Talksport

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Talksport
Talksport logo.png
Broadcast area United Kingdom
Frequency Medium wave:
1053 kHz, 1071 kHz, 1089 kHz, and 1107 kHz
DAB:
11D Digital One (England and Wales)
12A Digital One (Scotland)
12D Score Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland) (United Kingdom)
First air date 14 February 1995 as Talk Radio UK
17 January 2000 as Talksport
Format Sports commentary
Sports discussion
Sports phone-in
Audience share 1.8% (December 2012, [1])
Owner UTV Radio

Talksport (styled as talkSPORT), owned by UTV Radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering 24 hour sports radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom.

Its content includes sports phone-ins, discussion and live sports commentaries. It is transmitted on 1089 and 1053 kHz across the UK and digitally via DAB digital radio, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, Freesat, and TalkTalk TV. Talksport is also streamed online; however, due to rights restrictions on live coverage, some live sport commentaries are not available online.

On 2 April 2012, Talksport became a 24 hour sports station with the remaining 39 hours of non-sports content dropped.[2]

Contents

Talk Radio era [edit]

The station was originally and officially launched as Talk Radio UK on 14 February 1995, with Sean Bolger and Samantha Meah presenting the original Talk Radio Breakfast Show. However the first live broadcast had been Caeser the Geezer's phone-in which aired at 10:00pm the previous night. Other presenters on Talk Radio included Jeremy Beadle, Scott Chisholm, Moz Dee, Tommy Boyd, Anna Raeburn, Gary Newbon, Terry Christian, Ronnie Barbour, Jonny Gould, and Dale Winton. Also joining the line-up were Caesar the Geezer and Wild Al Kelly, dubbed as shock jocks.

A year later Talk Radio launched a new breakfast show presented by Paul Ross and Carol McGiffin. Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Simon Bates also joined the station along with James Whale, Ian Collins, and Mike Dickin.

Talk Radio made their first foray into the world of sports radio rights bidding, by purchasing the rights to broadcast the Football League from BBC Radio Five Live for the 1997/98 season. In addition, the station broadcast their first World Cup from France in 1998, with them bringing in the Sky Sports commentary team of Alan Parry and Andy Gray to commentate on the major matches. Tony Lockwood, Clive Allen, and Dave Roberts covered additional games in France. Talk Radio also acquired up the rights to broadcast Manchester United's matches in the Champions League for the 1998/99 season.

Creation of Talksport [edit]

On 12 November 1998 TalkCo Holdings, whose chairman and chief Executive was former Sun Editor Kelvin MacKenzie, purchased Talk Radio.[3] This led to a mass clearout of presenters including Nick Abbot, Anna Raeburn, Tommy Boyd and Peter Deeley, with them putting in place a more sports oriented programming schedule, including The Sportszone with Alan Parry, Gary Newbon, Tony Lockwood, Tom Watt, and former Century Radio sports editor Dave Roberts presenting the weekend edition of The Sports Breakfast.

In late 1999, TalkCo, rebranded as The Wireless Group, announced a relaunch of Talk Radio to become the UK's first national commercial sports radio station called Talksport. The relaunch occurred at midnight on 17 January 2000 and was accompanied by the station moving from Oxford Street to a new studio in Hatfields on the South Bank of the River Thames. Now mainly dedicated to football, the programming lineup was drastically altered, beginning with The Sports Breakfast show, a mid-morning motoring show called The Car Guys, with further sports programming in the afternoon and evening. Almost all the station's talk show presenters were axed at the time, including The Big Boys Breakfast with David Banks and Nick Ferrari, with only James Whale, Ian Collins, and Mike Dickin surviving. To complement their new format, Talksport purchased the rights to broadcast Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle in the UEFA Champions League, the FA Cup, England football internationals, UEFA Cup, England's winter cricket Tours to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and India, British and Irish Lions tours to South Africa and New Zealand, and rights to the Super League, Rugby League World Cup, and World Title Boxing Fights.

