Originally Posted by RobinCarmody:
“Didn't Century Radio (as was) do Boro commentaries on its relevant frequency regularly a few years back, before leaving them to the Beeb?”
“Didn't Century Radio (as was) do Boro commentaries on its relevant frequency regularly a few years back, before leaving them to the Beeb?”
I believe Century had commentary rights to Middlesborough matches from either 1994 or 1995 until 2007.
According to Wiki, they started off by holding exclusive Middlesbrough radio rights with their initial team including Dave Roberts (now ESPN USA), Ali Brownlee and Malcolm Allison. Roberts left for Talk Radio in 1997 and Allison was replaced by Bernie Slaven by the end of the 90s.
Brownlee and Slaven continued as Century's Boro commentary duo right the way through until the point they lost the rights - winning a New York Radio Award for their commentaries on Boro's run to the UEFA Cup Final in 2005/06.
I think it was just before the 2007/08 season started that Century lost Boro rights, with Brownlee moving directly to BBC Tees (where he started his career as a reporter in the 1980s) and replacing Paul Addison as their Boro commentator. Slaven stayed with Century and to this day remains as Real Radio's Middlesbrough pundit on their Three Legends Phone-In.
Originally Posted by jimmylad:
“Maybe someone else has more details on TFM's coverage over the years.”
“Maybe someone else has more details on TFM's coverage over the years.”
Not that I would have ever been in the position to listen to TFM's football coverage back then, but I'm sure it must have been very strong in the early 1990s.
At one point TFM boasted both John Murray and Jim Proudfoot - now the two regular football commentators for Saturday afternoon 3pm kick-offs on national radio - working on their sports coverage.
In 1994, Murray left TFM to join BBC Radio Cleveland (as was) and Proudfoot joined Capital Gold in London. That same year Dave Roberts was appointed Century Radio's sports editor, so I guess that must have been when Middlesbrough's commercial radio rights switched from TFM to Century.




