talksporthistory2004

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talkSPORT Station History
From Talk Radio UK to talkSPORT

January: Football First Early Kick-Off co-host Neil Ruddock is chosen to take part in ITV1’s reality TV show I’m A Celebrity! Get Me Out Of Here. After being voted off the popular programme midway through the series, Ruddock returns to talkSPORT, but is soon to leave the station due to increasing media commitments.

talkSPORT management introduce a generic name and format to the midweek Football First programmes – meaning the end for Monday’s European football show Football First In Europe and Thursday’s Nationwide Football League programme Football First, Second & Third. However, both programmes co-host, Gabriele Marcotti and Ray Houghton respectively, would continue to co-host their timeslots alongside Adrian Durham.

February: Geoffrey Boycott, formerly talkSPORT’s main cricket commentator, turns down an offer to return to the airwaves to front the stations coverage of England’s winter test series in the West Indies. His decision to do so is initially put down to him still recovering from throat cancer, however this later comes into question when he signs up to a deal with BBC Radio Five Live in order to report on the series for the station.

Under a year after choosing not to renew there sponsorship deal with The Sports Breakfast show, John Smiths’ Extra Smooth Bitter resume ties with talkSPORT, by signing up to sponsor the stations post match football phone-ins – 505 with Gary Newbon on Saturday’s and 605 with Rob McCaffrey on Sunday's.

March: talkSPORT provide live and exclusive coverage on England’s winter test and one day international series in the West Indies. Commentary of the tour is provided by the talkSPORT at the Test team of Chris Cowdrey, Tony Greig, Mark Nicholas, Jack Bannister and West Indian pundits Jeffrey Dujon, Tony Gray, Wayne Daniel and Andy Roberts, with reports from Andrew McKenna.

Less than a month after for talkSPORT’s lead cricket commentator Geoffrey Boycott signed up with the corporation to work as a reporter there, talkSPORT decide to bar the BBC from providing official radio reports on the West Indies v England test series from inside the stadium. Like there talkSPORT counterparts have done many times in the past, Boycott and the BBC’s Chief Cricket Correspondent Jonathan Agnew face being “locked out” of the stadia whilst the matches are taking place.

The Wireless Group, owners of talkSPORT, commence their High Court proceedings against radio audience measurement body RAJAR, claiming damages of more than Ł66 million in lost advertising revenues.

In a shock move, talkSPORT sack Sports Breakfast presenter Alan Brazil after he failed to turn up for the show aired on Friday March 19th, having spent the previous three days broadcasting from The Cheltenham Festival. It was announced that the stations management had become increasingly frustrated during the past 18 months, due to Brazil missing shows, despite receiving a number of written warnings. It was also alleged that he had turned up for shows in an unfit state to go on air on a number of occasions.

On Thursday March 25th, talkSPORT’s Spanish Football Correspondent Paul Breen-Turner – also a presenter on Spain’s Spectrum FM - is announced as Alan Brazil’s replacement on The Sports Breakfast, a show that will still be presented by Brazil’s former co-host Mike Parry. The Sports Breakfast with Mike Parry and Paul Breen-Turner is set to debut on Monday 5th April.

Alan Brazil announces that he will be taking legal action against talkSPORT. Brazil is said to be unhappy due to the way he was dismissed, as he feels he has a genuine reason for not turning up for Friday 19th March’s show. He is also said to be upset that details of his salary, claiming that he earned Ł200,000 per anumm, have been mentioned in press reports, with Alan claiming that The Wireless Group Chairman and Chief Executive Kelvin MacKenzie, or someone close to him, disclosed this figure to the press.

April: Just one day into the new Sports Breakfast with Mike Parry and Paul Breen-Turner, Mike Parry announces on-air on Tuesday 6th April that Alan Brazil will be returning to the show as of Monday 12th April, with Brazil and Parry resuming the shows old partnership.

Weeks after Alan Brazil returns to The Sports Breakfast, talkSPORT announce that Ford Vans will be the shows new sponsor until the end of the year. Earlier that month, Bell’s Whisky had already begun their sponsorship deal with the Hawksbee & Jacobs show.

talkSPORT announce that, for the first time in their history, they have captured the official rights to a major international football tournament. Along with BBC Radio Five Live, BBC Five Live Sports Extra and Capital Radio Network, the station has purchased a share of the rights for UEFA Euro 2004, enabling them to provide commentary and reports on the tournament live from the stadiums.

