Michael Graham (born 9 August 1960, Hampstead, London) is a British journalist. He is best known for his work as a presenter on national commercial speech radio station Talksport. Previously he was Editor of the Scottish Daily Mirror[1] and Programme Director and mid-morning presenter of the Independent Republic of Mike Graham on Talk 107, the Edinburgh sister station of Talksport.[2]
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He was born in London to a Scottish mother, Marie Graham and a Scottish father, Archibald Graham. He, however, has a pronounced North London accent.
Before his career in broadcasting Mike was a Fleet Street journalist working for all the major newspaper groups including the Express, Times, Mail and News Group newspapers (News International) and Mirror Group. He covered wars, elections, trials and showbiz events during his time as a reporter. He was based in New York City from 1984-92, where he ran his own news agency supplying news, features and pictures to media all over the world.
He has presented radio shows for BBC Radio Scotland covering the Edinburgh Festival and the world of politics. Among the politicians and showbiz stars he has interviewed are Bill Clinton, Paul Newman, John Major, Tony Blair, Racquel Welch, Boris Yeltsin, George Michael, Alex Salmond, Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver.
Graham also appears regularly as a guest on Good Morning Scotland, Radio 5 Live, STV's the 5.30 Show with Stephen Jardine, Newsnight and The Lesley Riddoch Show. He is also a regular guest on Battle Line, a Washington-based US show on Radio America presented by Alan Nathan.
He can now be heard on Britain's only national commercial speech radio station Talksport. He was first heard standing in on Talksport for Jon Gaunt in July 2008. Then he presented three shows every weekend, Saturday, Sunday and Monday Mornings from 1:00am–6:00am which was highly popular with regular callers. In April 2010 he presented the 10pm-1am slot every Friday and Saturday night, replacing George Galloway as well as continuing to present the Monday 1-6am slot. From July 2010 he moved from weekends to weekdays and then presented alongside Mike Parry between 10am-1pm replacing Andy Townsend, who left the station because he no longer wanted to commute from his Midlands home to the London studio.
Graham's future with Talksport seemed uncertain after his co-host Mike Parry resigned from Talksport as a result of a contractual dispute[3], but in March 2011 Mike returned to Talksport's overnight slot, this time covering Tuesday to Friday mornings 1.00am to 6.00am.