Grant Broadcasters to launch 24 local sports shows in 2021

Grant Broadcasters are set to launch a locally produced and hosted afternoon sports show into 24 of their markets in 2021.

The Sideline View will broadcast on Saturday afternoons and will cover all the latest local community sport news, local games score updates and stories from all levels of local community sports clubs. Regular updates of the major National sports codes will also be included.

Alison Cameron, CEO of Grant Broadcasters, said: The Sideline View continues our commitment to increasing local content on our radio stations. Local sport is huge in the regional communities and has a great amount of interest with listeners. With the launch of 24 new shows by February of next year, we will have more live and local programmes than we have ever had before.”

Ryan Rathbone, group content director for Grant Broadcasters, is overseeing the launch. “The Sideline View is a new and exciting program developed purely for our local regions. We have a huge array of existing announcers across the network who are already connected with a lot of community sports organisations plus we will be seeking contributors to cover local news and sports updates. We will also look to the grass roots sporting clubs to share the history of their teams and some of the past stories that have now been passed into legend!”

In October this year Wave FM in Wollongong was the first station to launch a local version of The Sideline View with hosts Glen “Stolzy” Stolzenhein (a lifelong Parramatta tragic) and former NRL Premiership winner, NSW Blues State of Origin representative and Indigenous All-Star player, Jamie Soward (pictured).

Grant Broadcasters will not be taking any NRL games or networked sport shows previously sourced through Crocmedia/SEN to focus the content resources on the local production of The Sideline View in each market.

Stations in Victoria and SA will reduce their AFL broadcast to one game per weekend while the locally produced K Rock football will continue in Geelong as will their significant sponsorship of the Geelong Cats.

The Sideline View shows will be rolled out across the following markets before the start of the 2021 winter sports season:

Bega, Muswellbrook, Nowra, Wollongong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong , Mildura, Darwin, Bundaberg, Cairns, Mackay, Central Queensland, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Murray Bridge, Port Lincoln, Riverland, Spencer Gulf, Hobart, Launceston & the North West Coast of Tasmania.