May: Having covered England’s tour of the West Indies, talkSPORT secure exclusive commentary rights of the English national cricket team’s winter tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe. CSI Octagon, the agents selling the broadcast rights on behalf of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, revealed that their agreement with the station for exclusive coverage of the South Africa tour had actually been concluded over a year ago.

talkSPORT announce details of their official coverage of the UEFA Euro 2004 tournament, revealing that Nivea For Men have signed a deal worth Ł500,000 in order to become the lead sponsor for the station’s coverage of the championship. Alan Brazil and Mike Parry are to broadcast The Sports Breakfast live from around host nation Portugal, with Jim Proudfoot and Alvin Martin being the stations commentary team for all the big group stage games and every match in the knockout phase. talkSPORT's pitchside reporters for live commentary games would be Andy Clarke, who would also be the station’s Man with the Fans, and talkSPORT’s Chief Football Correspondent Dom McGuinness, who was also the station’s man in the England camp. Graham Beecroft, Graham Courtney and Nigel Pearson would complete talkSPORT’s team in Portugal, providing reports and ‘full match highlights’ commentaries on secondary group phase matches.

To supplement their coverage of the championship, the station adopts band 4-4-2’s football song ‘Come On England’ as their official Euro 2004 anthem. A number of talkSPORT’s presenters, producers and staff are filmed in the video for the previously unknown Northamptonshire-based band’s adaptation of Dexy’s Midnight Runners number one hit ‘Come On Eileen’.

The release date for the single, which includes a credit for the station due to the use of commentary from talkSPORT’s Alan Parry, is announced as June 7th, enraging rival radio DJ Christian O’Connell, who was also to be part of a Euro 2004 single released on that day. Twisted X, backed by London station XFM, had already planned to release ‘Born In England’ on that day, leading to a war of words between the stations.

After a year with the station, John Kearns announces his departure from talkSPORT’s weekday overnight show, leaving the station to focus on his increasing television commitments. Kearns’ initial replacements are Duncan Barkes and Steve Jones, who are to share the presenting duties for the foreseeable future.

With the Ford Transit Van beginning their sponsorship with The Sports Breakfast with Alan Brazil and Mike Parry at the start of the month, The Times newspaper announce that they are to sponsor talkSPORT’s drivetime programme presented by Patrick Kinghorn and Tony Cascarino. In accordance to the sponsorship, the show previously called Kinghorn & Cascarino is to be re-named The Game as of Tuesday 1st June.

June: On Friday June 4th, BBC Radio Five Live renew their deal to be able to provide exclusive live commentaries on the FA Premiership over the next three seasons. After having faced stiff competition to purchase the radio rights from talkSPORT, The BBC pay a combined Ł39 million, Ł6 million less than the Ł45 million they bid for the stand alone package deal in 2001, to secure both the 125 and 97 match packages available. Later, The Wireless Group Chief Executive Kelvin MacKenzie declares the Premier League’s decision to award the all the rights to The BBC as being “utterly disgraceful”, as they had helped to create a “taxpayer-funded monopoly” of Premiership football “at a price which The Wireless Group cannot afford”.

Having released their Euro 2004 single on Monday June 7th, talkSPORT-backed 4-4-2’s ‘Come On England’ record is the highest new entry in the Official UK Singles Charts, going straight in at Number 2 on Sunday June 13th. ‘Come On England’ not only bettered Xfm’s anthem ‘Born In England’ by Twisted X, which reached Number 9, but also the FA’s official England anthem ‘All Together Now’ by The Farm, which in it’s second week charted at Number 10. ‘Come On England’ stays in the UK Top 40 during the following 3 weeks, with it falling to Numbers 3, 8 and 37 respectively.

The BBC are forced to withdraw a television advert for Radio Five Live’s coverage of UEFA Euro 2004, following legal threats from talkSPORT. The Wireless Group owned station were aggrieved over the adverts claim that Five Live had exclusive radio rights to the tournament despite talkSPORT also owning the rights. As well as a retraction, amongst other things, talkSPORT are seeking unspecified damages and legal costs from the BBC. In happier relations between TWG and the corporation, many of talkSPORT’s presenters appear on BBC Top Of The Pops show alongside 4-4-2 to perform ‘Come On England’ on Friday 18th June, some of them having appeared on the indie band’s performance of the song on ITV1’s CD:UK on Saturday 12th June.

talkSPORT announce further details of their official coverage of Euro 2004 – unveiling the programmes from their 16 hour per day schedule that were to be aired in the UK. The schedule includes live broadcasts from The Sports Café before every England game, with The Sports Café’s branches in London, Manchester and Birmingham all hosting live events. After all of these matches, Adrian Durham and Gary Stevens would be on hand to gage the fans reactions, with a 3-hour post match phone-in. Also, every day of the week the station would air a mid-morning tournament debate programme entitled Euro 2004 Today, presented by Lee Clayton and Steve Bower alongside pundits Alan Mullery, Lou Macari and Micky Quinn.

