Talkradio
TalkRadio (previously styled as talkRADIO) is a talk radio station broadcasting nationally in the United Kingdom, which was relaunched on 21 March 2016. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sister station of national stations Talksport (itself originally known as Talk Radio UK), Talksport 2, Virgin Radio UK and Times Radio.[1]
Not to be confused with the radio format talk radio.Broadcast area
Since the launch of its similarly named television station, TalkTV, in 2022 a large number of broadcasts are simulcast across both radio and television with the TalkTV branding being primarily used.[2]
As of December 2023, the station has a weekly audience of 725,000 listeners according to RAJAR.[3] TalkRadio employs a number of presenters described as shock jocks.[4][5][6]
Controversies[edit]
Presenter James Whale 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".[17] He was suspended for a week and his show returned on 13 August.[17] He apologised to the alleged victim.[17]
Broadcasting regulator Ofcom ruled in 2019 that three episodes of former MP George Galloway'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 and the Salisbury poisoning.[18][19] In June 2019, Galloway was sacked by the station for a tweet in which he praised Liverpool F.C. for winning the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final instead of Tottenham Hotspur, 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.[20] Ofcom fined TalkRadio £75,000 relating to Galloway's breaches of code.[21]
In September 2020, presenter Mark Dolan cut up a disposable mask during a Talkradio broadcast, while claiming that wearing masks did not have a significant impact on COVID-19.[22]
On 5 January 2021, Talkradio's YouTube channel was briefly terminated without explanation.[23] 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."[24]
In 2022 TalkRadio paid a “substantial” libel settlement to Labour MP Barry Gardiner regarding a claim made by Jeremy Kyle on the station.[25]
News[edit]
TalkTV provides news bulletins for TalkRadio. Until the launch of TalkTV in 2022, Sky News Radio provided hourly news bulletins for the network via Independent Radio News.[26][27]
