• New reporting role covering Home Affairs, Public Policy and Investigations for former Political Editor for Wireless national stations

Times Radio today announces that Ross Kempsell is rejoining Wireless to take up a new role as Special Correspondent for Times Radio, reporting on home affairs and the major public policy issues of the day.

Ross - formerly the Political Editor for Wireless national stations talkRADIO, talkSPORT and Virgin Radio - left the company a year ago to become a Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister in the 10 Downing Street Policy Unit. He is returning to journalism in a new reporting role for the station, which launches on 29 June.

As Special Correspondent for Times Radio he will be delivering exclusive stories and investigations across the field of public policy, making complex issues compulsive listening. He will focus on home affairs, policing, crime and security but will also be on air covering stories relating to defence, social policy and the NHS. 

Ross said: “I am delighted to be returning to radio and to Wireless, and I am hugely excited to be part of the launch of Times Radio. I look forward to helping make sense of the complex and important public policy issues that impact our lives, as well as delivering analysis on air and in-depth reporting on the challenges and opportunities for the UK, which often go much deeper than the daily Westminster conversation.”

Times Radio Programme Director Tim Levell said: “Ross is a first-class journalist and a terrific reporter. The areas he’ll be covering for Times Radio affect the lives of all our listeners, but are often hard to absorb or misunderstood. Ross will bring them to life with exclusive stories and regular on-air analysis.”

Prior to leaving Wireless last year, Ross was Political Editor across Wireless national stations talkRADIO, talkSPORT and Virgin Radio. He was responsible for ramping up political coverage across the network, bringing big-hitting political interviews to the stations and regularly breaking exclusive stories. In September last year, Ross was named one of the Radio Academy’s 30 Under 30, praised for his exceptional tenacity and talent.

Wireless CEO Scott Taunton said: “I’m delighted to welcome Ross back to Wireless. He is a journalist of the highest calibre and his recent public policy experience means he is perfectly cast for this new and important role at Times Radio.”

He was previously Chief Reporter at international news and picture agency FameFlynet, breaking front page stories and investigations for national newspaper titles and on broadcast. Ross has also worked in Westminster at political website Guido Fawkes. He studied at Cambridge University where he took a Double First Class degree and trained as a newspaper journalist at News Associates, Wimbledon.

Times Radio launches on Monday 29 June and combines the peerless journalistic expertise of The Times and The Sunday Times with the speech radio and podcasting experience of Wireless, the company behind talkSPORT, talkRADIO and Virgin Radio UK. 

The station has unveiled a quality line-up of presenters including Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell (at breakfast from Monday to Thursday), Matt Chorley (mid-mornings from Monday to Thursday), Mariella Frostrup (afternoons Monday to Thursday) and John Pienaar (at drive from Monday to Thursday). Other regular presenters include Michael Portillo, Carole Walker, Phil Williams, Giles Coren, Cathy Newman, Hugo Rifkind, Luke Jones, Jenny Kleeman, Alexis Conran, Ayesha Hazarika and Kait Borsay.

Times Radio will broadcast on DAB, online and via app and smart speakers. The station will be ad break-free, with commercial opportunities for sponsors across the schedule.