Having already flown back to the UK with the rest of The Sports Breakfast team after England were knocked out of Euro 2004, Mike Parry is taken into hospital after Tuesday 29th June’s show. It is later announced that Mike is suffering from a heart condition, meaning that he is likely to be away from the airwaves for a number of months. Graham Beecroft is to fill-in for Mike Parry on The Sports Breakfast alongside Alan Brazil for the foreseeable future.

July: On Sunday July 4th, talkSPORT cover the Euro 2004 Final, Greece’s 1-0 win over Portugal in Lisbon, with Jim Proudfoot and Alvin Martin providing commentary from the Estadio De Luz, the first time the station had covered a major international football tournament final live from the stadium. The schedule is as follows:

6:00am Fisherman's Blues with Keith Arthur 8:00am The Sports Breakfast with Graham Beecroft & Micky Quinn 11:00am Whale on Sunday 2:00pm Euro 2004 Today with Steve Bower & Lou Macari 4:00pm Euro 2004 Final Preview with Adrian Durham & Gary Stevens 7:00pm Euro 2004 Final Live: Portugal 1-0 Greece with Jim Proudfoot & Alvin Martin 10:00pm Ian Collins: Unbranded 1:00am Mike Mendoza.

Hours later, talkSPORT’s new Monday-Friday overnight presenter Mike Mendoza makes his debut on the station on Monday 5th July. Mendoza, who joins the station after having spent over 10 years at London based talk station LBC, was not just to be the eventual replacement for John Kearns on the weekday overnight show, but also for Martin Gillingham on the Monday morning show, with both presenters having left the station a number of months ago to concentrate on their television commitments.

Between the 15th-18th July, talkSPORT provide full live coverage of the 133rd Open Golf Championship from Royal Troon in Ayrshire, Scotland. Rupert Bell, Richard Boxall, Robert Lee and Bob Bubka commentate on Todd Hamilton’s victory, with Alan Brazil and Mike Bovill providing further reports from the event.

August: At the start of the new football season, once again talkSPORT make major changes to their weekend schedule. Andy Townsend and Micky Quinn are paired up to present both the weekend Sports Breakfast shows between 8:00am-12:00pm, Alvin Martin moves back onto the national Saturday Football First programme, joining Gary Stevens as a pundit on the show. The programme, fronted by Adrian Durham, is now extended to last between 12:00pm-5:10pm, encompassing the slot in which Football First Early Kick-Off previously aired. Also, both 505 with Gary Newbon and 605 with Rob McCaffrey are replaced by a new football phone-in entitled The Final Whistle, which is to be presented by Graham Beecroft.

talkSPORT provide live reports from the 2004 Athens Olympics. The reporting team covering the Olympiad for the station are Andrew McKenna and Mike Bovill in Greece, with Lisa O’Sullivan giving regular updates from the London studios.

On the very eve of the new football season, talkSPORT reveal that they have renewed the rights to broadcast Chelsea’s Premiership games, and purchase a similar dealto do the same with champions Arsenal, both for the duration of the 2004/05 season. As they had done over the previous years, these games will only be broadcast on talkSPORT’s 1089am frequency in London and the South-East. However, it was further announced that the station does not plan to air any 3:00pm or 5:15pm kick-off’s involving either the Gunners or the Blues, with them not wanting to interrupt the broadcasting of the main section of the station’s Football First show or it’s flagship football phone-in The Final Whistle in this region. Jim Proudfoot and Alvin Martin are to remain as the main commentary team on Football First Premiership Live, with Chris Cooper and Tony Cascarino commentating on Saturday 12.30pm matches when Jim and Alvin are unavailable.

A date is set for the long-awaited court case between talkSPORT’s owners The Wireless Group and the UK radio industry’s official audience measuring body RAJAR. The case, in which TWG’s Chairman and Chief Executive Kelvin MacKenzie will attempt to claim over Ł66 million in damages due to “lost revenues” caused by RAJAR’s “out-dated” diary system, is set to be held in November. Later this month, TWG’s favoured measurement system, GfK, reveals that over the period of June and July, when the station broadcast it’s live and official coverage of Euro 2004, the weekly audience grew from 5.4 to 5.8 million listeners.

talkSPORT launch on the digital terrestrial television platform Freeview, with the station being broadcast on channel 94. Being added to the service, which is jointly owned by the BBC and Sky Television, means that the station is now available on every major digital TV platform in the UK.