The new line-up involved a number of presenters and commentators. They included Alan Brazil, Mark Nicholas, Chris Cowdrey, Geoffrey Boycott, Mike Parry, Peter Shilton, Brian Moore, Brough Scott, Tom Watt, Gary Newbon, Ian Darke, Tony Banks, and Alvin Martin.

Programming [edit]

Talksport's programming consists of sports talk, live coverage, discussion and phone-in debate 24 hours a day.

The weekday schedule begins with the morning's sports news, debate and reaction on The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast which was co-hosted by Ronnie Irani until his summary dismissal on 23rd May 2013. Hawksbee & Jacobs present through the afternoon with sports gossip, interviews and chat, followed by Drive Time with Adrian Durham and Darren Gough round-up the day's sports news with debate.

Kick Off, hosted by Mark Saggers, Danny Kelly, and Stan Collymore then guides listeners through the evening's sporting action with live commentary and discussion. Andy Goldstein, Bobby Gould and Jason Cundy take further phone-calls and debate on The Sports Bar before handing over to the late night team, including Mike Graham and Jonny Gould with Extra Time, an overnight sports show with news, interviews and action from around the globe.

On Saturday and Sunday, Talksport has full coverage of the weekend's sport starting with The Weekend Sports Breakfast, followed by the latest news and scores from around the grounds on Matchday Live and Sunday Exclusive, including live Premier League commentary, followed by a post-match phone-in hosted by Stan Collymore on Call Collymore.

Talksport also broadcasts specialist programming, including long-running fishing-based phone-in, Fisherman's Blues, hosted by Keith Arthur, Howzat!, a cricket show with Ronnie Irani , My Sporting Life with Danny Kelly, an in-depth interview with sporting legends, Full Contact with Andrew McKenna, a regular rugby-based magazine show focusing on the Aviva Premiership, Heineken Cup, and Six Nations, and Fight Club with Gareth A. Davies, a boxing-based magazine show.

Presenters [edit]

Talksport have a selection of regular presenters and commentators, which include: Adrian Durham, Andrew McKenna, Alan Brazil, Andy Goldstein, Andy Gray, Andy Jacobs, Bob Ballard, Danny Kelly, Georgie Bingham, Ian Danter, Jack Bannister, John Anderson, John Roder, Jonny Gould, Keith Arthur, Mark Saggers, Mike Bovill, Mike Graham, Nigel Adderley, Nigel Pearson, Paul Hawksbee, Richard Keys, Rupert Bell, Russell Hargreaves, Sam Delaney, Sam Matterface, and Stan Collymore.

It was announced on 23rd May 2013 that Ronnie Irani was leaving the Breakfast Show as soon as that day's show finished. Irani said on air he enjoyed working with Brazil for 6 years but was unsure what was happening implying he was sacked rather than leaving on his own accord. He said he may appear on the Talksport Cricket Show Howzat on Sundays for the rest of the summer but this has not been officially confirmed.

Ex-professional sportsmen to provide expert comment on a variety of the station's programmes, including: Alvin Martin, Bobby Gould, Brian Moore, Darren Gough, David Campese, Jason Cundy, Jeff Probyn, Matt Holland, Micky Quinn, Ray Houghton, Ray Parlour, Ronnie Irani, and Stewart Robson.

The station also has a team of journalists and reporters bringing listeners the latest news and sport through their bulletins and programmes, including: Bob Bubka, Dave Rowe, David Brady, Dominic McGuinness, Faye Carruthers, Geoff Peters, Graham Beecroft, Graham Courtney, Grahame Lloyd, Ian Abrahams, John Temple, Kevin Lawrence, Nick Heath, Nigel Ringland, Pete Abbott, Peter Martin, Robyn Schonhofer, Roger Hughes, Simon Humphreys, Toby Gilles, Simon Ward, and Tony Incenzo.

