Kay Wright has been appointed Head of BBC Midlands…
Kay Wright will lead all of the corporation’s local services for radio, TV and online across the West and East Midlands.
Jason Horton, Director of Production for BBC Local:
“Kay is a hugely experienced editorial leader who has led a number of teams across the Midlands over the past few years. Her relentless focus on our audiences, understanding what they want from BBC Local, her creativity and her leadership, are qualities that I am sure will make her time leading the BBC across the Midlands a huge success. I am excited to see what she achieves.”
Kay will be responsible for the region’s digital output, Midlands Today, East Midlands Today, two Sunday Politics programmes, BBC Radio WM, BBC CWR, BBC Radio Stoke, BBC Radio Shropshire, BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester, BBC Radio Derby, BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Radio Nottingham.
Wright takes over from Hayley Valentine who became Director of BBC Scotland last year.
Kay joined the Beeb in 1999 and went on to lead BBC Radio Leicester and BBC CWR in the Midlands as Executive Editor and before joining the BBC worked in regional and national newspapers. Most recently she has been heading up TV and digital news output in the North East of England and before that headed up the BBC in the Midlands on an interim basis in 2023.
Kay Wright:
“Having spent much of my career in Leicester, my heart truly belongs in the Midlands. I can’t wait to get back to work with the enormously talented, creative and committed news and programme-makers this region boasts. It will be a huge privilege to work with BBC colleagues as well as regional stakeholders to deliver the highest quality content for our audiences.”
The Midlands is a big part of the BBC’s Across the UK strategy to better represent and serve audiences by moving shows, talent, teams, and content to the region. In the last few years the corporation has moved hundreds of additional hours of network radio programming to the city – including BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat, three new 1Xtra shows meaning the network will be live from Birmingham every weekday from 10am-4pm.
Drama series Silent Witness has moved to the West Midlands and the MasterChef brand has moved production to new studios in Digbeth. Kay will take up her new role as Head of BBC Midlands from Monday 17 March.
