Paul Vassallo

I can recall listening to BBC WSR late at night in Australia from a young age and never thought I would ever have the great opportunity to work in Bush House and on a programme like WHYS.

 A big hello to the WHYS community! I have just joined the team from BBC Newsgathering.

 It is a big step for me as I have never worked on programme production before.

Alicia Trujillo

HI I am Alicia. I am new to the WHYS team having starting full time on the programme in October. Some of you might have seen me on the blog because I was part of the Mexico team in April when we did the programmes about Swine flu from Mexico City.

Helen Richmond

 

At 7 years old I announced to my family that I wanted to work for BBC radio, to which my father, an avid BBC listener, responded that the BBC would never employ me with my strong Yorkshire accent, yet here I am today.

Before joining the World Have Your Say team I was working as an English teacher in China. During this time I also made a few embarrassing T.V appearances but the less said about those the better! I also started listening to the World Service and became a fan of World Have Your Say.

The websites that we’re using

We all take impartiality very seriously, as we do our brief to represent the whole world and not just the parts we live in or know well. But we’re also realistic enough to know that those goals will always remain a work in progress.

We thought it would be interesting for you, and helpful for us, to put together a list of ten websites which each of us use to look for stories and issues that could make the show.

Shaimaa Khalil

I’ve come to the World Service from Doha, Qatar, well actually from Egypt. I’m originally from Egypt and have lived and worked in Doha for ten years.And Before that I lived in Miamai, for a while.  

I moved to the UK for my husband’s job and got work experience at the BBC World Service through my MA course. I’m the one that’s always grumbling about how untidy our desks are and telling people to clear their desks before they go! (I know super cool!)

Krupa Thakrar

I’m affectionately known on the World Have Your Say team as Marshmallow, mainly because I thought houses were built on stilts for ventilation and because I accidently bought a real crocodile’s head on a work trip to Florida. If you ever get to meet us, I’m sure you’ll hear the stories. 

Madeleine Morris

It’s about time I put up a Meet the Team page for myself, having had the privilege of meeting so many listeners over the past year or so. My only excuse is that I’m not as funny as Mark or as smart as Ros and wanted to keep that a secret for as long as I could. Looks like I’m busted.

Mark Sandell aka “Old Grandfather Radio”

I’m the one to blame if you don’t like WHYS. 

Who are we?

We’ve been discussing how we could tell you a little more about ourselves. Not because we think you’ll be interested in what music we like or where we like to go on holiday, but because we’d like to be as open with you as possible about who we are and what we’re bringing to the programme.

Ros Atkins

Hi. I’ve been presenting WHYS since it started, first as a cover presenter and then as a fixture when Steve and then Anu moved on. Before joining WHYS full-time, I was also presenting The World Today and The Ticket on the BBC World Service and Up All Night on BBC Radio Five Live. That was always covering for colleagues though so it was a huge thrill when Mark offered me a regular gig.