Talksport

Last updated

Talksport
  • London
Broadcast areaUnited Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
Global (Premier League games only)
Frequency MW: 1053 kHz,
1071 kHz (Tyne & Wear, Notts),
1089 kHz,
1107 kHz (Lincs, M'side, Hants, Kent, Surrey) 
DAB: 11D/12A Digital One
Freeview: 723
Sky (UK only): 0108
Virgin Media: 927
Programming
Language(s)English
Format Sports commentary
Sports discussion
Sports phone-in
Sports news
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
14 February 1995 (14 February 1995) (as Talk Radio UK)
17 January 2000 (as Talksport)
Technical information
Licensing authority
 Ofcom
Links
Website talksport.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertainment, phone-ins and discussion. Talksport, alongside sister station Talksport 2, is an official broadcaster for several sporting contests, including the Premier League and English Football League.

Contents

The station originated as a non-sport station, Talk Radio UK, in 1995. It relaunched as Talksport in January 2000. [1] In the UK, Talksport is one of the Independent National Radio licensees, holding the INR3 licence for a speech-based service. It is available primarily on its medium wave frequencies 1089 kHz and 1053 kHz, but also on 1071 kHz and 1107 kHz, DAB digital radio, television platforms Sky, Virgin Media, Freeview, Freesat, and Freely, and via the Internet. Outside the UK and Ireland, Talksport broadcasts live commentary of every Premier League match around the world in multiple languages including English, Spanish and Mandarin.

As of October 2024, the network broadcasts to a weekly audience of 3.5 million listeners in the UK, according to RAJAR. [2]

History

Talk Radio era

The station was originally and officially launched as Talk Radio UK on 14 February 1995 by American-based Emmis Communications, attempting a talk station with a "brasher" style and with shock jocks compared to BBC Radio 5 Live. [3] It launched with the original Talk Radio Breakfast Show, however, the first live broadcast had been Caesar the Geezer's phone-in which aired the previous night. Other presenters on Talk Radio included Jeremy Beadle, Tommy Boyd, Anna Raeburn, Lorraine Kelly, Gary Newbon, Terry Christian, and Dale Winton. Also in the line-up were Caesar the Geezer, Wild Al Kelly and Nick Miller.

After quitting the Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 1 FM in April 1995, Steve Wright joined the station, presenting Steve Wright's Talk Show - a live Saturday morning programme. [4] He was joined on the air by his former posse member and comedy writer Richard Easter, as well as female sidekick Georgey Spanswick. [5] The show was guest-focused and popular at the time, but short-lived, as it moved to BBC Radio 2 in March 1996 and re-launched as Steve Wright's Saturday Show. [6]

By the end of its first year, the shock jocks were dropped, leading to increased ad revenue from advertisers, and the station was bought out by Media Ventures International (MVI). [7] Luxembourg based CLT-UFA eventually became the majority owner of Talk Radio. 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 its first foray into the world of sports radio rights bidding by purchasing from BBC Radio 5 Live the rights to broadcast Football League matches for the 1997–98 season. In addition, the station broadcast its first FIFA World Cup from France in 1998, bringing in the Sky Sports commentary team of Alan Parry and Andy Gray to commentate on the major matches. 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

On 12 November 1998, TalkCo Holdings – whose chairman and chief executive was Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of The Sun – purchased Talk Radio. [8] This led to a mass clearout of presenters including Nick Abbot, Anna Raeburn, Tommy Boyd and Peter Deeley, with MacKenzie placing an emphasis on a 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 at Hatfields on the South Bank of the River Thames. Now mainly dedicated to sport, the programming lineup was drastically altered, beginning with The Sports Breakfast show; this was followed by a mid-morning motoring show called The Car Guys, with further sports programming in the afternoon and evening.[ citation needed ]

Most of the station's talk show presenters were ousted 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 its new format, Talksport purchased the rights to broadcast Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle United matches 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 & Irish Lions tours to South Africa and New Zealand, and rights to the Super League, Rugby League World Cup, and world title boxing Fights.[ citation needed ]

The new line-up involved a number of presenters and commentators, including 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.

On 25 June 2016, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp announced that it was acquiring the parent Wireless Group company for $296 million. [9]

Expansion of the Talk brand

Sound Digital's successful bid for second national commercial DAB multiplex in 2016 also saw the return of Talkradio, as well as Virgin Radio and the creation of Talksport 2. [10] On 25 June 2016, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp announced that it was acquiring the parent Wireless Group company for $296 million. [9] Since June 2020 it has also produced sports bulletins for Times Radio. In 2022 a televised version of TalkRadio launched on TV.

Programming history

Talksport and Talksport 2 hold exclusive and non-exclusive rights to various sports [ which? ] in the UK.

