Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Leeds has announced two new presenters to front its popular Breakfast Show.

Well-known face Martin Kelner will join journalist Katherine Hannah in the studios from 6am to 9am starting this Monday 26 July.

Assistant editor Andy Evans said: "Radio Leeds is all about first class journalism and being a quality radio station for West Yorkshire. Katherine is a Leeds lass who has been eyeing a move to the station for a long time and is delighted to be working in West Yorkshire. You can tell that she cares about the county deeply and that can only be a good thing for listeners. She will be joined by Martin, a broadcasting legend, who has in-depth knowledge and vast experience of the patch. Together these two will deliver cutting edge journalism with wit and humour."

Martin has been a journalist and broadcaster for more than 30 years. His is a familiar voice on a variety of network programmes, including the award winning Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 5 Live sports panel game Fighting Talk, on which he is a regular. He also appears as a pundit, mostly on sporting matters, on the Today programme, the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio Two, and various 5 Live shows. He is occasionally called upon to represent the voice of the middle-aged male on Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

Martin started his newspaper career on the Western Daily Press in Bristol, later moving to the Oxford Mail; he has also worked on a variety of national newspapers. His current work includes Screen Break for The Guardian, a column casting an acerbic eye over sport on TV, a fixture in the paper's sports section for 12 years; and travel features for The Mail On Sunday.

His radio work includes his own late night show on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2, which ran for five years in the Eighties, and later, his own Saturday afternoon programmes, as well as various stand-ins. Martin's show, Pleased To Meet You, co-written and produced for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 7 with Jake Yapp, won a Sony nomination for best comedy programme.

This will be Martin's third spell at Radio Leeds, after being granted a three-and-a-half year sabbatical.

He said: "I'm more or less welded to the place now. I first moved to Leeds in 1981, all four of my children were born at St James's Hospital, and went to school in Leeds, so I've stuck around here even when I haven't had a radio show to go to.

"It will be good to be back home at Radio Leeds. I've reached that stage in life where I have to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning anyway to attend to the ageing prostate, so I might as well go in and do a show.

"I think Katherine and I should be an entertaining mix – an attractive young woman, and a much, much older man, like on American TV."

Katherine's family moved to Leeds when she was 10 and she attended Bramhope Middle School and Prince Henry's in Otley.

After university at St. Andrews, she worked as a writer for Match football magazine for a couple of years and then moved into radio – enjoying work experience and a few freelance shifts at Radio Leeds before joining Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Cambridgeshire and then Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Tees as a reporter/news reader.

The 32-year-old produced the breakfast show at Tees for two years, then moved in front of the mic to present the Drivetime news programme at Tees. She is a Leeds United season ticket holder, enjoys cooking, swimming, and is trying to get into running – following in her father's (who competes in marathons) footsteps.

She said: "I think of Leeds as my home city, so getting the chance to co-present the breakfast show for Radio Leeds is an exciting challlenge and a huge honour. I can't wait to get started!"

AB2