Martha Kearney has stepped down as a presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme, saying she will be “enjoying the lie-ins” after six years of 3am starts on the job.
Colleagues and friends on Thursday paid tribute to the long-serving BBC presenter, while Kearney said she had loved the ability to form a deep connection with listeners.
Kearney said: “If you pay too much attention to Twitter you’d think we’re absolutely loathed. But Radio 4 listeners are amazing and as you go out and about and you see them and it’s wonderful, their enthusiasm.”
Today’s audience has remained steady with 5.6 million listeners a week during the first three months of 2024, according to Rajar figures. But this is down on the high of 7.5 million weekly listeners in 2017 after the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s election as US president.
The BBC acknowledges that traditional radio listening is likely to decline in the long term, requiring some adjustments to its output.
Although Today’s prime 8.10am interview remains a core part of every government minister’s media round, the programme is facing competition for agenda-setting interviews in podcasts such as The Rest Is Politics, and The News Agents, as well as from commercial radio stations such as LBC. The programme has been tweaking its format as it seeks to compete with the growth of podcasts and rival speech breakfast shows.
The departure of Kearney leaves behind five hosts – Justin Webb, Mishal Husain, Nick Robinson, Amol Rajan, and recent recruit Emma Barnett – to share presenting duties for Today’s six-day-a-week operation.
Kearney joined the BBC from LBC in 1988, holding jobs including presenter of Woman’s Hour, and Newsnight political editor. She spent more than a decade as host of World at One until she joined Today in 2018 as part of a job-swap with Sarah Montague.
Her friend and former colleague Kirsty Wark, who stepped down from Newsnight last week, said Kearney’s long stint as a presenter should not overshadow her record as a reporter. “She could winkle a story out of a stone. But in Northern Ireland especially she’s peerless. She was recognised with a Bafta nomination, she broke the story of secret talks between Martin McGuinness and the British government. Almost 30 years ago she interviewed paramilitary prisoners in the Maze prison for Newsnight.”
Kearney was also known for her fixation on bees and owned several hives before later developing an allergy to the pollinators.
Wark said: “I have loved waking up to the voice of the beehive. Martha is a true friend to many, many, lucky people. But she’s also been a true friend to listeners – because Martha’s voice is one you can trust.”
Before her final show it was announced that Kearney would return to Radio 4 in the autumn with a show named This Natural Life. Co-host Rajan commented on her final programme: “It only took 268 items about wild swimming and puffin colonies but they’ve finally given you a nature programme.”