Kelvin MacKenzie bids to launch TalkSport rival
Pugnacious journalist Kelvin MacKenzie is aiming to shale up sports coverage on the radio for a second time with plans for his latest venture, Sports Radio.
The planned digital station would boast national reach and be run in conjunction with Listen2Digital, a consortium comprising Orion media and babcock International – after MacKenzie was rebuffed by a rival consortium comprising UTV, Bauer Media and Arqiva the former of which now owns TalkSport, founded by Mackenzie a decade ago.
Sports Radio is one of a number of competing bids for the latest batch of commercial radio stations to be licensed by media regulator Ofcom with UTV proposing to launch three new stations of its own – including a TalkSport 2.
MacKenzie said: “It’s been clear to me for some time that there’s room for another player in the sports radio market. In capitalism, where there’s one there should be two.
“It underlines the importance of the platform being awarded to a party that will not act solely in its own interests. The listener deserves a choice.”
Should MacKenzie’s bid be successful the new station could launch in January.