Broadcast

Broadcast from London to the UK and Ireland, Talksport is the only British radio station broadcasting sporting discussions and commentaries 24 hours a day, having dropped 39 hours of weekly non-sports content on 2 April 2012. [34] According to the RAJAR audience figures as of December 2022, Talksport's audience is around 2.9 million listeners per week. Talksport 2 has an audience of around 344,000 listeners per week. [35]

The 1089 and 1053 kHz medium wave frequencies were previously used by BBC Radio 1 between November 1978 and June 1994. Talksport's transmission from the high-power Droitwich Transmitting Station on 1053 kHz can also be received in parts of Europe. [36] In December 2024, Talksport announced that seven of its 18 AM transmitters are set to close, resulting in reducing its AM coverage of the UK's population from 92% to 88.9%. [37]

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:

Talksport is also transmitted across the UK digitally via DAB digital radio, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat. Talksport is also streamed online and available for any Internet connected devices; 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 ]

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Talksport was available on DAB digital radio in some German cities. [38]

Sister stations

Talksport 2

The new station launched on 15 March 2016 as part of a Sound Digital's successful bid for second national commercial DAB multiplex. The launch date coincided with the opening day of the 2016 Cheltenham Festival. Former Talksport chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie had proposed a rival sports station as part of Listen2Digital's opposing bid for the second national commercial DAB multiplex. [39]

Talksport 2 is a 24-hour sports station which focuses on a broad range of live sporting action from the UK and around the world and includes rugby, cricket, tennis, golf, football and horse racing, plus US sport. On its first day, Talksport 2 broadcast commentary of India v New Zealand in the ICC World Twenty20, Atlético Madrid v PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League and Indian Wells Masters tennis. [40] On 9 June 2020 talkSPORT 2 switched from DAB Mono to DAB+ Stereo to make Room for Times Radio.

In its first two years on air, Talksport 2 acquired broadcast rights to the Aviva Premiership, Super League, ATP World Tour Masters 1000, French Open, ICC World Twenty20, NatWest t20 Blast, Royal London One-Day Cup, Indian Premier League, WGC Match Play, La Liga, MotoGP, ICC Champions Trophy, Premier League, English Football League, Champions League and Europa League.

It has broadcast specialist programming dedicated to the Football League, La Liga, European football, horse racing rugby league, rugby union, boxing, cricket, tennis, NBA, US sport, and golf. [41]

From January 2019, Talksport 2 was re-positioned as a rolling sports news and live sport station.

As of September 2023, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 376,000 listeners, according to RAJAR. [42]

Talksport International

Talksport is the global audio partner of the Premier League, which enables them to broadcast commentary of every Premier League match outside the United Kingdom and Ireland in several languages including English, Spanish and Mandarin. [43]

Talksport International also broadcasts selected fixtures in the FA Cup, League Cup and provides commentaries for Amazon Music's Bundesliga coverage. [44]

As of December 2024, Talksport is available to stream in Australia on digital platforms run by NOVA Entertainment.

