We caught up with self-confessed chatterbox Amber Sandhu on her burgeoning broadcasting career, the magic of radio and supporting her beloved Wolves

At school, one of Amber Sandhu’s teachers told her to ‘put her voice to good use, just not in my classroom’. It turned out to be rather prophetic. Across radio and TV, Amber regularly presents for the BBC and Sky Sports and has worked on cricket’s sensational short format tournament, The Hundred since its inception. She also hosts many events and has taken on an ambassadorial role at the Wolves Foundation charity. Yet still, there’s an element of imposter syndrome.

Not being academic and attending a school that was rigorously so, Amber was a bit of an anomaly – her friends wanted to become lawyers and surgeons. While Amber was a successful sportswoman, playing cricket at county level, she says wasn’t an A star student. She was a chatterbox who loved her friends almost as much as she loved radio.

RADIO GA GA

Amber remembers: “Growing up I loved radio. Mum always had it on in the car and I never wanted to get out. It was magic like listening to friends.” With no connections in broadcasting, Amber says: “The BBC always seemed so far away from me – a girl from Wolves.” Amber studied Sports Science at the University of Worcester and lived at home. She volunteered at WCR FM where she learned her craft and worked in her local Tesco while studying.

At WCR FM Amber was shadowing some brilliant, retired presenters and says she owes her career to that place. Stuart Hickman was particularly helpful coaching and training her while on air. Amber started reading the travel bulletin but was asked to tone it down as she was a bit too cheery as she broke the dreaded news of delays on the roads.

Soon Amber was offered her own show – the chart show on a Sunday which progressed to Monday to Friday – all while studying and working at Tesco. Amber recalls: “I didn’t tell many people I was doing it. I didn’t have a plan aside from knowing this was what I wanted to do and I thought people might laugh.”

BBC LANYARD

When Amber graduated and found herself out in the big wide world, she was single-minded. She’d been applying to the BBC since she was 16 years-old with no luck, but undeterred, when an opportunity came up in production at the Asian Network at the BBC’s Mailbox building, she went for it. “There were a hundred applicants and as I’d applied so many times, I walked in not expecting to get it. Somehow, I did and I finally got my BBC lanyard! It was really cool walking into that building. I used to walk past it manifesting.”

Amber enjoyed an ‘amazing’ 12-month internship soaking up knowledge and learning all the time, but when Covid struck the BBC implemented a recruitment freeze. “I remember crying in the office. No one knew what would happen and I found myself freelance aged just 23. I think freelance can be great if you have contacts and I didn’t.” Amber got chatting to someone in the kitchen area and managed to get some work reporting on what was happening to people during the pandemic. “I was going around wearing a mask sticking a microphone through people’s windows talking to them about their experience and how they were coping.” When presenters at BBC WM radio started getting Covid, Amber was drafted in to cover.

WHIRLWIND MONTHS

Radio felt like Amber’s natural home. She says: “I never planned to do TV. I didn’t think I looked right for it and I loved radio and felt comfortable.” But when the Commonwealth Games rolled into town, Amber felt she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by. A job at Midlands Today came up reporting on the baton relay initially then The Games proper. Amber threw herself into the job with typical gusto. She says: “It was a whirlwind few months. I worked long hours learning as I went along, but the sun shone every day and it was magic.” One of Amber’s highlights was the late great Ozzy Osbourne performing at the closing ceremony. “It was such a moment. Just incredible.”

Amber has found being freelance and not having a consistent income scary at times, but the freedom and variety of jobs make up for that and she wouldn’t change it now. The breadth of work she takes on is impressive from live TV at Sky Sports News to hosting events and working on The Hundred. Amber was thrilled and stunned when she was approached by the Wolves Foundation in 2023 to become an ambassador. As a life-long Wolverhampton Wanderers fan it was a dream.

Amber explains: “The list of other ambassadors was impressive and I thought, ‘why me?’ I had imposter syndrome! I grew up in Wolves and I’ve always supported Wolves. I have such a connection to the club and I’m so proud.” Amber ran the London Marathon in 2024 in aid of the Foundation having only previously run as far as 10km. She ran in her Wolves shirt and raised £2,000 for the Foundation that works with local partners to shape and fund projects that promote lifelong learning as well as safer, stronger and more active communities.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Amber’s show reel is packed with brilliance and she says for the foreseeable future she’ll ‘keep climbing this crazy broadcasting ladder’. She would love to do some day-time TV – perhaps The One Show or This Morning, but ultimately Amber would like to carry on enjoying every day. She says: “I’m so lucky to enjoy what I do.”