talkRADIO Political Editor Ross Kempsell has been promoted to take an enlarged role driving political coverage across all Wireless national stations, which reach almost five million listeners every week.
The move sees Ross take on the new role of Political Editor, National Stations - talkRADIO, talkSPORT, Virgin Radio, steering political coverage across Wireless, which is owned by News UK.
Ross joined talkRADIO last summer from political blog Guido Fawkes where he was Chief Reporter. Since joining the station, he has been responsible for ramping up political coverage, including a raft of live broadcasts from College Green, as well as bringing top politicians into talkRADIO studios. talkRADIO now regularly breaks political scoops - most recently the news that former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey was standing for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Shortly after he joined Wireless, Ross’s reporting helped to strongly establish the station’s presence at party political conferences.
Ross says: “I am thrilled to have been promoted to Political Editor, National Stations - talkRADIO, talkSPORT, Virgin Radio. The last year has seen us revolutionise the way that talkRADIO covers politics. We are not only breaking major news stories and new lines live on air, but driving real-time analysis and calling on heavy hitters from across the political spectrum to make the station the radio destination for politics. I am excited to have a wider remit to shape coverage across Wireless’ three national stations, including talkSPORT and Virgin Radio, at such a pivotal time in the UK’s modern political history.”
Wireless CEO Scott Taunton says: “Ross is a first class operator with a contacts book and on air presence which has seen talkRADIO raise its political game significantly in the last year. The next months and years will see UK politics become even more important to the national debate, and Ross will shape our coverage as talkRADIO, talkSPORT and Virgin Radio all continue to grow.”
In the latest round of RAJAR audience measurement results unveiled last week, all three national stations delivered record results. Virgin Radio, which launched the UK’s first ad break-free commercial breakfast show - hosted by Chris Evans and sponsored by Sky - now reaches more than one million listeners weekly. Cumulatively, Wireless national brands now reach 4.9m listeners, with listening hours up at 31.5m each week.
Prior to joining Guido Fawkes, Ross worked for international news and picture agency FameFlynet where he broke front page stories for national newspapers, and also worked in a number of freelance roles on national and local press. He studied at Cambridge University where he took a Double First Class degree in English.