Wendy Austin

Who is Wendy Austin?

Wendy Austin is a BBC journalist and broadcaster in BBC Northern Ireland, and presenter of BBC Radio Ulster’s current affairs programme Talkback.

Austin began her career in journalism with The Belfast Telegraph, leaving to join the fledgling Downtown Radio station in 1976, and later that year moving to the BBC where she was a television reporter before moving into radio presentation.

She was involved in the breakfast time Good Morning Ulster from 1981, and began to present it in the early 1990s. On one occasion on Good Morning Ulster while interviewing former Ulster Unionist Party deputy leader John Taylor she objected to what she perceived as his patronising style and stated "I am not your dear girl." She worked for the BBC in London in the early 1990s for four years. In 2009 she began to present the lunchtime Talk Back on Radio Ulster after .

In 2005 Wendy Austin was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters, University of Ulster, "for her contribution to broadcasting". She was named the Northern Ireland Radio Broadcaster of the year in the CIPR Awards 2006. Austin is Chair of the Arts and Business NI Advisory Committee, and is a National Trustee of the charity. Wendy was awarded an MBE in the 2012 Queens birthday honours list.