Liz Kershaw
Liz Kershaw | |
---|---|
Born | Elizabeth Marguerita Mary Kershaw 30 July 1958 Littleborough, Lancashire, England |
Nationality | English |
Occupation(s) | Broadcaster, journalist |
Years active | 1980–present |
Relatives | Andy Kershaw (brother) |
Elizabeth Marguerita Mary Kershaw (born 30 July 1958) is an English radio broadcaster. She is one of the longest serving female national radio DJ's in the UK, celebrating 30 years on national BBC Radio in 2017.
Career
After graduating from the
In 1986 her day job with
This was followed by her presenting the Radio 1 Evening Show and then, with Bruno Brookes, Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show and the Radio 1 Roadshow from 1989 to 1992.[3] The two DJs projected a 'love-hate' relationship on-air, and got their fair share of PR in the tabloids, including Kershaw's smashing up of a Wet Wet Wet record, and the studio turntable under it, live on air (for which she was fined £1,000 by the BBC) because she hated the band for disappointing their fans by not turning up at the Radio 1 Roadshow; and the two pulling a stunt of getting married as an April Fools' Day joke.[citation needed] During this period they also made three charity records for the BBC's Children in Need campaign; a version of "It Takes Two" which charted at No. 53 and two more records featuring their Radio 1 colleagues and guests Status Quo, Frank Bruno and Samantha Fox.[citation needed]
She left Radio 1 in 1992 to present The Crunch, the UK's first national daily phone-in on BBC Radio 5[4] but continued to host occasional shows on the station.
In 1994 she was part of the team which relaunched the station as BBC Radio 5 Live. In 2000 she went back to BBC Local Radio as the first and only woman in the country to present a solo radio breakfast show. This was BBC Radio Northampton's breakfast programme, which was nominated for the Best Breakfast Show Award at the Sony Radio Awards in 2002 along with Radio 4's Today Programme and the 5 Live Breakfast Show. She also presented documentaries for Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3 and Radio 4.[citation needed]
Dawn Chorus and the Blue Tits
In 1984 Kershaw formed a band called Dawn Chorus and the Blue Tits with her friend and neighbour
Recent career
In 2002, she was one of the original presenters on the digital station BBC Radio 6 Music where she presented the weekday afternoon show from 1.00pm-4.00pm, before moving to the weekend mid-morning slots in April 2004, from 10.00am-1.00pm.[7]
In September 2005 Kershaw became a weekday presenter on the BBC's
In July 2007, following a complaint from
It was subsequently revealed by journalists and listeners that other shows presented by Russell Brand, Jo Whiley, Tony Blackburn and Dermot O'Leary were also involved in the same endemic production practices.[9][10]
On 30 July 2008, the BBC was accused by media watchdog Ofcom of 'misleading its audiences' by 'faking' audience interaction. Ofcom stated that the BBC 'deceived its audience by faking winners of competitions and deliberately conducting competitions unfairly and fined the corporation a record £400,000 of which Kershaw's BBC Radio 6 Music show was fined £115,000 for seventeen shows in 2005 and 2006.[9] Kershaw was forbidden from commenting on this by a clause in her contract which prevented her from speaking publicly about the BBC and its affairs.[citation needed]
Until June 2022, she could be heard on
]In October 2012, Kershaw told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that she had been routinely groped while working as a Radio1 DJ in the 1980s. She said the station had a culture that was very intimidating for a young woman. [11]
In November 2012, Kershaw was named in a case involving the suicide of BBC journalist Russell Joslin,[12] who had alleged that Kershaw had sexually harassed him.[13]
In 2014, she released her autobiography, The Bird and the Beeb.[14]
In 2020, she criticised UK government period poverty measures and expressed support for the use of "old rags" as sanitary products.[15] In 2023 she regularly appears and contributes on the GB News channel with current affairs.
References
- ^ Silver, James (5 November 2007). "'My reputation was in tatters'". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ^ "Liz Kershaw: Hear Liz, Saturday, 1pm-3pm". BBC 6 Music. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ^ "BBC Radio 1 People: Radio Rewind". www.radiorewind.co.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ^ "Liz Kershaw; Morning Marauders: radio review". World News. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ^ "Dawn Chorus & The Blue Tits – Teenage Kicks (Vinyl)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
- ^ "Keeping It Peel - 24/02/1985 Dawn Chorus And The Blue Tits". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ^ "BBC 6 Music overtakes Radio 3 for the first time". BBC News. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ^ Pierce, Andrew (23 July 2007). "BBC staff suspended over phone-in scandal". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Ofcom – Broadcast Bulletin Issue number 115". Stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
- ^ Mark Sweney (18 December 2008). "BBC fined £95,000 over Dermot O'Leary and Tony Blackburn phone-in competition". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
- ^ Cass Jones "DJ Liz Kershaw says she was 'routinely groped' at BBC", The Guardian, 6 October 2012.
- ^ Palmer, Alun (5 November 2012). "Russell Joslin: DJ Liz Kershaw's silence over claims of angry phone calls to tragic BBC colleague". The Mirror. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ^ "Liz Kershaw: Radio Queen makes waves". Yorkshire Post. 8 April 2014. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ Walters, Sarah (13 March 2014). "Interview: Broadcaster Liz Kershaw on her autobiography, The Bird And The Beeb". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ^ Domachowski, Lucy (22 January 2020). "BBC DJ slammed for suggesting girls should use dirty rags in period poverty rant". mirror. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
External links
- Liz Kershaw at IMDb