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Talksport

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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.

The station originated as a non-sport station, Talk Radio UK, in 1995. It relaunched as Talksport in January 2000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HistoryEdit

Talk Radio eraEdit

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.

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.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.Template:Cn

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 TalksportEdit

On 12 November 1998, TalkCo Holdings – whose chairman and chief executive was Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of The Sun – purchased Talk Radio.<ref name="purchase">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.Template:Cn

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.Template:Cn

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.

Approximately 39 hours of non-sports programming still remained on the schedule as of March 2012, including an overnight show hosted by Mike Graham, and George Galloway's The Mother of All Talk Shows on Friday evenings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 7 March, it was announced that month that Talksport would discontinue or reformat its remaining non-sport programming, considering it an "exciting yet natural next step" for the station, and citing opportunities to provide more coverage of American sport during its overnight lineup. Galloway was dropped, while Graham's show pivoted to primarily discussing sport.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 25 June 2016, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp announced that it was acquiring the parent Wireless Group company for $296 million.<ref name="wsj">Template:Cite news</ref>

Expansion of the Talk brandEdit

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 25 June 2016, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp announced that it was acquiring the parent Wireless Group company for $296 million.<ref name="wsj"/> Since June 2020 it has also produced sports bulletins for Times Radio. In 2022 a televised version of TalkRadio launched on TV.

Programming historyEdit

Talksport and Talksport 2 hold exclusive and non-exclusive rights to various sportsTemplate:Which in the UK.

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  • August 2012: Talksport secure a deal to become an official broadcaster of the Aviva Premiership.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The deal enables Talksport to broadcast live commentary of selected matches throughout the season either on-air or online.

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  • March 2016: Talksport 2 launches, a station dedicated to live sports commentaries and specialist programming.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • May 2016: Talksport and Talksport 2 are awarded the right to broadcast three Premier League UK live audio packages for the next three football seasons, starting with the 2016/17 season.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • May 2017: Talksport secures exclusive national radio rights to the English Football League.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> It gives them the ability to broadcast up to up 110 EFL fixtures a season for three years until the end of the 2019/2020 season.

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  • April 2018: Talksport and Talksport 2 secure exclusive broadcast rights to England's winter tours of Sri Lanka and the West Indies.<ref name="bbc.com">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • April 2019: Talksport and Talksport 2 win three of the four Saturday UK radio rights packages for the Premier League .<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • April 2020: Laura Woods becomes the new lead presenter of Sports Breakfast, taking over from Alan Brazil, who moves to two days a week.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • May 2022: Mark Goldbridge, the founder, owner and main host of the football YouTube channel The United Stand becomes presenter of a late night show.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • December 2023: Former Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling begins hosting Talksport Breakfast on Mondays and Tuesdays. Alan Brazil begins hosting the breakfast show three days a week instead of two.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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BroadcastEdit

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>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</ref> 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%.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.Template:Citation needed

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Talksport was available on DAB digital radio in some German cities.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The station also partnered with Pure to sell a Talksport-branded Pure One digital radio receiver.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Sister stationsEdit

Talksport 2Edit

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Talksport InternationalEdit

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Talksport International also broadcasts selected fixtures in the FA Cup, League Cup and provides commentaries for Amazon Music's Bundesliga coverage.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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

Other mediaEdit

  • 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.<ref>Own goal for Soccer Bet Template:Webarchive Press Gazette, 17 October 2003</ref>
  • Talksport TV launched in October 2004 platform broadcasting for six hours a day on the Sky Digital television platform aiming to catch listeners who had arrived home from work.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The service amounted to little more than the simulcasting 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.<ref>talkSPORT Hand Back Television Licence to OFCOM Template:Webarchive talksport1089.com, 11 August 2006</ref>
  • 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, the station never launched after Channel 4 announced that it was abandoning its plans for digital radio stations<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Talksport Magazine launched in May 2008 as a weekly online-only digital publication to extend the station's brand beyond the radio.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The magazine was integrated into the newly relaunched Talksport website in 2010<ref>talkSPORT.co.uk – For men who like to talk sport Template:Webarchive talkSPORT, 26 July 2010</ref>

  • 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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Books, DVDs, and gamesEdit

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ControversiesEdit

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  • June 2000: It was revealed that 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Talksport's commentary team included Alan Parry, Jim Proudfoot, Mark Tompkins, Alvin Martin and Frank Stapleton.Template:Cn
  • April 2002: Tommy Boyd and his production team were dismissed 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • 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.<ref>talkSPORT Station History – 2002 Template:Webarchive talksport1089.com</ref>
  • 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.<ref name="talksport2"/>
  • March 2004: Alan Brazil was dismissed 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • May 2006: Alan Brazil was reportedly given three months' notice by Talksport after a bust-up with the station's management.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Brazil and Talksport management held talks less than two months later, and Brazil signed a new long-term contract with the station.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • June 2006: Alan Brazil got in trouble with Ofcom for referring to Japanese people as "the nips" during the World Cup in Germany<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • August 2007: Mike Mendoza and Garry Bushell made derogatory comments about gay people, and the station was subsequently censured by regulator Ofcom.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • May 2008: James Whale was dismissed by Talksport after twice urging listeners to vote for Boris Johnson in the 2008 London mayoral election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The station was subsequently fined £20,000 by Ofcom in December 2008.Template:Cn
  • November 2008: Presenter Jon Gaunt was dismissed for repeatedly calling a local councillor a "Nazi".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Gaunt has since sought legal action for unfair dismissal, but any potential case has yet to go to court.<ref>Jon Gaunt still pursuing legal action against TalkSport The Guardian, 20 January 2009</ref>Template:Needs update
  • 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.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> The station clarified that this was not a sacking, for Lucas was only a temporary member of staff. The presenter himself said that his membership of the party was part of a covert research project.<ref>DJ named on BNP member list joined to research story The Guardian, 19 November 2008</ref>
  • 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 dismissed from Sky Sports for being at the centre of a sexism controversy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • 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 sexual harassment by former colleagues at the Daily Express. Talksport said in its statement that the two presenters were "laughing at the lack of action" against sexual harassment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • August 2021: A caller to The Sports Bar said that Tottenham Hotspur owner Daniel Levy would not let Harry Kane leave for free because Levy is Jewish. The remark was not heard on the radio due to a tape delay to avoid offensive callers but was heard on a YouTube simulcast. Talksport apologised and suspended their simulcast until a delay could be enabled.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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