Presenter changes for Radio 4
Sarah Montague will become the lead presenter of World at One and Martha Kearney will become one of the main presenters on the Today programme.
Published: 26 March 2018
Both Martha and Sarah are formidable presenters admired by millions of loyal Radio 4 listeners. We are lucky to have them and I am delighted to have Martha on Today and for Sarah to have her own programme.
The changes will take effect next month.
Martha has presented World at One for a decade and Sarah has been a key member of the Today presenting team since 2001.
Gavin Allen, Controller of Daily News programmes, says: “Sarah and Martha are brilliant journalists and we’re delighted they will continue to analyse and drive the news for our many millions of radio listeners”.
Gwyneth Williams, Controller of Radio 4, says: “Both Martha and Sarah are formidable presenters admired by millions of loyal Radio 4 listeners. We are lucky to have them and I am delighted to have Martha on Today and for Sarah to have her own programme, the incomparable World at One.”
Martha Kearney says: “I have woken up to the Today programme for as long as I can remember so it’s a thrill to be joining the BBC’s flagship news programme. After 11 happy years on the World at One, I’m looking forward to a new challenge - to draw on my years of political journalism but also to explore my other interests on air too.”
Sarah Montague says: "I am very excited to be moving to the World at One. It is a programme I have long admired and, much as I love the Today programme, after 18 years on it, I am ready for a new challenge and looking forward to the experience of presenting a programme when I am awake."
Sarah Montague
Sarah Montague is from Guernsey. She began her career in finance as a stockbroker. In 1991 she became a reporter/presenter with Channel Television in Guernsey and Jersey.
She joined Reuters in 1994 to work on a daily business programme and then moved to Sky News in January 1996 as a business presenter.
Sarah began her BBC career in 1997 as a presenter on News 24 – later renamed BBC News Channel - and has presented many of the BBC’s News and Current Affairs programmes including Newsnight and BBC Breakfast. She has also been a regular presenter of BBC World's Hardtalk for 20 years. Sarah began presenting the Today programme regularly in 2001 and has reported and presented documentaries and series for Radio 4 including The Educators, Cathy Come Home and Reith Revisited.
Martha Kearney
Martha was born in Dublin and grew up in Sussex and Edinburgh. She started her career at LBC/IRN Radio as a phone operator before becoming a reporter, a presenter and a lobby correspondent. She then spent a year on A Week in Politics for Channel 4.
On joining the BBC she worked as a reporter for BBC One's On the Record before going to Newsnight, where from 2000-2007 she was political editor and presenter.
Martha has won a number of awards in the course of her career including Political Commentator of the Year, Best Individual Contribution to Radio and a BAFTA nomination. She presented Woman's Hour from 1998 to early 2007 before starting on The World at One on 16 April 2007. She has also presented several TV programmes for the BBC including the arts programme Newsnight Review for eight years, documentaries about writers and several series about bees.
