Talksport

Talksport (styled as talkSPORT), owned by Wireless Group, is a sports radio station and the Global Audio Partner of the Premier League.

Talksport
Broadcast areaUnited Kingdom, Global
FrequencyMW: 1053, 1071, 1089, 1107 kHz
DAB:

Freeview: 723
Sky: 0108
Virgin Media: 927
Programming
FormatSports commentary
Sports discussion
Sports phone-in
Sports news
Ownership
OwnerWireless Group
(News Corp)
Sister stationsTalksport 2
Talkradio
Virgin Radio UK
Times Radio
History
First air date14 February 1995 (as Talk Radio UK)
17 January 2000 (as Talksport)
Links
Websitetalksport.com

Broadcast from London to the United Kingdom, Talksport is the only national radio station broadcasting sporting discussions and commentaries 24 hours a day, having dropped 39 hours of weekly non-sports content on 2 April 2012.

Talksport's content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertainment, phone-ins and discussion. Since June 2020 it has also produced sports bulletins for Times Radio.

Talksport, alongside sister station Talksport 2, is an official broadcaster for several sporting contests, including the Premier League.

In the United Kingdom, Talksport is available on its primary frequency in London, 1089 kHz, as well as 1053 kHz, 1071 kHz, and 1107 kHz, DAB, Sky, Virgin Media, Freeview, on mobile, and online at talksport.com. Talksport has been available on Freesat since April 2016.

Outside the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Talksport broadcasts live commentary of every Premier League match around the world in multiple languages including English, Spanish and Mandarin.

On 25 June 2016, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp announced that it was acquiring the parent Wireless Group company for $296 million.[1]

Talk Radio era

The station was originally and officially launched as Talk Radio UK on 14 February 1995, 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, Gary Newbon, Terry Christian, and Dale Winton. Also in 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 its first foray into the world of sports radio rights bidding by purchasing from BBC Radio 5 Live the rights to broadcast the Football League 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.[2] This led to a mass clearout of presenters including Nick Abbot, Anna Raeburn, Tommy Boyd and Peter Deeley, the new owner 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 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. 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 its 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, 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.

Notable presenters

Current presenters

Talksport has a selection of regular presenters and commentators. Former professional sportsmen provide expert comment on a variety of the station's programmes.

Live sports coverage

Talksport and Talksport 2 has exclusive and non-exclusive rights to various sports in the UK:[3]

Football
Rugby
Cricket
Horse racing
Golf
US sport
  • NFL
Darts

Programming history

Station management

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.

Lee Clayton is head of Talksport. Laurie Palacio is deputy head of Talksport. Joseph Amplett is executive editor. Kathryn Anastasi is head of live sport. Jason Bourne is football editor. Jon Norman is cricket editor. Tom Bellwood is executive editor of Talksport 2. David Spencer is head of news.

Frequencies

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, 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 digitally via DAB digital radio, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat. 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.

During the 2006 Football world championship TalkSport was available on Digital Radio DAB in some German cities.[26]

Audience

According to the RAJAR audience figures for Q3/2018, Talksport's audience is 2,959,000.[27] Talksport 2 has an audience of 329,000.[28]

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.

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.[29] On June 9, 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 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.[30]

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

The winning bid also saw the return of Talkradio, as well as Virgin Radio.[31] 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.[32]

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 Republic of Ireland in several languages including English, Spanish and Mandarin.[33]

Talksport International also broadcasts selected fixtures in the FA Cup, League Cup and provides commentaries for Amazon Music's Bundesliga coverage.[34]

Other media
  • 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.[35]
  • 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.[36] 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.[37]
  • 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.[38] However, the station never launched after Channel 4 announced that it was abandoning its plans for digital radio stations[39]
  • Talksport Magazine launched in May 2008 as a weekly online-only digital publication to extend the station's brand beyond the radio.[40] The magazine was integrated into the newly relaunched Talksport website in 2010[41]
  • Sport was targeted at the affluent male and hand distributed in locations across the country including London mainline and tube stations. It was also available at many hotels, gyms and airports[42]

