Macquarie Media Limited (MML) has announced the launch of a sports radio network, Macquarie Sports Radio.
The station is set to launch in conjunction with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games on Wednesday. Macquarie Media is the official AM commercial radio broadcaster of the Commonwealth Games.
Monday to Friday in Sydney and Brisbane, Macquarie Sports Radio Breakfast will be hosted by John Stanley and Beau Ryan.
The Melbourne breakfast show will be hosted by Tony Leonard, Tony Shaw and Jimmy Bartel, while David Schwartz and Mark Allen will head up a national drive program.
Mornings will be hosted by David Morrow and Tiffany Cherry; afternoons will be hosted by Mieke Buchan, Shane McInnes and Sam Stove; evenings with Julian King’ weekend mornings with Bill Woods and Brigitte Duclos; weekend afternoons with Craig Willis and Clinton Maynard; and weekend evenings with Tim Webster.
Macquarie Sports Radio will also feature some of the country’s leading sporting personalities and experts as regular guests and contributors, including Leigh Matthews, Des Hasler, Mike Hussey, Mark Riddell and Andrew Gaze.
The new Melbourne breakfast and drive shows will be heard on Macquarie Sports Radio straight after the Commonwealth Games from Monday 16 April.
Macquarie Sports Radio has also secured exclusive broadcast rights to live English Premier League matches (EPL). Three EPL games will be broadcast each week, across the weekend overnights program.
The network has also signed a partnership with the EPL’s global audio partner, talkSPORT, and will broadcast two of its shows, Hawksbee & Jacobs and Durham & Gough, between midnight and 4am on weekdays.
MML chief executive Adam Lang said: “We are very excited to be launching Australia’s first national commercial sports radio talk network.
“Australians have a long-established obsession with sport and we continue to see growth in a variety of sporting endeavours. There are more than 13 million sports fans in Australia.
“Sport is social; it bonds strangers together, and we want to give them a voice and a platform to connect and engage.
“It made sense to extend our expertise into a national format that covers all sports, all of the time.”
Macquarie Sports Radio will be heard in Sydney on 954 AM, in Melbourne on 1278 AM and in Brisbane on 882 AM, and on the respective digital radio stations.
People right across Australia can also listen online via streaming and podcasts, and can watch live via sportsradio.com.au.
