Ross Kempsell has been named political editor of Wireless Group’s national radio stations, steering politics coverage across Talkradio, Talksport and Virgin Radio.
Wireless Group, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, has grown its audience to 4.9m listeners across its national stations, according to the latest RAJAR figures published last week.
Virgin Radio, which hosts the breakfast show with Chris Evans, recorded 1.4m weekly listeners in the three months to the end of March this year.
Talksport reached 3.3m weekly listeners while Talkradio was at 339,000. All stations grew their listening hours on the previous quarter.
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Kempsell joined Talkradio as political editor last summer from blogging site Guido Fawkes, where he was chief reporter.
He recently broke the news that Esther McVey would run for the Tory leadership. Wireless has said his reporting “helped to strongly establish the station’s presence at party political conferences”.
Kempsell, whose new role is political editor of Wireless national stations, said: “The last year has seen us revolutionise the way that Talkradio covers politics.
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“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 chief executive Scott Taunton added: “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.”
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