Books, DVDs, and games
  • 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[43]
  • 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[44]
  • 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[45]
  • 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[46]

Controversies
  • June 2000: Talksport caused a stir with the BBC, after it was revealed Talksport had been broadcasting its 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.[47] Talksport's commentary team included Alan Parry, Jim Proudfoot, Mark Tompkins, Alvin Martin and Frank Stapleton.
  • April 2002: Tommy Boyd and his production team were sacked from Talksport after a call from someone who wanted to shoot the Royal Family went through on air. Boyd went on record that he did not share the views of the caller.[48]
  • June 2002: Talksport broadcast unofficial coverage of the 2002 World Cup taking place in Japan and South Korea. The station flagged up its inability to broadcast live from the stadia, 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 were Talksport's main commentary team from its studios in London.[49]
  • February 2003: Talksport received over 200 complaints for giving a platform to the controversial Muslim extremist cleric Abu Hamza. Hamza and his aides were 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 Whale and head of programming Bill Ridley defended the station for having invited Hamza onto the programme.[5]
  • March 2004: Alan Brazil was fired by Talksport when, after spending three days at the Cheltenham Festival, he subsequently failed to show up to present The Sports Breakfast on Friday 19 March. He was reinstated less than three weeks later.[50]
  • May 2006: Alan Brazil was reportedly given three months' notice by Talksport after a bust-up with the station's management.[51] Brazil and Talksport management held talks less than two months later, and the former Ipswich Town and Scotland footballer signed a new long-term contract with the station.[52]
  • 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[53]
  • August 2007: Mike Mendoza and Garry Bushell made derogatory comments about gay people, and the station was subsequently censured by regulator Ofcom.[54] Bushell left soon afterward, 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.[55] 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".[56] Gaunt has since sought legal action for unfair dismissal, but any potential case has yet to go to court.[57] 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 the company stated they had "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.[58] The station clarified that this was not a sacking, for 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.[59]
  • February 2011: Talksport hired former Sky Sports commentators Andy Gray and Richard Keys (Gray had also been a pundit for the station) a fortnight after the pair were fired from Sky Sports for being at the centre of a sexism controversy.[60]
  • April 2017: Ofcom upheld complaints against Mike Parry and Mike Graham for comments made on their daytime show the previous December, in which they laughed while telling anecdotes about one of their former colleagues at the Daily Express who allegedly sexually harassed female co-workers. Talksport said in its statement that the two presenters were laughing at the lack of action against sexual harassment, rather than the harassment itself.[61]
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References
  1. Gallivan, Rory (25 June 2016). "News Corp Buys Wireless Group for $296 Million" – via Wall Street Journal.
  2. "About". talkSPORT. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
  3. "Press".
  4. MEDIA BRIEFS: Premiership games live on Talksport PR Week, 4 May 2001
  5. talkSPORT Station History – 2003 talkSPORT1089.co.uk
  6. "TalkSport in legal row with BBC over Euro 2004 rights – Press Gazette".
  7. "Infront signs 2006 FIFA World Cup™ radio agreement with talkSPORT UK - Infront Sports & Media AG".
  8. "Sky Sports' Kelly Dalglish joins Talksport". Press Gazette. 11 August 2006. Archived from the original on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  9. Day, Julia (10 October 2006). "TalkSport wins Premiership rights" – via The Guardian.
  10. Russell Brand returning to radio BBC News, 15 April 2009
  11. BBC radio loses third of live Premier League matches guardian.co.uk, 18 February 2010
  12. talkSPORT unveil Rugby World Cup plan Radio Today, 8 August 2011
  13. "Every Euro 2012 match to be broadcast on talkSPORT".
