TEAMtalk 252 To Close After Less Than Five Months

National speech-based sports radio station, TEAMtalk 252, is to close after less than five months on air.

The station, which launched in February to rival Wireless Group-owned TalkSPORT and BBC Radio Five Live, was bought by UKBetting in May for around £14m (see UKBetting To Acquire TEAMtalk For £13.7m). The online bookmaker has decided to close the station and has sold the frequency to Irish state broadcaster RTE, which already owned a 20% stake in Radio Tara, the holding company that owned TEAMtalk’s licence.

It is thought that the closure will result in the loss of up to 40 jobs at the station, which has lost £2.2m in the five months since its launch. In a statement issued yesterday, UKBetting said: “The disposal of this shareholding will stem a significant cash drain on the TEAMtalk business.”

According to the latest RAJAR data for the three month period ending in June 2002 (see RAJAR Results Q2 2002- National Stations), TEAMtalk 252, which was broadcast on the frequency previously occupied by Atlantic 252 (see TEAMtalk Buys Atlantic 252), saw its weekly reach decline by 3% to 415,000. The figures show that the sports-based station was attracting around half the amount of weekly listeners than its music focussed predecessor.

Teamtalk: 0870 128 3333 www.teamtalk.com

Recent Radio Stories from NewsLine Growth In Sponsorship Lifts Commercial Radio Revenue Feature: Radio Shows Its Sex Appeal Capital Adopts New Scheduling Technology

Subscribers can access ten years of NewsLine articles by clicking the Search button to the left