Preston replaces Gill Hudson, editor since 2002, who is leaving in July to take up the role of editor-in-chief of Reader's Digest UK.
Preston is expected to take up the RT editorship later this summer.
Prior to his time at The Independent, Preston spent eight years as deputy editor of The Times, and a year as its acting editor between 2000 and 2001.
He left the News International-owned title after being overlooked as successor to Robert Thompson as editor, in favour of business editor James Harding.
Preston, who is the son of the former Guardian editor Peter Preston, began his career in 1987 as a reporter on the Bristol Evening Post and worked at the Press Association before moving to The Times.
Radio Times, which is priced at £1.10, is the UK's third-biggest selling magazine. Its average net circulation for the period July to December 2008 was 1,023,255.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