In an interview with industry magazine X-Trax For Radio, talkSPORT Managing Director Michael Franklin announces that in the future, more sports programming will be scheduled on the station rather than general talk-based formats, saying that “It may be that in four or five years time we will do more sport and become more of a niche player.” Franklin, who was appointed as the station’s MD in February, goes on to say that “In the short term we will continue to invest in programming, to look for opportunities in football, golf, and cricket, and to provide intelligent comments on-air.”

September: talkSPORT also signed a deal with the Football League to broadcast live Carling Cup Football to the nation with commentary matches aired from the Third Round right through until the Final in February 2005. Champions League Football also returned to talkSPORT with the station signing deals with Arsenal and Chelsea to air their home games to the nation and deals with Liverpool and Manchester United's away opponents to provide live commentary matches to the country. talkSPORT aired more live matches in the space of five months in 2004 than they had in the whole of the 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 football seasons.

October: talkSPORT launched a new media venture with the first time that listeners would be able to watch the station rather than just listen to it. In November, talkSPORT TV launched on Sky Digital Channel 235 airing between 4:00pm-10:00pm each day showing viewers the goings on in the studios of the UK's sports station. The Game with Patrick Kinghorn and Tony Cascarino and Adrian Durham on Evening Kick-Off would be the first shows aired on the new channel. The station underlined the fact that the channel is part of talkSPORT's marketing and advertising campaign and says it is another way of gaining listeners to the radio shows.

November: Speculation regarding the future of Alan Brazil was again in question following a report in the Daily Mail reported that the presenter had received a "soccer-style fine" for a breach of his talkSPORT contract. According to Charles Sale in his Sports Agenda column, Brazil's party lifestyle led to him parting company with the station earlier this year before being brought back by popular demand. But his new agreement stipulates a fine of Ł5,000 if he fails to complete a show for reasons his bosses regard as unacceptable. Sale went onto say that the antics from Brazil has occurred for the third time in four months when he was taken off air after only 12 minutes because talkSPORT executives claim, he was slurring his words. Brazil blamed his enunciation problems on the cough mixture he had been taking which has turned out to be an expensive cure.

talkSPORT receieve permission from industry regulators OFCOM to further split their transmitters to allow them to broadcast live football coverage to the North-West and the Midlands in addition to the London region. talkSPORT and Manchester City sign a deal so that the station can broadcast City's Premiership matches to the North-West region on 1089am. talkSPORT is also in negotiations with Aston Villa over the right to broadcast their Premiership matches to listeners of the station in the Midlands on 1053am.

December: talkSPORT were awarded the non-exclusive broadcast rights to provide live commentary of cricket's Twenty20 Cup matches from 2006. Mike Franklin, Managing Director, talkSPORT said: "The Twenty20 Cup competition has caught the public's imagination and brought in a new audience to cricket. talkSPORT's distinctive cricket coverage fits well with the excitement of the Twenty20 format and will appeal to talkSPORT listeners. For international cricket talkSPORT will continue to provide a comprehensive update report service for all England games and we remind all cricket lovers that our distinctive ball-by-ball coverage of England's current tour to South Africa starts this Friday."

talkSPORT provide live coverage of England's Winter Test and ODI Tour of South Africa, with commentary provided by the talkSPORT at the Test team of Chris Cowdrey, Jack Bannister, Mike Atherton, Neil Manthorpe, Robin Jackman and Andrew McKenna. Barry Richards also popped up on talkSPORT with his own unique commentary with the team overal providing a competant opponent to the BBC.

On Thursday 17th December, talkSPORT boss Kelvin MacKenzie had a mixed day with news that his High Course case against audience measurement body RAJAR had been thrown out and that The Wireless Group's bid for the new FM Edinburgh license had gone to his group with a new talk radio station, Dunedin FM, launching in Scotland's capital from 2005. Mr Justice Lloyd dismissed as "impossible to see" the central plank of The Wireless Group case, that RAJAR's decision was an abuse of its dominant position under competition law that lacked objective justification. He ordered the radio group to pay RAJAR's costs, which amount to more than Ł400,000, with Ł225,000 of that due to be paid by January 6th 2005.

2005: The End of Kelvin MacKenzie at talkSPORT

January: talkSPORT provide unofficial coverage of Manchester United's FA Cup 3rd Round Replay against Exeter City. Chris Cooper and Alvin Martin commentate on United's 2-0 win over the Conference side from talkSPORT's studio monitors. Click here to read talkSPORT Station History for 2005.

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