As of December 2023, the station has a weekly audience of 725,000 listeners according toRAJAR.[2] Talk employs a number of presenters described asshock jocks.[3][4]
The original Talk Radio UK started in February 1995 using the AM frequencies previously occupied byBBC Radio 1 (1053/1089 kHz). It saw a number of presenters host shows in its first two years but settled down to a regular schedule with presenters such asCarol McGiffin,Anna Raeburn,Tommy Boyd andMike Dickin. It failed to make sufficient revenue and in the late 1990s introduced sports output which increased audiences. In 2000, the station rebranded asTalksport and increased its emphasis onsports talk programming; some non-sports programming remained on the schedule, but this was dropped in March 2012.[5]
The introduction of a new DAB multiplex enabled Talkradio to be relaunched as a separate channel from Talksport on DAB on 21 March 2016.[6] At launch, the station featured presentersPaul Ross,Julia Hartley-Brewer, Sam Delaney,Jon Holmes,Jonny Gould, andIain Lee across its weekday schedule.[7][8] In September 2016, the station's parent company, Wireless, came under the ownership ofRupert Murdoch'sNews UK, and in the following years tie-ups between the station and his newspapers increased.[9][10] At times overnight programming is simulcast with Talksport.[11]
In January 2018, Talkradio underwent a revamp to its weekday and weekend schedule in a bid to boost ratings and make the station more news-focused.[12] On 9 June 2020, Talkradio moved from DAB to DAB+, and the DAB signal ceased transmission on 26 June.[13]
In a 2023 poll byYouGov, 9% of respondents ranked TalkRadio/TalkTV as a trusted news-brand.[14]
TalkTV marked Rupert Murdoch's return to British television news
Australian-born American media magnateRupert Murdoch first entered the British television news market in 1989 with the launch ofSky News.[15] In 1996, Murdoch entered the US and Australian television news markets withFox News andSky News Australia.[16][17] In the 2010s, theMurdoch family began to sell a number of assets, including21st Century Fox andSky plc, the companies that owned those news channels at the time.[18]
In January 2018, the UK'sCompetition and Markets Authority issued a preliminary report recommending that theSky News TV channel be insulated from the remainder of Murdoch's assets, or divested, in order to preserve itseditorial independence as a condition of21st Century Fox's proposed acquisition of Sky.[19] Murdoch retained control of Fox News[18] and Sky News Australia,[20] but the Murdoch-owned share in Sky plc – the parent company of Sky News UK – was sold toComcast after it won a bidding war giving it majority ownership of Sky,[21][22] leaving Murdoch without a television news presence in the United Kingdom.[23][24][25]
In December 2020,Ofcom granted a licence to News UK to operate a newlinear television channel under the name News UK TV.[26][27][28] By April 2021, it was thought that News UK TV would become a streaming-only service which would operate for a few hours a night.[29][30][31]Rebekah Brooks said to News UK staff that "it was not commercially viable to launch a traditional news channel on linear TV".[32]
David Rhodes, formerly ofCBS News and Fox News, joined News UK with the aim of a launching their streaming video news service in 2020.[33] In an interview with theBBC Radio 4'sThe Media Show,Andrew Neil claimed that he was approached to join News UK's television output by Rhodes before he joined rivalGB News.[34] In April 2021 it was announced that Rhodes was to leave News UK in June.[35]Scott Taunton replaced Rhodes as News UK's CEO of broadcasting.[36]
By September 2021, plans for a service called News UK TV had been scrapped and Talkradio instead launched a video feed on smart/internet-connected TVs, withMike Graham,Trisha Goddard,Julia Hartley-Brewer,Jeremy Kyle andRobert Rinder featuring as presenters on the service.[37][38] The preceding months had seen its right-wing rival,GB News, launch as a linear television channel.[39] The 'Talk' brand[a] and family of radio stations had previously been acquired by News UK in September 2016 as part of their purchase ofWireless Group.[40]
Later in September 2021, it was revealed that the "Talk" brand would be used for a linear television station launching in 2022.[41] This change of approach reportedly came after Murdoch was bemused by the channels on offer during the COVID-19 pandemic.[42] It was also announced thatPiers Morgan would host a show on the channel.[43][44] Talkradio'sTwitter account was renamed to TalkTV to coincide with the launch of the television station.[45]
After gaining a comparatively large viewership on opening night, viewers declined over the following days.[46][47][48] In 2023, several serving and formerMPs andMEPs were employed as presenters on the channel including some who recently held positions within the previousJohnson cabinet.[49]Ofcom's rules state that MPs can be presenters, but cannot be utilised as newsreaders.[50]
News UK Broadcasting, TalkTV's parent company, made a loss of £34 million in the first year after TalkTV launched.[51] In July 2022,Richard Wallace, former editor of theDaily Mirror, was hired as Head of TV.[52]
In February 2024, it was announced that Piers Morgan's show would leave TalkTV but continue on YouTube. Though the figures are calculated differently,Piers MorganUncensored had television viewer figures in the tens of thousands in comparison to YouTube videos with hundreds of thousands or millions of views.[53] Morgan was among a number of conservative hosts to move television talk shows to online formats.[54]
In March 2024, it was announced that TalkTV's linear TV channel would close in summer 2024 and that operations would become online-only. The closure was brought forward to 1 May 2024 and the streaming service rebranded to Talk.[55] Between 1 May and 7 May the broadcast channel was gradually removed from Virgin Media, Sky, Freesat and DVB-T Freeview.[56]
