TeamTalk 252

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TEAMtalk 252 was a short-lived UK national commercial sports radio station, based partially in the Republic of Ireland and partially in Leeds, which broadcast to the UK and Ireland between 11 March 2002 until 31 July 2002 on the longwave frequency (252 kHz/1190 metres) formerly used by the music station Atlantic 252. It unsuccessfully attempted to compete with the UK's national commercial sports and talk station talkSPORT, and with the sports coverage of BBC Radio Five Live.

Launched and trailed as the UK's first national commercial radio station 100% dedicated to sport, providing entertaining and informative coverage of all UK football, rugby, racing, cricket and all major sporting events. TEAMtalk 252 also provided a number of specialist programmes dedicated to racing, cricket, non-league football, motor racing and live coverage of the British Basketball League.

TEAMtalk 252 launched with the help of former England International Paul Gascoigne and Footballers Wives star Zoe Lucker, who played Tanya Turner, and although it had 19 studios and employed 100 full-time sports journalists, the newcomer made no attempt to muscle into the patch already covered by BBC Radio Five Live and talkSPORT. Both stations had already spent millions on buying broadcast rights for live sports commentaries, but TEAMtalk 252 said it would concentrate on sports news, analysis, results and opinion in addition to their coverage of British Basketball on Saturday nights. The station’s biggest names included former England International Phil Neal, Jamie Broadbent who was part of Chris Evans' Virgin Radio Breakfast Show and broadcasting personality James H Reeve.

Whilst broadcast, TEAMtalk 252 aired coverage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan providing unofficial off-tube commentary of matches, with an unknown commentary team, involving England and the Republic of Ireland in addition to the knockout stages. This was despite the fact that BBC Radio Five Live held the broadcast rights to the tournament, and talkSPORT provide its higher quality unofficial coverage with its commentary team including Jim Proudfoot, Alan Parry, Alvin Martin and Tony Cascarino.

TEAMtalk 252 closed suddenly on 31 July 2002 following a takeover by UKBetting. Staff were informed at a meeting held that morning that the station would close between 12:00pm-2:00pm on the same day. The station ended broadcasting at 13:42 as Afternoon presenter James H Reeve said: "My Dad always said don't start something you can't finish, and he'd be proud of me now."

1 Schedule & Presenters
2 Audience Figures
3 The Demise of TEAMtalk 252
4 Frequency

[edit] Schedule & Presenters

MONDAY-FRIDAY

6:00am-9:00am: The Full Sports Breakfast with Jon Meek & George Riley
9:00am-1:00pm: It's Your Shout with Jamie Broadbent
1:00pm-4:00pm: James H Reeve in the Afternoon
4:00pm-7:00pm: Drive with Neil Henderson & Jon Newcombe.
7:00pm-10:00pm: Sportnight with Simon Barlow & Tim Thornton.
10:00pm-1:00am: The Final Whistle with Al Bentley.

SATURDAY

6:00am-8:00am: The Saturday Sports Breakfast
8:00am-9:00am: The Stable Breakfast
9:00am-12:00pm: The Thornton Brothers
12:00pm-1:00pm: The Sports Quiz
1:00pm-6:00pm: 252 Matchday
6:00pm-7:30pm: Another 90 Minutes with Bomber Harris

SUNDAY

6:00am-9:00am: The Sunday Sports Breakfast
9:00am-12:00pm: Phil Neal on Sunday
12:00pm-12:30pm: The Non-League Show
12:30pm-1:00pm: The Business of Sport
1:00pm-6:00pm: 252 Matchday
6:00pm-8:00pm: The League Show

[edit] Audience Figures

Its first listening figures from RAJAR showed TEAMtalk 252 with 428,000 listeners a week, compared to talkSPORT's 2.5m and BBC Radio Five Live's 6.4m. Despite a loyal fan base, the station lost 60% of its listeners in the first three months of 2002 and its remained on air for just 4 months.

[edit] The Demise of TEAMtalk 252

TEAMtalk had a reported £28m in the bank and allocated £8m to TEAMtalk 252 stating it needed to break even by 2004, but that it didn't have enough money to bid for exclusive sporting rights.

Losses spiralled to as much as £2.2m. As a result, TEAMtalk's group chairman Bill Wilson stepped down in April. Already by mid-May 2002, TEAMtalk 252's owners confirmed that it was in discussions with a number of parties who had expressed an interest in buying either part of or all off the TEAMtalk group. It had, a week previously, been approached by online betting business ukbetting plc with an offer of £10.2m for lock, stock and barrel - this was rejected by the TEAMtalk management. In April 2002, £9.5m was written off by TEAMtalk which admitted it had over-stretched itself financially.

By the end of May 2002, TEAMtalk 252's future was thrown firmly into doubt when a deal was done between the parent company TEAMtalk and previous group bidder ukbetting to take over TEAMtalk for £13.7m.

ukbetting [1] appeared to be mainly interested in TEAMtalk's other sporting services including internet site TEAMtalk.com - at that time ukbetting's portfolio of websites included sports sites sportinglife.com, sportal.com and bettingzone.co.uk, as well as betting sites totalbet.com and ukbetting.com. Subsequent takeovers have added Oddschecker.co.uk, Rivals.net, Football365, Golf365, Cricket365, Planet-Rugby and Planet-F1 among others to the stable.

TEAMtalk 252 closed suddenly on 31 July 2002. Staff were informed at a meeting held that morning that the station would close between Noon and 2pm that day.

The station ended broadcasting at 13:42 as presenter James H Reeve said, "My dad always said don't start something you can't finish, and he'd be proud of me now." It is reported that it was cut mid-sentence.