Melbourne-based Radio Sport 927 has rebranded its weeknightly sports program as Sportstalk National to coincide with its live broadcasting into Sydney.

The one hour program, which originates from Sport 927 Melbourne, can now be heard on 2KY in Sydney, as well as in Newcastle and Wollongong and other New South Wales relay stations.

Presenter Andrew Kuuse, who has hosted the program for the past decade has told radioinfo he is “delighted” with the acceptance of the 11pm-midnight program since it was networked on December 5.

“We are thrilled to have already taken calls from listeners throughout regional New South Wales. We believe this is the first time a commercial radio station has networked a sports show across Sydney and Melbourne, the two biggest markets, simultaneously. A radio show and a sports show that is being presented in Melbourne and broadcast live into the Sydney market is something special.

“Sport 927 management spent a lot of time with their counterparts in Sydney to ensure we would have the content that would appeal to both markets and strike the right balance.”

Kuuse has met with the Sydney Swans and NRL clubs to record additional content. He has also engaged former NRL star Gary Freeman, who is part of the Fox Sports network, to cover the rugby league segments.

Sportstalk National also airs to Victorian relay stations, to the ACT via ACT TAB Radio and to Hobart and Launceston in Tasmania through TOTE Sport Radio.

Radio Sport 927 achieved a record weekly adult audience of 533,300, including increased regional listening, and a record for Melbourne Cup Day according to its latest Newspoll research survey between November 10-14.

This represented a weekly reach of 13.6 per cent into the overall Victorian adult population, aged 18 years and over.

The figures are the best result by Radio Sport 927 in the 66 surveys it has held since April 1998, exceeding the previous best weekly audience of 464,000 in November 2003.