Hawkesbury Radio 89.9FM in Sydney’s west has just wrapped up two decades of calling Rugby League.
Hawkesbury Radio’s own MG, Michael Golikov, has been a member of the commentary team since it kicked off and has been a driving force behind its success. He has now called full time on his involvement with the station’s football OBs.
The station has proved to be an ideal training ground for aspiring sports broadcasters with channel nine’s Matthew Thompson and Fox Sports Joel Caine among the ranks of broadcasters who have made it into the commercial sector.
Current Sports Director Nicholas Kutnjack paid tribute to his predecessor who recently hung up the 89.9FM headset for the final time on Grand Final day, “Michael has lead the Hawkesbury Radio team to some massive wins with its live rugby league broadcasts” he said. “In his time as Sports Director 89.9FM became the first community radio station to call all 3 grades on NRL Grand Final day in 2003 and 2 years later called an Australia v New Zealand Test match from Olympic stadium”
Over the past 20 years the team has travelled far and wide from its own backyard in Western Sydney to locations including Newcastle, Parkes, Melbourne and even Auckland.
Upon announcing his decision to make this season his last, Golikov said he was proud of what he and the station had achieved “especially the 2010 to 2013 seasons, where we called every Windsor Wolves match in the NSW Cup, we literally travelled all over the countryside. Planning and producing the coverage was personally very rewarding and the opportunity to call the 2013 Grand Final at ANZ Stadium before the NRL decider was one my highlights in a memorable 20 years”.
Hawkesbury Radio’s full time licence has not been renewed, but the station has been granted a temporary licence to stay on air.
As reported by radioinfo last month, the Australian Communications and Media Authority declined to renew the community broadcast licence for 2VTR, held by Hawkesbury Radio Communications Cooperative Society Ltd, following non-compliance with the community participation licence condition. The ACMA had previously warned the Windsor based station on the outskirts of Sydney that it was not doing enough to encourage community participation in the operations of the station.