Other media

Books, DVDs, and games

Controversies

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References

  1. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/598642.stm
  2. ↑ https://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php
  3. ↑ https://transdiffusion.org/2008/11/27/home_of_the_sho/
  4. ↑ Steve Wright's Talk Show - Talk Radio - 6 January 1996, 13 February 2015, retrieved 7 August 2023
  5. ↑ "Georgey Spanswick". www.georgeyspanswick.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  6. ↑ "BBC - Radio 2 - Presenters - Steve Wright". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  7. ↑ https://uk.themedialeader.com/media-ventures-buys-out-partners-in-talk-radio/
  8. ↑ "About". talkSPORT. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
  9. 1 2 Gallivan, Rory (25 June 2016). "News Corp Buys Wireless Group for $296 Million". Wall Street Journal.
  10. ↑ "Digital Two applications published by Ofcom". Radio Today. 3 February 2015.
  11. ↑ MEDIA BRIEFS: Premiership games live on Talksport Archived 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine PR Week, 4 May 2001
  12. 1 2 talkSPORT Station History – 2003 Archived 1 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine talkSPORT1089.co.uk
  13. ↑ Azeez, Wale (17 June 2004). "TalkSport in legal row with BBC over Euro 2004 rights". Press Gazette.
  14. ↑ "Infront signs 2006 FIFA World Cup radio agreement with talkSPORT UK – Infront Sports & Media AG".
  15. ↑ "Sky Sports' Kelly Dalglish joins Talksport". Press Gazette. 11 August 2006. Archived from the original on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  16. ↑ Day, Julia (10 October 2006). "TalkSport wins Premiership rights". The Guardian.
  17. ↑ Russell Brand returning to radio BBC News, 15 April 2009
  18. ↑ BBC radio loses third of live Premier League matches guardian.co.uk, 18 February 2010
  19. ↑ talkSPORT unveil Rugby World Cup plan Radio Today, 8 August 2011
  20. ↑ "Every Euro 2012 match to be broadcast on talkSPORT". Boyce Recruitment. 3 January 2012.
  21. ↑ "talkSPORT SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION TO BROADCAST FA CUP WORLDWIDE UNTIL 2018". TalkSport PR release. 16 May 2013. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013.
  22. ↑ "Premiership Rugby |". Premiership Rugby.
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  25. ↑ "talkSPORT 2 announces launch date". 29 January 2016.
  26. ↑ "talkSPORT to broadcast more English Premier League coverage than ever before". 20 May 2016.
  27. ↑ "talkSPORT announces presenter team for Euro 2016". 16 May 2016.
  28. ↑ "EFL: New radio rights deals to maximise broadcast coverage for clubs and competitions". www.efl.com.
  29. ↑ "talkSPORT names its squad for British and Irish Lions tour". 29 March 2017.
  30. ↑ "TalkSport take cricket rights from BBC". BBC News. 18 April 2018.
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  32. ↑ "talkSPORT confirm signing of Laura Woods as new lead Breakfast Show host". 30 March 2020.
  33. ↑ "The reason why Mark Goldbridge joining hands with Talksport is surprising – Thick Accent". 14 May 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  34. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/mar/07/talksport-axe-non-sports-content
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  36. ↑ https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/consultations/category-3-4-weeks/173863-talksport---proposal-to-reduce-am-coverage/associated-documents/secondary-documents/talksport-broadcasting-licence.pdf?v=324314
  37. ↑ https://radiotoday.co.uk/2024/12/talksport-asks-to-turn-off-seven-of-its-18-am-radio-transmitters-across-the-uk/
  38. ↑ "[DAB] Hessen (12C): NEU engl. Sport Kanal – Radioforum". Mysnip.de – Forenarchiv (in German). Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
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  40. ↑ "Talksport 2 announce launch date". talksport.com. talksport. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
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  43. ↑ "Harness the power of the English Premier League". 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  44. ↑ "About". 5 July 2013.
  45. ↑ Own goal for Soccer Bet Archived 12 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Press Gazette, 17 October 2003
  46. ↑ Tryhorn, Chris (15 September 2004). "MacKenzie takes TalkSport to TV". Media Guardian. Guardian News and Media.
  47. ↑ talkSPORT Hand Back Television Licence to OFCOM Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine talksport1089.com, 11 August 2006
  48. ↑ Dowell, Ben (6 July 2007). "Channel 4 wins radio multiplex bid". Media Guardian. Guardian News and Media.
  49. ↑ Plunkett, John (14 October 2008). "4 Digital radio partners in crisis talks". guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media.
  50. ↑ "Radio Today". Archived from the original on 3 May 2012.
  51. ↑ talkSPORT.co.uk – For men who like to talk sport Archived 30 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine talkSPORT, 26 July 2010
  52. ↑ "Sport Magazine". Archived from the original on 29 March 2010.
  53. ↑ talkSPORT Road Trip (DVD) Amazon.co.uk
  54. ↑ talkSPORT – Legends & Anthems (CD) Amazon.co.uk
  55. ↑ The Talksport Book of World Cup Banter: All the Ammo You Need to Settle Any Argument Amazon.co.uk
  56. ↑ Why Are You So Fat?: The TalkSPORT Book of Cricket's Best Ever Sledges Amazon.co.uk
  57. ↑ "MDickie.com". 27 September 2009. Archived from the original on 27 September 2009.
  58. ↑ Deans, Jason (5 December 2000). "TalkSport hails victory in sports row". The Guardian.
  59. ↑ Hodgson, Jessica (12 April 2002). "DJ fired after royal death threat". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
  60. ↑ talkSPORT Station History – 2002 Archived 19 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine talksport1089.com
  61. ↑ Deans, Jason (6 April 2004). "Brazil reinstated by TalkSport". The Guardian.
  62. ↑ Plunkett, John (18 May 2006). "Brazil out of the World Cup". The Guardian.
  63. ↑ Dowell, Ben (5 July 2006). "Brazil back in World Cup". The Guardian.
  64. ↑ Tryhorn, Chris (7 August 2006). "TalkSport rapped for 'derogatory' comment". MediaGuardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
  65. ↑ "Talksport rapped over gay jibes". BBC News. 20 August 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  66. ↑ "Radio host James Whale is sacked". BBC News. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  67. ↑ Martin, Nicole (18 November 2008). "Gaunt Suspended For "Nazi" Slur". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 November 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  68. ↑ Jon Gaunt still pursuing legal action against TalkSport guardian.co.uk, 20 January 2009
  69. ↑ "Rod Lucas dropped by Talksport" . The Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
  70. ↑ DJ named on BNP member list joined to research story guardian.co.uk, 19 November 2008
  71. ↑ "Andy Gray and Richard Keys move to Talksport". BBC News. 8 February 2011.
  72. ↑ Martin, Roy (3 April 2017). "The Two Mikes in Ofcom breach at talkSPORT". Radio Today. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  73. ↑ Brown, Luke (4 August 2021). "Tottenham 'appalled' with antisemitic remark aimed at Daniel Levy on talkSPORT". The Athletic. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
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