Live sports coverage [edit]

Currently, Talksport focusses the majority of its live sports coverage on football, but also has rights to other sports:

Since its launch, Talksport has (variously) held exclusive or non-exclusive radio rights to the Premier League, Football League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, FA Cup, League Cup, England internationals, Euro 2004, Euro 2012, 2006 World Cup, 2010 World Cup, 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, domestic Twenty20 cricket, 2009 Twenty20 World Cup, England's winter cricket tours to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and India, Aviva Premiership, 2011 Rugby World Cup, British and Irish Lions tours to South Africa and New Zealand, Super League, Rugby League World Cup, The Open Championship, Ryder Cup, and World Title Boxing fights.

Schedule [edit]

Monday-Friday

  • During the Summer Schedule Richard Keys and Andy Gray take a break and are usually replaced by Mark Saggers or Danny Kelly with a former professional sportsperson such as Micky Quinn, Jason Cundy or Brian Moore the former England Rugby International and now BBC TV Rugby Commentator. Stan Collymore also takes a break from the end of the season from the end of May until the beginning of August so the likes of the Kick Off Shows feature a mix of all sports and not just football.

Saturday

  • During the Summer Schedule talksport usually have a Saturday Scoreboard Show with Georgie Bingham, Transfer Tavern with Sam Matterface and a Boxing show with Gareth A. Davies, Golf Show with Bob Bubka and Rubert Bell or Cricket show with Ronnie Irani and Darren Gough.
  • In summer 2013 Talksport will broadcast the British & Irish Lions with all tests and warms up on the station and these matches will usually be around 11am on a Saturday Morning. Presenters for the tour on talksport is Mike Bovill and Mark Saggers. Punditry comes from Shane Williams, Sean Holley, Sir Ian McGeechan, Michael Lynagh, John Taylor, Brian Moore and David Campese. Commentary on the Lions v Australia Tests will come from Andrew McKenna, Brian Moore and David Campese.

Sunday

  • 00:00 - Extra Time - with Jonny Gould
  • 06:00 - Fisherman's Blues - with Keith Arthur
  • 08:00 - The Weekend Sports Breakfast - with Mark Saggers & Micky Quinn
  • 12:00 - Sunday Exclusive - with Georgie Bingham and live commentary from Sam Matterface & Stan Collymore
  • 16:00 - Call Collymore - with Stan Collymore
  • 18:00 - The Press Pass - with Des Kelly
  • 20:00 - Full Contact - with Andrew McKenna
  • 22:00 - My Sporting Life - with Danny Kelly
  • During the Summer Schedule talksport usually have a Saturday Scoreboard Show with Georgie Bingham, Transfer Tavern with Sam Matterface and a Boxing show with Gareth A. Davies, Golf Show with Bob Bubka and Rubert Bell or Cricket show with Ronnie Irani and Darren Gough.

Programming highlights [edit]

Former presenters [edit]

Talksport's original line-up included Alan Brazil, Mark Nicholas, Chris Cowdrey, Geoffrey Boycott, Alan Parry, Peter Shilton, Brian Moore, Brough Scott, Tom Watt, Gary Newbon, Ian Darke, Tony Banks, James Whale (radio), Ian Collins, Derek Hatton, and Mike Dickin,Ronnie Irani

Other past presenters include Mike Parry, Jon Gaunt, Nicky Horne, Tony Lockwood, Tommy Boyd, Charlie Wolf, George Lamb, Richard Kaufman, Bill Young, Gethin Jones, Patrick Kinghorn, Mike Mendoza, Rhodri Williams, Howard Hughes, Jeremy Kyle, Dave Roberts, Chris Cooper, Jim Proudfoot, Rodney Marsh, Ian Wright, Rob McCaffrey, Russell Brand, Russ Williams, Steve Bower, Kelly Dalglish, and many others.

