Prime radio slot forBallymoney woman

Mother-of-two Kerry McLean will now present a new programme in the 3pm-5pm slot on the station every Monday-Thursday in place of Portrush man Alan Simpson.

Alan will present his final programme in this slot on Tuesday, December 24. He has had a new series commissioned for BBC Radio Ulster which will focus on the north coast of Northern Ireland and will be broadcast next year.

Fergus Keeling, Head of Radio, BBC Northern Ireland: “We’re tremendously excited about evolving our schedule in the New Year to offer our listeners the best content which is designed to be high quality, engaging and perfectly suited for our audiences who are listening at these times.

“Kerry’s new programme in the afternoon will be a completely new offering for our listeners. As a mother herself, the programme will focus on the family and have some great content to engage, entertain and inform our audiences, whether they are taking some time out or carrying on with their busy tasks of being a parent.

“Kerry has done a wonderful job with Weekend Extra on Saturday mornings and is passionate about family, cooking, movies and television, so this new programme will be a perfect fit for her. Her move to weekdays highlights our commitment to developing and nurturing exciting talent in our schedule.”

Kerry, who is married to fellow BBC broadcaster Ralph McLean, says: “I’ve loved every minute of presenting on Saturday mornings on BBC Radio Ulster over the last six years, and I’m so excited that I’m getting to replicate the fun and games four times a week in the afternoons.

“I’ll be playing lots of great music and trying my hardest not to sing along out of key! I’ll be keeping you entertained, whether you’re listening at work, in the car, out on the school run or at home in the kitchen. I can’t wait to get started.”

Kerry was born in Ballymoney in 1975 and is a broadcaster with BBC Radio Ulster. She was educated at Dalriada School, Ballymoney, La Sainte Union, Southampton and London University College where she studied French and English Literature.

She joined the BBC in 1993 and since then has worked in news and current affairs in both BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Scotland, in BBC Radio 4 on the Today programme and later for the Ukrainian and Learning English sections of the BBC World Service.

She still lives in Ballymoney with her husband and two children Tara and Dan.