Sangita Myska

Last updated

Sangita Myska is a British television and radio presenter and journalist. Until May 2024, she hosted an early afternoon weekend phone-in show on LBC Radio. [1]

Contents

Early life

Born in Tanzania, [2] Myska is of African and Indian heritage [1] and speaks Marathi and, to a lesser extent, Hindi. [3] She was educated at Claremont High School in London and at the University of Birmingham, where she was awarded an upper second class LLB degree in law and politics. [3]

Career

BBC radio and television

Myska began her career as a member of the BBC News trainee reporter scheme, specialising in radio. She served the final attachment of her apprenticeship at BBC Radio Sheffield, where she was initially employed as a staff reporter and then as a producer on the channel's Drivetime show (hosted by Dean "Pips" Pepall). [4] After learning her craft in local broadcasting, she was promoted to a national role as a producer for BBC Radio Five Live, and then to a production position on Five Live's television equivalent, BBC News 24. [4] Her first appearance in front of the camera was in 1997, when she began working as a news reporter for BBC Scotland. [4]

After winning the BBC's Talent competition in 2001, Myska made her national television debut in BBC One's long-running Holiday travel show, subsequently appearing too in one of its many spin-offs, Summer Holiday. In 2002, she returned to BBC News as a correspondent on BBC One's national bulletins. That same year saw her on BBC Two fronting a six-part undercover investigation into car crime and consumer fraud. In February 2003, she was one of the three presenter-reporters assigned to anchor The News Show , a 15-minute 7:45 p.m. weekday news programme on the BBC's new channel aimed at young viewers, BBC Three. [5] She reverted to working on the BBC's main bulletins in March 2004.

Myska was invited to join Channel 5's news team in 2005, but elected to remain with the BBC. In 2008, she led an undercover investigation into child trafficking in Bulgaria. Her exposé led to her being invited to assist the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in its efforts to bring trafficking to an end. The many other shows on BBC television to which she contributed included Sian Williams's BBC One religious current affairs programme, Sunday Morning Live; The Daily Politics with Andrew Neil on BBC Two; Real Story with Fiona Bruce on BBC One; Outrageous Fortunes: Guinness on BBC One and BBC Three; Lifting the Bonnet, a current affairs series, on BBC Two; World Olympic Dreams: Mongolia Rising on BBC One; The One Show, also on BBC One; and the current affairs series 4X4.

Myska's work on the BBC's flagship radio channel, BBC Radio 4, featured a spell on its early morning news programme, Today, and also several high-profile documentary and current affairs programmes. Among them were Positive Thinking, both presented and co-created by her, a 9 a.m. weekday show about problem solving; the human interest show Lives in a Landscape; What's in a Name, an exploration of the pride and prejudice associated with having a foreign-sounding name in contemporary Britain; A Family Without a Child, a programme relating the experiences of childless British women; The Hidden Story of British Slavery, a programme about the persistence of a form of slavery in Britain in the 21st century; and an investigation of the poor working conditions of domiciliary carers and the other troubles of the British social care system. She also presented the podcast that the BBC dedicated to the daily proceedings of the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire. [3]

LBC

It was reported in February 2022 that Myska was one of the many BBC presenters who had left the corporation in order to work in the private sector. [6] On 11 June 2022, she began hosting a weekend phone-in show for LBC Radio, broadcasting between 1pm and 4pm in a slot formerly occupied by the Muslim activist Maajid Nawaz.

In April 2024, Myska was absent from her weekend show without explanation, and on 1 May, LBC announced that she was leaving the station. Listeners speculated that this may have been related to Myska's interview with Israeli spokesperson Avi Hyman on 15 April in which she questioned Israel's airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Syria. [7] [8] Sources connected to the station suggested that her departure was instead due to falling hourly audience figures, [9] a view shared by LBC host James O'Brien who said "Unfortunately, like every other presenter on LBC, I stand and fall by my listening hours, by my ratings." [10] [11]

Awards

In 2007, European Voice magazine named Myska as one of Europe's 50 most influential people because of the light that she had shed on child trafficking. [3] Her work on the issue also won her a place on the longlist of the 2007 Amnesty International Journalism Awards. In 2012, the Women of the Future Programme (International) named her Asian Woman of the Year in the Media, again because of her trafficking report, but also because of her coverage of the London riots of 2011 and their aftermath. [3] In 2014, her radio work on the consequences of childlessness was acknowledged by a place among the finalists for the Journalist of the Year and Investigation of the Year awards bestowed by the Asian Media Group. [3]

Personal life

Myska is married. She has suffered pregnancy loss and has spoken out about the issue, including on her former LBC show. [12]

In 2009, Myska began volunteering for the Akanksha Foundation, training boys in the use of journalism to serve their community. [3]

In September 2009, it was revealed that she had been mugged the previous year by Daniel Mykoo and his brother Matthew, dubbed the London "strangler-robbers." [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LBC</span> Radio station in London

LBC is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast on Monday 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Rippon</span> English television presenter (born 1944)

Angela May Rippon is an English broadcaster, former newsreader, writer and journalist.