Station management [edit]

Scott Taunton was previously the Business Development Director at UTV, responsible for radio and new media. A native of Australia, he has been working in the UK for a decade and took over from Kelvin MacKenzie as Chief Executive of Talksport in July 2005. Moz Dee is Programme Director, having taken over from Bill Ridley in 2008. Neil Sedley is chief engineer and Peter Gee is head of creative.

Frequencies [edit]

In a number of areas, particularly in areas where the signal from the main 1089 and 1053 kHz transmitters overlap with each other, Talksport operates a number of filler transmitters on different frequencies:

  • 1071 kHz - Nottingham, Newcastle
  • 1107 kHz - Merseyside, West Sussex, South Kent, Torbay, The Wash, Hampshire

The 1089 and 1053 kHz frequencies were originally used by BBC Radio 1 between November 1978 and June 1994.

It is also transmitted across the UK on digitally via DAB digital radio, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, Freesat, and TalkTalk TV. Talksport is also streamed online; however, due to rights restrictions on live coverage, some live sport commentaries are not available online.

Since August 2011, several shows on Talksport have been available on Sirius XM satellite radio in the US and Canada.[citation needed]

Audience [edit]

According to the RAJAR audience figures for Q1/2011, Talksport's audience is 3.25 million adults in the UK,[14] which is highest achieved since the station launched as Talk Radio in 1995. Men make up 80% of the Talksport audience, while 47% of all listeners are in the 15-44 age bracket, giving the station an advantage when pitching to potential advertisers. Each listener tuned in for an average of 6.8 hours per week giving them a total of 22.5 million hours. Talksport's market share is 2.1%.

Controversies [edit]

  • June 2000: Talksport caused a stir with the BBC after it was revealed Talksport had been broadcasting their live commentaries of matches at Euro 2000 from television monitors rather than from each of the stadia due to the lack of available broadcast rights.[15]
  • April 2002: Tommy Boyd and his production team were sacked from Talksport after a call from someone who wanted to shoot the Royal Family views went through on air. Boyd went on record that he did not share the views of the caller[16]
  • June 2002: Talksport broadcast unofficial coverage of the 2002 World Cup taking place in Japan and South Korea. The station flags up their inability to broadcast live from the stadia, with them taking out full page advertisements in national newspapers containing the tag line "It's unauthorised. It's unofficial. And it's brilliant." Jim Proudfoot and Alvin Martin are Talksport's main commentary team from their studios in London[17]
  • February 2003: Talksport received over 200 complaints for giving a platform to the controversial Muslim extremist cleric Abu Hamza. Hamza and his aides are invited into the station to contribute to a religious debate on The James Whale Show, alongside other Christian, Jewish, and Muslim delegates. On the night of the live broadcast, 24 February, a mass of protesters gather outside the station's London studios. Despite this, both presenter James Whale and head of programming Bill Ridley defend the station for having invited Hamza onto the programme.[5]
  • March 2004: Alan Brazil is sacked by Talksport after his failure to show up to present The Sports Breakfast on Friday 19 March after spending three days at the Cheltenham Festival. Less than three weeks later, Brazil is reinstated to his role.[18]
  • May 2006: Alan Brazil is reportedly given three months notice by Talksport after bust-up with the station's management.[19] Less than two months later, Brazil and Talksport management held talks and the former Scotland international footballer signed a new long-term contract with the station.[20]
  • June 2006: The Sports Breakfast presenter Alan Brazil got in trouble with Ofcom for referring to the Japanese as "the nips" during the World Cup in Germany[21]
  • August 2007: Mike Mendoza and Garry Bushell made derogatory comments about gay people, and the station was subsequently censured by regulator Ofcom.[22] Bushell left soon after, when his six month contract expired
  • May 2008: James Whale was dismissed by Talksport after twice urging listeners to vote for Boris Johnson in the 2008 London Mayoral Election[23] The station was subsequently fined £20,000 by Ofcom in December 2008
  • November 2008: Controversial presenter Jon Gaunt was fired for repeatedly calling a local councillor a "Nazi".[24] Gaunt has since sought legal action for unfair dismissal, but any potential case has yet to go to court.[25] His campaign was backed by Liberty activist Shami Chakrabarti, who had previously been one of Gaunt's pet hates
  • November 2008: Rod Lucas was dropped by Talksport and claimed they "no plans to use him in the immediate future" after the membership list of the BNP which was leaked on a Google blog named him as one of its members.[26] The station clarified that this wasn't a sacking as Lucas was only a temporary member of staff. The presenter himself claimed that his membership of the party was part of a covert research project[27]
  • December 2010: Drive Time presenter Adrian Durham caused controversy after stating during his show, that the footballer Andrey Arshavin "shouldn't be welcomed back to England" after helping Russia win the rights to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[28]
  • February 2011: Talksport hired former Sky Sports presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys a fortnight after the pair were sacked from Sky Sports for being at the centre of a sexism controversy.[29]

