 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
OFF THE BENCH
Football fans are in for a treat this year with the return of Off the Bench, the only radio show dedicated to country football. The show is hosted by award winning AFL journalist Craig Hutchison and former Geelong star Liam Pickering.
Off the Bench debuted in 2007 on seven radio stations across Victoria via the Ace Radio network.
This season the success and popularity of Off the Bench has seen three more country stations pick up the feed, with 3BA Ballarat, Easymix 1071AM/FM 98.3 Bendigo and 1467AM in Mildura all set to air the first show of the season on March 8.
2008 will also see metropolitan Melbourne enjoy the successful show on SEN 1116, Melbourne’s home of sport, who have signed on to broadcast the show each Saturday.
The weekly two hour broadcast is produced and distributed by Crocmedia www.crocmedia.com
in conjunction with IMG www.imgworld.com
The show’s hosts, Hutchison, originally from Warragul, and Pickering, from Stawell, said their reason for starting the show was the need for a radio program made for all the football fans in Victoria not just those in Metropolitan Melbourne.
“We found there was a real lack of good, original, football content on regional radio,” Hutchison said.
“We are both from the country ourselves and we understand that football is the life of a country town. The aim was to produce a show that not only highlighted the performances of the stars in the AFL but also to showcase the level of local talent playing football throughout Victoria.”
Each week, as well as the lively football debate and tipping competition, Hutchy and Pickers will interview all the stars from both the AFL and all the country competitions. Other popular segments include: Off the Record, where Liam Pickering gives his critique about football journalism. The Bush Legends series, when the boys chat to a legend of one of the local leagues.
2008 also sees the launch of the official Off the Bench website, www.offthebench.com.au, including a fan forum, photo galleries and the opportunity to download all the previous shows.
McDonald’s, First National Real Estate and Origin Energy are proud to be the major sponsors of Off the Bench in 2008 as part of their commitment to giving back to regional Victoria.** Update required to list all stations and change the profile information