  14. "talkSPORT Press — talkSPORT SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION TO BROADCAST FA CUP WORLDWIDE UNTIL 2018". 16 May 2013. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  15. "Premiership Rugby and talkSPORT in new deal".
  16. Plunkett, John (5 November 2012). "TalkSport snaps up radio rights to Lions' Australia tour". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  17. "TalkSport wins rights to Brazil World Cup".
  18. talkSPORT (29 January 2016). "talkSPORT 2 announces launch date".
  19. talkSPORT (20 May 2016). "talkSPORT to broadcast more English Premier League coverage than ever before".
  20. talkSPORT (16 May 2016). "talkSPORT announces presenter team for Euro 2016".
  21. "EFL: New radio rights deals to maximise broadcast coverage for clubs and competitions - News - EFL Official Website".
  22. "talkSPORT names its squad for British and Irish Lions tour". 29 March 2017.
  23. "TalkSport take cricket rights from BBC". 18 April 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  24. https://talksport.com/football/522119/talksport-live-premier-league-saturday/
  25. https://talksport.com/football/688405/talksport-laura-woods-new-lead-breakfast-show-host-alan-brazil-new-bigger/
  26. "[DAB] Hessen (12C): NEU engl. Sport Kanal - Radioforum". Mysnip.de - Forenarchiv (in German). Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  27. "talkSPORT - listening figures". media.info.
  28. "RAJAR Q3 2017: London and national headlines – RadioToday". radiotoday.co.uk.
  29. "Talksport 2 announce launch date". talksport.com. talksport. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  30. "talkSPORT Schedule".
  31. "Digital Two applications published by Ofcom". Radio Today.
  32. Plunkett, John (9 February 2015). "TalkSport founder Kelvin MacKenzie in bid to launch rival station" – via The Guardian.
  33. talkSPORT (3 September 2013). "Harness the power of the English Premier League".
  34. talkSPORT (5 July 2013). "About".
  35. Own goal for Soccer Bet Press Gazette, 17 October 2003
  36. Tryhorn, Chris (15 September 2004). "MacKenzie takes TalkSport to TV". Media Guardian. Guardian News and Media.
  37. talkSPORT Hand Back Television Licence to OFCOM talksport1089.com, 11 August 2006
  38. Dowell, Ben (6 July 2007). "Channel 4 wins radio multiplex bid". Media Guardian. Guardian News and Media.
  39. Plunkett, John (14 October 2008). "4 Digital radio partners in crisis talks". guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media.
  40. Radio Today Archived 3 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  41. talkSPORT.co.uk - For men who like to talk sport talkSPORT, 26 July 2010
  42. Sport Magazine Archived 29 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  43. talkSPORT Road Trip (DVD) Amazon.co.uk
  44. talkSPORT – Legends & Anthems (CD) Amazon.co.uk
  45. The Talksport Book of World Cup Banter: All the Ammo You Need to Settle Any Argument Amazon.co.uk
  46. Why Are You So Fat?: The TalkSPORT Book of Cricket's Best Ever Sledges Amazon.co.uk
  47. Deans, Jason (5 December 2000). "TalkSport hails victory in sports row". The Guardian.
  48. Hodgson, Jessica (12 April 2002). "DJ fired after royal death threat". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
  49. talkSPORT Station History – 2002 talksport1089.com
  50. Deans, Jason (6 April 2004). "Brazil reinstated by TalkSport". The Guardian.
  51. Plunkett, John (18 May 2006). "Brazil out of the World Cup". The Guardian.
  52. Dowell, Ben (5 July 2006). "Brazil back in World Cup". The Guardian.
  53. Tryhorn, Chris (7 August 2006). "TalkSport rapped for 'derogatory' comment". MediaGuardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
  54. "Talksport rapped over gay jibes". BBC News. 20 August 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  55. "Radio host James Whale is sacked". BBC News. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  56. Martin, Nicole (18 November 2008). "Gaunt Suspended For "Nazi" Slur". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  57. Jon Gaunt still pursuing legal action against TalkSport guardian.co.uk, 20 January 2009
  58. "Rod Lucas dropped by Talksport". The Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
  59. DJ named on BNP member list joined to research story guardian.co.uk, 19 November 2008
  60. "Andy Gray and Richard Keys move to Talksport". BBC News. 8 February 2011.
  61. Martin, Roy (3 April 2017). "The Two Mikes in Ofcom breach at talkSPORT". Radio Today. Retrieved 4 October 2017.

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