Calum Macdonald
Calum presents Times Radio Breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings alongside Chloe Tilley. He moved to Breakfast in 2022, having joined Times Radio from its launch in 2020 to produce and present the Early Breakfast programme. Friday-Sunday’s Breakfast programme is the most-listened to programme on the station (RAJAR, Q3 2024). The four-hour agenda setting programme has built up a strong reputation for providing well-informed, thoughtful and intelligent news and discussion, covering the key stories of the day. As part of his work with Times Radio, he anchored coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth the Second from Scotland, was part of the station’s General Election 2024 results programme, providing analysis on the results as they came in and hosted US Election Night 2024.
Calum also hosts the Holyrood Sources and Whitehall Sources podcasts, taking you inside politics at the Scottish Parliament and at Westminster. January 2025 was one of the biggest months yet for the Holyrood Sources podcast – over 1 million people saw, heard and engaged with our podcast content. Well over 2.6 million encountered the resulting news coverage.
A week after graduating with a degree in politics from the University of Edinburgh in 2025, Calum worked for the BBC, as a researcher on Victoria Derbyshire’s new TV programme. He then moved to BBC Radio 5 Live where he produced programmes across the schedule. He also read the news, before presenting for the first time, aged 23, covering BBC Radio 5 Live’s Up All Night programme. In September 2019, he was brought in to present a new commission for BBC Radio Scotland: Debate Night Extra, a weekly political phone-in programme.
He’s hosted live events with the podcast and for corporate clients – the Times Food and Drink Summit, the Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards, the Newsworks Awards including Q&A sessions, interviews, plus MCing responsibilities as well.
- Co-Presenter, Times Radio Breakfast, Friday-Sunday (Coverage of the Queen’s death and funeral; Israel-Gaza war; Ukraine war; Boris Johnson resigning; Liz Truss resigning; Rishi Sunak becoming Prime Minister; The General Election 2024)
- Presenter, Times Radio Early Early Breakfast and across the schedule - age 27 (June 2020)
- Presenter, Times Radio Early Breakfast (2020)
- Presenter, Debate Night Extra, BBC Radio Scotland (2019)
- Senior Broadcast Journalist/ Producer: BBC Radio 5Live (2018)
- Co-Presenter, BBC Radio 5Live Drive (Cover 2018)
- Co-Presenter, Up All Night BBC Radio 5Live (Cover 2018)
- Cover Presenter, Kaye Adams, BBC Radio Scotland
- Election All Nighter with Stephen Nolan, BBC Radio 5Live (2017)
- Dep. Presenter, Up All Night, BBC Radio 5Live (2017)
- Newsreader, BBC Radio 5 Live (2015)
- Broadcast Journalist/ Producer, BBC Radio 5 Live (2015)
- Winner, Best Male Presenter, Student Radio Awards 2014
Biography
Calum presents Times Radio Breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings alongside Chloe Tilley. He moved to Breakfast in 2022, having joined Times Radio from its launch in 2020 to produce and present the Early Breakfast programme. Friday-Sunday’s Breakfast programme is the most-listened to programme on the station (RAJAR, Q3 2024). The four-hour agenda setting programme has built up a strong reputation for providing well-informed, thoughtful and intelligent news and discussion, covering the key stories of the day. As part of his work with Times Radio, he anchored coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth the Second from Scotland, was part of the station’s General Election 2024 results programme, providing analysis on the results as they came in and hosted US Election Night 2024.
Calum also hosts the Holyrood Sources and Whitehall Sources podcasts, taking you inside politics at the Scottish Parliament and at Westminster. January 2025 was one of the biggest months yet for the Holyrood Sources podcast – over 1 million people saw, heard and engaged with our podcast content. Well over 2.6 million encountered the resulting news coverage.
A week after graduating with a degree in politics from the University of Edinburgh in 2025, Calum worked for the BBC, as a researcher on Victoria Derbyshire’s new TV programme. He then moved to BBC Radio 5 Live where he produced programmes across the schedule. He also read the news, before presenting for the first time, aged 23, covering BBC Radio 5 Live’s Up All Night programme. In September 2019, he was brought in to present a new commission for BBC Radio Scotland: Debate Night Extra, a weekly political phone-in programme.
He’s hosted live events with the podcast and for corporate clients – the Times Food and Drink Summit, the Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards, the Newsworks Awards including Q&A sessions, interviews, plus MCing responsibilities as well.
Credits
- Co-Presenter, Times Radio Breakfast, Friday-Sunday (Coverage of the Queen’s death and funeral; Israel-Gaza war; Ukraine war; Boris Johnson resigning; Liz Truss resigning; Rishi Sunak becoming Prime Minister; The General Election 2024)
- Presenter, Times Radio Early Early Breakfast and across the schedule - age 27 (June 2020)
- Presenter, Times Radio Early Breakfast (2020)
- Presenter, Debate Night Extra, BBC Radio Scotland (2019)
- Senior Broadcast Journalist/ Producer: BBC Radio 5Live (2018)
- Co-Presenter, BBC Radio 5Live Drive (Cover 2018)
- Co-Presenter, Up All Night BBC Radio 5Live (Cover 2018)
- Cover Presenter, Kaye Adams, BBC Radio Scotland
- Election All Nighter with Stephen Nolan, BBC Radio 5Live (2017)
- Dep. Presenter, Up All Night, BBC Radio 5Live (2017)
- Newsreader, BBC Radio 5 Live (2015)
- Broadcast Journalist/ Producer, BBC Radio 5 Live (2015)
- Winner, Best Male Presenter, Student Radio Awards 2014