Other media [edit]

  • Soccer Bet was a short-lived 68-page weekly magazine which Talksport had hoped would appeal to football fans that enjoyed betting on games. It was designed in a smaller A5 format to make it easy for fans to carry and the launch was backed by a £500,000 promotional campaign. Soccer Bet lasted just two months before it was axed in October 2003 due to poor sales.[30]
  • Talksport TV launched in October 2004 platform broadcasting for six hours a day on the Sky Digital television platform aiming to catch listeners who've come home from work.[31] The service amounted to little more than the televisualisation of TalkSport's broadcasters and pundits presenting the station's Drive Time and Kick Off programmes. The channel closed in 2005 following the takeover of Talksport by UTV Radio.[32]
  • Talk Radio was set to return to the airwaves as a station on DAB digital radio in 2008 after Ofcom awarded a second DAB digital radio national commercial multiplex to the 4 Digital Group consortium led by Channel 4.[33] However, the station never launched after Channel 4 announced that it was abandoning its plans for digital radio stations[34]
  • Talksport Magazine launched in May 2008 as a weekly online-only digital publication to extend the station's brand beyond the radio.[35] The magazine was integrated into the newly relaunched Talksport website in 2010[36]
  • Sport was acquired by Talksport in 2010 and is the UK's second largest[clarification needed] men's magazine.[citation needed] Sport is targeted at the affluent male and hand distributed in locations across the country including London mainline and tube stations. It is also available at many hotels, gyms and airports[37]
  • Talksport Online is the station's website
  • Talksport Live provides exclusive live commentary of every Premier League match outside Europe in English, Spanish and Mandarin. It also broadcasts selected fixtures in the FA Cup, League Cup and Aviva Premiership.

Books, DVDs, and games [edit]

  • Talksport Road Trip is a DVD including exclusive footage of the English team and a host of celebrity interviews at the 2006 World Cup released in 2006[38]
  • Talksport Legends & Anthems is a three CD package, released in 2009, featuring 40 tracks by artists such as The Who, The Cure, The Killers, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, and Elton John on two of the discs as well as a bonus CD with out-takes and highlights of Talksport[39]
  • Ten Years of Talksport is a book describing the station's history. Originally released in 2009, an updated version of the book including two new chapters was released in 2011
  • The Talksport Book of World Cup Banter - Released in 2010, this is a book of football facts about the FIFA World Cup[40]
  • The TalkSport Book of Cricket's Best Ever Sledges features contributions from Talksport presenters Darren Gough and Ronnie Irani among others, recounting 'sledging' (mind-games within cricket). Released in 2010[41]

References [edit]

