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Shelagh Fogarty on LBC, not wanting to be a 'shock jock', and learning from Hillsborough

Kate chats with LBC favourite Shelagh Fogarty about her journey through journalism, growing up as one of seven children, broadcasting opposite Nicky Campbell, and fighting for justice while reporting on Hillsborough for over 30 years.

White Wine Question Time with Kate Thornton is the podcast that brings together well-known guests to answer three thought-provoking questions over three glasses of wine. Discover the friendships behind the entertainment headlines, and listen in on their conversations for a side to the celebrities you've never heard before. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow on Instagram (@whitewineqt) & Twitter (@WhiteWineQT) to keep up to date with the latest guests, news and more.

Video transcript

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SHELAGH FOGARTY: I love a royal wedding. I don't know whether I've ever bored you about this, love a royal wedding. And there was a moment during the Harry and Meghan's wedding. We had a TV screen in front of us and it's this gorgeous television shot through the archway into Windsor Great Park.

I was talking to Nick about whatever and I just went, Oh, look at that. And he just tapped me on the arm and went, you're on the radio, Shelagh, you've got to tell them what you're looking at. I was so immersed in it all.

KATE THORTON: You lost yourself.

SHELAGH FOGARTY: Look at the carriage, just look at the dress, look at the bride, look at the groom. Oh, isn't that lovely? Look at that. And he's like, tell people what you're looking at, Shelagh. And I was going, oh yeah.

KATE THORTON: Talking features.

SHELAGH FOGARTY: Rule 101. Well, it's funny because when LBC first approached me about working for them, I was like, are you-- are you-- are you sure?

KATE THORTON: Yeah.

SHELAGH FOGARTY: Because I'm not a shock jock.

KATE THORTON: No.

SHELAGH FOGARTY: And I don't really have that in me. Interestingly though, in the seven years that I've been with them--

KATE THORTON: Oh, it's changed a lot, the network.

SHELAGH FOGARTY: It's changed, but I've changed as well doing it, as in I've exercised more muscles. And I thought, if you're going to do it, if you're going to shed some of those BBC skins, then do it, don't half do it. But I do take people on a bit.

KATE THORTON: You do?

SHELAGH FOGARTY: Well, you have to sometimes, don't you?

KATE THORTON: But you do it so politely and you do it so well that I always come away impressed thinking-- You know how Christians wear those bracelets that say, "What would Jesus do?", I want to be a bit more, like what would Shelagh do?

SHELAGH FOGARTY: What would Shelagh do? One story in particular that I'd covered previously had prepared me really well for this, which was Hillsborough. Covering that story, both as a very young journalist and then over years, really, over three decades, it taught me an awful lot about-- I mean, it was the first story I ever covered really and I was in radio Merseyside on the day it happened. And it taught me an awful lot about listening.

It taught me a lot about how important those local and national journalistic hubs were for people to come to and speak to and give their story to. However that's happening, it's important that it happens. And it taught me about the truth and how important it is to kind of try your level best to get hold it and to get to it.

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