The channel broadcasts from studios inThe News Building inCentral London.[41] Thelinear channel was launched onFreesat,Freeview,Sky, andVirgin Media on 25 April 2022.[57][58][59][41] It can be viewed live onSamsung TV Plus and a TalkTV app can be downloaded on Samsung smart televisions.[60] It can also be viewed live through LGwebOS TV's (LG Channels) as well as being available on-demand.[41][61] When announcing Piers Morgan's programme, it was stated that it would also be carried by two other Murdoch-owned outlets:Fox Nation (a streaming service in the U.S. run as a companion to Fox News) andSky News Australia.[43] In March 2023, TalkTV launched onAmazon Freevee.[62] In 2024 the channel decided in the face of poorviewer ratings to become available on the Internet only from [northern hemisphere] summer 2024.[55]
Some TalkTV programming was also simulcast on local television channels around the UK.[63] TalkTV formed a partnership withLocal TV on 1 January 2023, to provide selected hours throughout the day with simulcasts of TalkTV.[64] Local TV's chairman,David Montgomery, is a former executive at Murdoch's News UK.[65]
On 18 October 2023, it was announced that Local TV channels would be aligned with the TalkTV branding (including name and logo), with the channels remaining wholly owned by Local TV Limited.[63] ThusBirmingham TV became TalkBirmingham,Bristol TV became TalkBristol,Cardiff TV became TalkCardif,Leeds TV became TalkLeeds,Liverpool TV became TalkLiverpool,North Wales TV became TalkNorthWales,Teesside TV became TalkTeesside andTyne & Wear TV became TalkTyne&Wear.[63]
On 24 April 2024, the channels reverted to their previous branding a few days before the closure of TalkTV on broadcast television.[66]
The TalkTV channel launched with several original programmes, includingThe News Desk withTom Newton Dunn, the panel discussion programmeThe Talk, andPiers Morgan Uncensored. In October 2022, Jeremy Kyle moved from Talkradio's afternoon drive slot (being replaced byVanessa Feltz) to prime time with the new programmeJeremy Kyle Live.The News Desk was concurrently moved to 10 p.m. and renamedFirst Edition.[67] Tom Newton Dunn left the network in August 2023.[68]
Initial ratings were very low with some shows, especially those broadcast in the evening, recording few viewers. In July 2022, the channel had the lowest viewership among similar news and opinion-based news shows.[69]
By 2023 some shows, particularlyPiers Morgan Uncensored, achieved higher ratings than competitors: an hour-long February interview with Prime MinisterRishi Sunak had an average of 120,000 viewers, whileBBC News had 70,000 viewers and Sky News and GB News had 20,000 viewers in the same hour.[70] Morgan's interviews withDonald Trump andNadine Dorries exceeded 300,000 average viewers, while Dorries' interview withBoris Johnson had an average viewership of 50,000.[70][71]
By June 2023, TalkTV had a total identified monthly audience (including sharing and streaming) of 2,135,000, with 14 minutes average daily viewing according toBARB.[72]
After the recruitment in early 2023 of Conservative MPNadine Dorries as a presenter, she was deemed to have breached the Government's anti-corruption rules by not advisingACOBA about her role with the channel.[49]
Mike Graham received criticism in 2022 after making a false claim thatMind, a UK mental health charity, had been funding the legal fees of individuals seeking asylum in the UK; TalkTV later issued a public apology.[73] In June 2023 TalkTV issued an apology and paid "substantial damages" to the charity Migrants Organise following defamatory claims made on Graham's show that the organisation were "human traffickers".[74] The charity said that the comments aired by TalkTV had "exposed [the charity] to hate and threats of violence".[74]
As of July 2023[update] the regulator,Ofcom, have not found TalkTV to be in any breaches of standards; however, they have clarified rules on politicians presenting programmes following the influx of politicians to both TalkTV and GB News.[50] The broadcast ofPiers Morgan Uncensored on 7 September 2022 caused more than 100 complaints to Ofcom.[75] A broadcast of Dorries' programme on 24 March led to 52 complaints to Ofcom while discussing theCommons Select Committee of Privileges investigation intoBoris Johnson's involvement in thepartygate scandal.[76] During the broadcast she saId that Johnson was being tried by akangaroo court.[77]
In July 2023, Ofcom launched an investigation into a broadcast on 2 April regarding impartiality and politicians.[78]
That same month,The Guardian reported that TalkTV "offered tens of thousands of pounds" in order to secure an interview with the parents who alleged thatHuw Edwards had paid more than £35,000 to receive sexually explicit pictures from their child. The allegations had been printed by TalkTV's sister brand,The Sun newspaper.[79] A source toldThe Guardian that the interview was part of a planned three-part documentary series.[80][81] When the interview was announced, Edwards was receiving hospital treatment for depression.[79] He had earlier been suspended by the BBC, but London'sMetropolitan Police noted that they had "no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed".[82]
In April 2024, Ofcom settled an investigation over comments made by a presenter against a Palestinian political official, warning TalkTV that it needed to take better care to ensure offensive comments were not aired on their channel.[83][84]
Piers Morgan's former show on the channel attracted high-profile guests, such as the former UK Prime Minister,Rishi Sunak, pictured here filming a show for the channel
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