  1. ^ talkSPORT: audience figures MediaUK
  2. ^ talkSPORT changes to 24 hour sport Radio Today, 7 March 2012
  3. ^ "About". talkSPORT. Retrieved 18 January 2007. 
  4. ^ MEDIA BRIEFS: Premiership games live on Talksport PR Week, 4 May 2001
  5. ^ a b talkSPORT Station History - 2003 talkSPORT1089.co.uk
  6. ^ "Sky Sports' Kelly Dalglish joins Talksport". Press Gazette. 11 August 2006. Retrieved 18 November 2008. 
  7. ^ Russell Brand returning to radio BBC News, 15 April 2009
  8. ^ BBC radio loses third of live Premier League matches guardian.co.uk, 18 February 2010
  9. ^ TalkSport snares 2011 Rugby World Cup radio rights guardian.co.uk, 3 June 2010
  10. ^ talkSPORT unveil Rugby World Cup plan Radio Today, 8 August 2011
  11. ^ http://press.talksport.co.uk/post/28056259796/talksport-signs-agreement-with-football-association-to
  12. ^ http://www.premiershiprugby.com/news/19753.php
  13. ^ "TalkSport snaps up radio rights to Lions' Australia tour". Retrieved 4 February 2013. 
  14. ^ UTV: talkSPORT wins more fans Radio Today, 12 May 2011
  15. ^ Deans, Jason (5 December 2000). "TalkSport hails victory in sports row". MediaGuardian (Guardian News and Media). 
  16. ^ Hodgson, Jessica (12 April 2002). "DJ fired after royal death threat". MediaGuardian (Guardian News and Media). Retrieved 16 August 2008. 
  17. ^ talkSPORT Station History - 2002 talksport1089.com
  18. ^ Deans, Jason (6 April 2004). "Brazil reinstated by TalkSport". MediaGuardian (Guardian News and Media). 
  19. ^ Plunkett, John (18 May 2006). "Brazil out of the World Cup". MediaGuardian (Guardian News and Media). 
  20. ^ Dowell, Ben (5 July 2006). "Brazil back in World Cup". MediaGuardian (Guardian News and Media). 
  21. ^ Tryhorn, Chris (7 August 2006). "TalkSport rapped for 'derogatory' comment". MediaGuardian (Guardian News and Media). Retrieved 16 August 2008. 
  22. ^ "Talksport rapped over gay jibes". BBC News. 20 August 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2008. 
  23. ^ "Radio host James Whale is sacked". BBC News. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008. 
  24. ^ Martin, Nicole (18 November 2008). "Gaunt Suspended For "Nazi" Slur". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 November 2008. 
  25. ^ Jon Gaunt still pursuing legal action against TalkSport guardian.co.uk, 20 January 2009
  26. ^ "Rod Lucas dropped by Talksport". The Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2008. 
  27. ^ DJ named on BNP member list joined to research story guardian.co.uk, 19 November 2008
  28. ^ talkSPORT Presenter: "Arshavin shouldn't be welcomed back into England" Gooner Talk, 2 December 2010
  29. ^ "Andy Gray and Richard Keys move to Talksport". BBC News. 8 February 2011. 
  30. ^ Own goal for Soccer Bet Press Gazette, 17 October 2003
  31. ^ Tryhorn, Chris (15 September 2004). "MacKenzie takes TalkSport to TV". Media Guardian (Guardian News and Media). 
  32. ^ talkSPORT Hand Back Television Licence to OFCOM talksport1089.com, 11 August 2006
  33. ^ Dowell, Ben (6 July 2007). "Channel 4 wins radio multiplex bid". Media Guardian (Guardian News and Media). 
  34. ^ Plunkett, John (14 October 2008). "4 Digital radio partners in crisis talks". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News and Media). 
  35. ^ Radio Today[dead link]
  36. ^ talkSPORT.co.uk - For men who like to talk sport talkSPORT, 26 July 2010
  37. ^ Sport Magazine[dead link]
  38. ^ talkSPORT Road Trip (DVD) Amazon.co.uk
  39. ^ talkSPORT - Legends & Anthems (CD) Amazon.co.uk
  40. ^ The Talksport Book of World Cup Banter: All the Ammo You Need to Settle Any Argument Amazon.co.uk
  41. ^ Why Are You So Fat?: The TalkSPORT Book of Cricket's Best Ever Sledges Amazon.co.uk

External links [edit]

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