Anne Margaret Diamond is a British journalist, broadcaster, and children's health campaigner. She presently hosts the weekend breakfast show on GB News with Stephen Dixon as her co-presenter. She hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am and Good Morning with Anne and Nick for BBC One, with Nick Owen. In 2023, she was made an OBE for her service to children's health and is the first non-medic to hold the Royal College of Paediatrics College Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain Lee</span> English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian

Iain Lee is an English former broadcaster, writer, and television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show The Late Night Alternative on "pay to view" Patreon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bacon (broadcaster)</span> English television and radio presenter

Richard Paul Bacon is an English television, radio presenter television producer. He has worked on television shows including Blue Peter, The Big Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, and on radio stations including Capital FM, Xfm London and BBC Radio Five Live. In 2016, Bacon became the presenter of The National Geographic Channel's reboot of its documentary and panel discussion TV series, Explorer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Mair</span> Scottish broadcaster

Eddie Mair is a Scottish former broadcaster who was a presenter on BBC radio and television. He presented his show on LBC between 4pm and 6pm every weekday until his last one, on 18 August 2022, after which he retired from broadcasting. He also hosted BBC Radio 4's daily news magazine PM, the Radio 4 Saturday iPM, and NewsPod. He occasionally presented Newsnight and Any Questions. Mair became a stand-in presenter for The Andrew Marr Show following Marr's stroke. Mair left the BBC in August 2018.

Nicolo Ferrari is a conservative British radio host, television presenter and broadcast journalist. He is best known as the host of the weekday breakfast show on the London-based radio station LBC. He also has a regular column in the Sunday Express and was previously a regular guest on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. He regularly appears on ITV's programme This Morning and has presented the Sky News debate show The Pledge since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Maitlis</span> British journalist (born 1970)

Emily Maitlis is a British journalist and former newsreader for the BBC. She was the lead anchor of the BBC Two news and current affairs programme Newsnight until the end of 2021. She has since been a presenter of the daily podcast The News Agents on LBC Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Kearney</span> British-Irish journalist and broadcaster (born 1957)

Martha Catherine Kearney is a British-Irish journalist and broadcaster. She was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's lunchtime news programme The World at One for 11 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Sopel</span> British journalist (born 1959)

Jonathan B. Sopel is a British journalist, television presenter and podcaster. He was formerly BBC News's North America editor; chief political correspondent for the domestic news channel BBC News; a presenter on the Politics Show on BBC One and the BBC News channel; and from 2013 to 2014, the main presenter of Global on BBC World News. Since 2022, he has been presenting the Global daily news podcast The News Agents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Allen (radio presenter)</span> English radio presenter

Stephen Allen is an English radio presenter. He joined LBC in 1979, initially as a newsreader. He later became the long-serving host of the station's early morning breakfast show until his departure in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James O'Brien (broadcaster)</span> British radio presenter, podcaster, author

James Edward O'Brien is a British presenter and writer. Since 2004, he has hosted a weekday morning phone-in discussion for talk station LBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Whale (radio presenter)</span> British radio DJ (born 1951)

Michael James Whale is a British radio personality, television presenter, podcast host and author. He gained initial prominence in the 1980s as the host of The James Whale Radio Show on Radio Aire in Leeds, which was simulcast on national television. From 1995 to 2008, Whale hosted a night time radio show on talkSPORT, followed by stints on LBC 97.3 and various BBC radio stations.

Aasmah Saira Mir is a Scottish television and radio broadcaster and journalist who co-presents the Monday-Thursday breakfast programme on Times Radio.

Carol Lesley Barnes was a British television newsreader and broadcaster. She worked for ITN from 1975 to 2004.

Emma Catherine Crosby is a British television newsreader and journalist.

Shelagh Fogarty is a British radio presenter, journalist and former television presenter. She presents the afternoon programme on LBC, having previously co-hosted the BBC Radio 5 Live breakfast show with Nicky Campbell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olly Mann</span>

Olly Mann is a British podcaster, broadcaster and BBC presenter. He is best known as the presenter of the weekend evening show on LBC and for his work with longtime collaborator Helen Zaltzman with whom he presented the award-winning podcast Answer Me This!.

This is a list of events in British radio during 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Barnett</span> British broadcaster and journalist (1985)

Emma Barnett is a British broadcaster and journalist who presented Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 from 2021 until 2024.

References

  1. 1 2 Sholli, Sam (29 August 2022). "'I'm of this country': Sangita Myska reflects on what bigoted caller said to her". LBC. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  2. "@SangitaMyska". twitter. 28 August 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sangita Myska". linkedin.
  4. 1 2 3 "Radio Sheffield's 40th Birthday - Sangita Myska". BBC Radio Sheffield. 3 October 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  5. "Press release". BBC. 23 January 2003.
  6. Kanter, Jake (21 February 2022). "BBC brain drain leads to fear of more blunders". The Times.
  7. Kanter, Jake (30 April 2024). "Sangita Myska Unlikely To Return To LBC After Being "Disappeared," Sparking Listener Revolt". Deadline. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  8. "Sangita Myska leaves LBC as Vanessa Feltz joins in schedule shake-up". BBC News. 1 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  9. Kanter, Jake (30 April 2024). "Sangita Myska Unlikely To Return To LBC After Being "Disappeared," Sparking Listener Revolt". Deadline. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  10. Gilmour, David (2 May 2024). "James O'Brien Rips Sangita Myska LBC Exit 'Conspiracy': Host Tenure Driven by Ratings, Not Israel Coverage". MediaIte. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. "Youth antipathy towards Israel: James O'Brien - The Whole Show Podcast". YouTube. 2 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  12. Myska, Sangita (3 June 2021). "Mum's not the word". Tortoise. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  13. Topping, Alexandra (22 September 2009). "Farhi muggers admit over £1m worth of street robbery". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  14. 'I was a victim of the strangler-robbers' BBC News, 23 September 2009