Martin Kelner: BBC Radio Presenter, Author, Comedian and Journalist

Martin Kelner is a British journalist, author, comedian and radio presenter whose broadcasting career has lasted more than forty years, most of it with the BBC. He is best known to radio listeners as a voice of BBC local radio in the north of England, as a presenter on BBC Radio 2, and as a regular panellist on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Fighting Talk, which he has won twice. He is also a newspaper columnist and the author of several books on sport, television and comedy. He is the father of Martha Kelner, the Sky News US correspondent, a link between two generations of British journalism — one in radio and print, the other in television news.

Kelner’s career is a reminder of how much of British broadcasting happens away from national television. His audience was built over decades of local and network radio, of columns and books, and of comedy and panel shows — a career measured in longevity and in the affection of listeners, rather than in a single famous programme.

Quick Bio

Radio Hallam and the BBC

Kelner began at Radio Hallam in Sheffield, the independent local station that served South Yorkshire. Local radio in that era was a training ground for a generation of British broadcasters: presenters learned to fill hours live, to talk to callers, to cover local sport and news, and to build a relationship with an audience that listened every day. From there he moved into the BBC, where most of his career has been spent. He presented on BBC Radio 2, holding a weekday early show and a Saturday night show from 1985 to 1990, a period when Radio 2 was the BBC’s mainstream popular-music and entertainment network. He also worked across BBC local radio in the north of England, the stations that are the backbone of BBC radio outside London, and he later worked for LBC, TalkSport and TalkRadio, joining TalkRadio in February 2018. That breadth — national network, local stations, commercial talk radio — is unusual. Most presenters settle in one part of the system. Kelner worked across all of them, which is one reason his name is familiar to listeners of several different kinds of radio.

Fighting Talk and the comedy voice

Kelner is a regular panellist on Fighting Talk, BBC Radio 5 Live’s long-running Saturday morning sports quiz and discussion show, and he has won the series championship twice, in 2013 and in 2019. Fighting Talk rewards a particular combination: genuine sports knowledge, quick wit, and the ability to argue a case entertainingly under pressure. Winning it once is a mark of standing among its panellists; winning it twice puts a panellist in rare company. The comedy element of his work is not incidental. Kelner is a comedian as well as a journalist, and his broadcasting voice has always mixed the two. His books reflect the same blend: When Will I Be Famous?, Sit Down and Cheer — a history of sport on British television — and Wrestling in Honey. Sport on television is a subject that suits him exactly, because it sits at the intersection of his two careers: the journalism of reporting sport, and the comedy of watching how television presents it. His weekly Guardian column, “Screen Break”, on sport on television, extended that voice into print. A weekly column on how sport looks on screen is a niche, but it is a niche he made his own, and it kept him in front of readers as well as listeners.

Early podcasting

Kelner was also an early podcasting pioneer. His podcast The Piss Poor Podcast ran from 2006 to 2021, a period that spans almost the whole history of podcasting as a medium, from its early amateur days to its present professional form. Starting a podcast in 2006, when the medium barely existed in Britain, showed the same instinct that runs through his career: a willingness to try a new format early, and to build an audience for it over time.

Family and the Martha Kelner link

Kelner is the father of Martha Kelner, the Sky News US correspondent. The relationship is confirmed by Martha Kelner’s Wikipedia page, which states she is the daughter of Martin Kelner, also a sports reporter, and by the Sports Journalists’ Association profile of her 2017 Guardian appointment, which states that her father Martin is a well-known radio broadcaster. Martin Kelner’s own Wikipedia page likewise states that his daughter Martha is a journalist. This article does not go further into family life. No detail about children beyond the father-daughter link itself is included, and no date of birth or age is asserted for Kelner, because reliable sources do not confirm one and blog dates conflict. No salary or net-worth figure is given. Those omissions are deliberate, following the same rule applied across Presslix articles: only facts a reliable source confirms are published, and where sources conflict or none exists, the detail is left out. The father-daughter link connects two different eras and mediums of British journalism. The father built his career in radio and print, in the north of England and on national networks, over more than forty years. The daughter built hers in newspapers and then in television news, from sports reporting at The Guardian and the Daily Mail to foreign correspondence for Sky News in Los Angeles. Both, however, began as reporters, and both made their names by explaining sport and news to a British audience.

What competitors get wrong or leave out

Most short pages about Kelner make two mistakes. First, they describe him only as a radio presenter, and miss the writing career — the Guardian column and the books — that runs alongside the broadcasting. Second, low-quality blogs pad his profile with guessed personal details, including conflicting dates of birth, while leaving out the verifiable career facts: Radio Hallam, Radio 2 from 1985 to 1990, BBC local radio, TalkRadio from 2018, Fighting Talk championships in 2013 and 2019, and the podcast that ran from 2006 to 2021.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Martin Kelner?

A British journalist, author, comedian and radio presenter with more than forty years in radio, mostly for the BBC.

What radio stations has he worked for?

Radio Hallam in Sheffield, BBC Radio 2, BBC local radio across the north, LBC, TalkSport and TalkRadio.

What is Fighting Talk, and how has he done on it?

BBC Radio 5 Live’s Saturday sports quiz and discussion show, on which he is a regular panellist and a two-time series champion, in 2013 and 2019.

What books has he written?

When Will I Be Famous?, Sit Down and Cheer (a history of sport on British television), and Wrestling in Honey.

Is he the father of Martha Kelner?

Yes. Martha Kelner, the Sky News US correspondent, is his daughter, as confirmed by Wikipedia and the Sports Journalists’ Association.

More on Presslix

Read more: Hannah Vaughan Jones: Former CNN and Sky News Presenter, Broadcast Journalist and Career | Martha Kelner: Sky News US Correspondent, Former Guardian Chief Sports Reporter and Career Explained | Journalists & Media

Sources and Further Reading

• Martin Kelner on Wikipedia — 40-plus years in radio, mostly BBC; Radio Hallam, BBC Radio 2 1985–1990, TalkRadio February 2018, Fighting Talk champion 2013 and 2019, books, podcast, daughter Martha a journalist.
• Sports Journalists’ Association profile of Martha Kelner’s 2017 Guardian appointment: father Martin a well-known radio broadcaster.
• BBC Radio 5 Live Fighting Talk records: Kelner as regular panellist and series champion.
• Guardian “Screen Break” column records: weekly column on sport on television.
• Note: date of birth, age, salary, net worth and children details beyond the father-daughter link are intentionally not claimed, because reliable sources do not confirm them and blog dates conflict.