Leona Graham (born 18 January 1971) is a British radio broadcaster and voiceover artist. She is currently a presenter of

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via digital audio broadcasting. The station focuses on alternative ...

(formerly

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio is a branding of radio stations broadcast in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. As of April 2024, there were over 40 stations globally. The stations ...

), a position she has held since 2000. She can also be heard on the digital stations

Absolute 80s Absolute Radio 80s (known on-air as Absolute 80s) is a national digital radio station, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. Its main output is non-stop 1980s hits. History Absolute Radio 80s launched at 7.00pm on ...

and Absolute Classic Rock. In addition, Graham has recorded voiceovers for numerous national and local TV and radio stations and commercials. Graham was a judge at the

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

2011.

Education

Graham was educated at Berkhamsted School for Girls in

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the River Bulbourne, Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. She then studied at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

from 1989 to 1993 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama. She is also a qualified school teacher.

Radio broadcasting

Early career

She began her career in broadcasting at W963 University Radio Warwick (now

Radio Warwick RAW 1251AM is the student radio station at the University of Warwick and winner of the 2000 and 2003 BBC Radio 1 Student Radio Association Best Station awards. Formerly known as W963, during the years when broadcasts were conducted via an in ...

)The Independent of 22 August 2005 regarding her involvement with Radio Warwick
/ref> where she presented the "Thursday Night Rock Show" and a nightly magazine style news programme called "Weekday Warwick". Before joining Virgin Radio in 2000, Graham worked for a number of radio stations, at first for low pay and during the night.Trewin, Janet (2003). "Presenting on TV and radio: an insider's guide", Focal Press. .Leona Graham's professional profile and CV at Linkedin

Virgin Radio

Graham joined

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

as a presenter on 28 April 2000. During her time with Virgin Radio, she presented a variety of shows: Virgin Radio UK Album Charts, Virgin Radio Party, Teenage Kicks, 80's Anthems, Smells like the 90's, The Classic Rock Show, The Late Show, Virgin Love and Weekend Breakfast. She was the second presenter heard on Virgin's digital station Virgin Classic Rock at its launch in 2003.

Absolute Radio

Source: Graham stayed after

was re-branded as

. She works both as a main presenter and a fill-in presenter. She can be heard every weekday from 10am to 10pm across three stations: main station (from 10am till 1pm); then Absolute 80s (from 1pm till 4pm) and Classic Rock station (from 7pm till 10pm). On Saturday, she works from midday to 6pm, first with Classic Rock station (till 4pm) and finally 80s station. On 9 January 2012, Graham took over the weekday 1pm5pm slot for three months on Absolute Radio following the departure of Nick Jackson until Andy Bush arrived at the station. Graham currently broadcasts on Absolute Radio from 10am-1pm, Monday to Friday.

Interviews

At Absolute Radio Graham has interviewed rock star

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

lead singer

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...

and vocalist of Free,

Bad Company Bad Company were an English rock supergroup formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke (both ex- Free), guitarist Mick Ralphs (ex- Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (ex-King Crimson). Kirke was the only m ...

and

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Paul Rodgers Paul Bernard Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is an English-Canadian singer. He was the lead vocalist of numerous successful rock bands, including Free (band), Free, Bad Company, The Firm (rock band), the Firm and The Law (English band), the L ...

.List of recent audio and video interviews

Voiceovers

Graham has recently set up her own Voice over production Company called High Voltage Media. Graham has been the voice for BBC Radio One, BBC 5 LIVE, 95.8 Capital FM, The BOX, E4, Virgin Radio and Absolute Radio. She also contributes regularly for BBC1, ITV1 and SKY1 and narrates programmes for Channel 4. She is also known for her voice in movie trailers on Virgin Media TV.Voiceovers section on her professional website
rhubarb.co.uk artist page for Leona Graham
/ref> More recently she started working with Orion Media to produce trailers for its stations BRMB, Mercia and Wyvern FM and is one of the voices of Canadian radio station 102.3 Now Radio in Edmonton.

Awards

In 2010 Absolute Radio received a Bronze Sony Radio Academy Award in the category Best Station Imaging for its imaging package in which Graham was one of the major contributors as Absolute Radio's station voice.

References

External links

Leona Graham's commercial websiteLeona Graham's websiteLeona Graham's fan siteThe No Repeat Guarantee on Absolute RadioThe 80s No Repeat Guarantee on Absolute 80sLeona Graham on Absolute Classic RockLeona Graham's Saturday Rock Show on Absolute Classic Rock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Leona Living people English radio DJs English voice actresses Alumni of the University of Warwick Absolute Radio 1971 births