Aasmah Mir

Aasmah Saira Mir (/ˈæzmə ˈmɪər/; born 7 October 1971) is a Scottish television and radio broadcaster and journalist.

Aasmah Mir
Born
Aasmah Saira Mir

(1971-10-07) 7 October 1971
Glasgow, Scotland
NationalityBritish
OccupationBroadcaster, journalist
Years active1995–present
Spouse(s)
Piara Powar (m. 2007)

Early life

Mir was born to first-generation Pakistani immigrants in Glasgow,[1] and brought up in the nearby suburb of Bearsden, from the age of ten, where she attended Bearsden Academy.[2][3][4] She graduated from the University of Bristol with an honours law degree in 1993.[5]

Journalism

In 1995 Mir had a brief stint as a reporter for the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, then became a radio researcher. In 2005 and 2006 she was a columnist for the Sunday Herald.[5]

Broadcasting career

Television

Mir began her career in broadcasting in 1992 appearing on a BBC TV programme called The Insiders with Gordon Kennedy.[1] After graduation she joined Scottish Television aged 21 as a trainee and read the early morning news bulletins,[1] and presented the main news show.[1]

She presented a couple of editions of the documentary strand for BBC Two called East[5] in 1996 and some items on Desi DNA.[5] In 1998 she became a reporter for Central TV in Nottingham.

Mir has also presented Just Write on Channel 4 and Around Scotland on BBC Two.[5] In 2010 she became a newspaper reviewer on GMTV with Lorraine and Lorraine.[2]

Radio

In 1999 Mir moved to London as a producer for BBC Radio London and started doing freelance news-reading shifts for the national radio station BBC Radio 5 Live. She joined the station full-time in July 2001.

In April 2006 she covered the weekday morning phone in programme on BBC Asian Network for a fortnight when Sonia Deol left the programme, and before Anita Rani became presenter. She has presented items on the BBC Asian Network Report.[5]

Mir presented the Midday News on 5 Live, Monday to Friday, until 9 January 2009. She joined BBC Scotland in April 2009 as a presenter of the Friday edition of Good Morning Scotland.[1] Also in 2009 she presented a series of programmes for BBC Radio 4 on Scotland's Year of Homecoming,[1][6] as well as Colour Me White for Radio 4, and Gay Life After Saddam for Radio 5 Live. In 2010 she replaced Anita Anand as a presenter of Radio 5 Live's Drive programme. In March 2012, for one week, she sat in for Jeremy Vine on his BBC Radio 2 programme.

On 27 September 2012 Mir announced on Twitter that she planned to leave BBC 5 Live, after 11 years with the station. Mir presented her last 5 Live Drive on 9 November 2012. On 29 October 2012 Mir presented BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour. She has since presented the LBC 97.3 afternoon show as a substitute for Julia Hartley-Brewer.

She was a co-presenter of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live from 2012 to 2020.[7]

In April 2020 it was announced that Mir would be joining the upcoming radio station Times Radio as a presenter. She will co-present the Monday to Thursday breakfast show, with Stig Abell, when the station begins later in the year.[8]

Personal life

Mir is married to Piara Powar, the executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe.[9][10] Mir is an avid fan of Celtic.[9]

References
  1. Aasmah Mir: Scotland’s not my home any more Times Online, 22 November 2009
  2. Barry, Maggie (31 October 2010). "Scots drivetime BBC radio host on fighting talk fuelling on-air duels". Sunday Mail. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  3. Williams, Tessa (7 January 2013). "At home with... Aasmah Mir". The Scotsman.
  4. "School pain for Aasmah". Evening Times. 24 July 2017.
  5. Aasmah Mir Biography Archived 30 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine BBC Press Office, May 2010
  6. A Very Scottish Homecoming Archived 19 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine Radio Listings, November 2009
  7. "Radio 4's Aasmah Mir quits amid rumours of Times Radio role". guardian.co.uk. 25 April 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  8. Martin, Roy (27 April 2020). "Times Radio schedule revealed ahead of summer launch". radiotoday.co.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  9. "Sectarian row chief married to Celtic fan". The Scotsman. Johnston Publishing. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  10. Powar condemns high profile remarks Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine; British Eurosport

External sources

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