Stig. The Times is a byword for quality journalism and this is an enviable opportunity to create compelling radio from scratch.
"Our listeners will be just like me - I want to be informed but I want warmth too and a programme fit for 2020. I am genuinely excited. This is the programme I have been wanting to wake up to for years.”
'TRUSTED JOURNALISM'
Co-host Stig, who has presented Front Row on BBC Radio 4, added: "Our agenda will be straightforward: provide provocative, well-informed, entertaining and useful discussion on the key stories of the day, informing the national conversation.”
Time Radio will launch this summer and broadcast on DAB, online and via app and smart speakers.
The station will be ad break-free but advertisers will be able to sponsor sections of the schedule.
Wireless CEO Scott Taunton said: “The current coronavirus emergency has demonstrated how important trusted quality journalism is to people, as they seek to avoid clickbait and sensationalism.
"Times Radio will deliver balanced and impartial news to listeners in a warm, useful and engaging way.
"There has never been a more important time to launch Times Radio and we’re working hard, within the government’s guidelines, to prepare for launch this summer.”
