Jo Russell

Jo Russell is an English radio presenter and DJ, currently working for Free Radio and Gem 106.

Biography

Russell worked for an insurance company and Coca Cola among other roles before beginning her broadcasting career at York Hospital Radio. She later moved on to hosting weekend shows at Stray FM in Harrogate and a full-time presenting role at York's Minster FM.

From 1998 onwards, Russell spent over ten years co-presenting Trent FM's award-winning breakfast show with Andy "Twiggy" Twigge, who had previously worked alongside her at sister station Ram FM in Derby. During this time, Russell won various awards for her work including four Sony Awards, the 2008 Arqiva Commercial Radio Presenter of the Year and Best Breakfast Show at the 2007 European Radio Awards. In September 2008, she joined Absolute Radio as the host of a weekend mid-morning show, which ran for around thirteen months.

A month after her departure from Absolute, Russell joined BRMB to host its flagship weekday breakfast show, The Jo Show. In November 2010, following a break from work due to illness, she began co-presenting the station's weekday drivetime show Jo and Sparky, alongside Mark "Sparky" Colerangle.

During 2011, Russell also presented Back to the 80s, a weekly Saturday night show for the East Midlands regional radio station Gem 106.

In 2014, Russell was awarded the Local and Regional Lifetime Achievement award by the Radio Academy.

On 16 July 2015, Orion Media announced Russell would move to Free Radio's Shropshire and Black Country station to co-present Jo and Sparky in the weekday breakfast timeslot, beginning on Monday 20 July 2015 at 6am. Since early 2016, the pair have also presented a Saturday morning show on Gem 106.