BBC News: Presenters & Rotas

Europe Editor Katya Adler has been covering the EU referendum from Salford. On Newsround yesterday for their mini EU debate with CBBC's target audience as their "EU Expert" and this morning on Breakfast with a VT and two way.

Lukwesa Burak has joined the BBC!

Excellent signing!

Re-joined. She used to be the Weather presenter on East Midlands Today.

http://i2.wp.com/www.tv-live.org.uk/media/bbcnews2008/regions/eastmidlandstoday/emt0213.jpg?resize=400%2C225

She wasn't at Al Jazeera for even a year!

If I understand Lukwesa's Twitter profile, she's now the breakfast newsreader on BBC Radio Leicester and will also present Inside Out East Midlands.

She popped up a few weeks ago covering the weather on Points West. Didn't look like she was in Bristol though.

She's actually the main presenter of their weekend breakfast show.


We never worked together directly, but my own favourite memory of Lukwesa was the occasion on which I was hoofing it through the newsroom and managed to knock over a large whiteboard about ten feet from the main set... the resulting almighty "THWACK!" meant poor Lukwesa nearly leapt out of her chair live on-air! Thankfully, she was gracious enough to accept my grovelling apology!

According to listings she started last weekend, they've shuffled their weekend presenters around. There was one presenter doing shows 7 days a week who is now just doing weekdays, so she's not directly replaced anyone at Radio Leicester.

If she's also working on Inside Out East Midlands I doubt it will be long before she is standing in on EMT or appears on Radio Derby or Nottingham.

Lukwesa's show on Radio Leicester from today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03w3s6d#play

Lukwesa was very good at Al Jazeera and happened to be on-air anchoring some of the biggest breaking news events of the year. Sadly, when the AJ cost cutting programme happened, many freelance presenters did not have their contracts renewed and a LIFO system operated. Alas, Lukwesa was an early casualty on that basis, after only 4-5 months, if I'm not mistaken.

I've seen LIFO happen a few times, and it is the worst thing EVER. I've seen amazing talent leave because they've just joined and totally useless people retained because they've been there for years.

Lukwesa would be perfect for BBC World News.