Ipswich will have Heart next season
IPSWICH Town fans are going to continue to tune in to Heart Suffolk radio to hear live commentary of the Blues in Roy Keane's first season in charge at Portman Road.
Elvin King
IPSWICH Town fans are going to continue to tune in to Heart Suffolk radio to hear live commentary of the Blues in Roy Keane's first season in charge at Portman Road.
Heart, who are mainly a music station and have a dedicated audience in the Ipswich area, have confirmed that they will be carrying on broadcasting Town matches.
There were suggestions that despite holding the contract they might drop their Town coverage following SGR fm's takeover in January.
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But Heart spokesman John Chittenden said: “We are set to continue with the contract that was signed last summer.
“Global Radio took over SGR fm and a number of other stations.
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“The station was rebranded as Heart and listening figures are pleasing.
“Listeners are enjoying the feel-good factor that our stations generate.
“And we have had good feedback on our listening figures for Ipswich Town games, which we hope to improve on even more next season.”
In the radio industry figures released by RAJAR last week, 107,000 people are tuning into Heart Suffolk every week, representing a 2% increase quarter-on-quarter.
BBC Radio Suffolk had the exclusive contract to broadcast Ipswich Town matches both home and away for a number of years before it was switched to SGR fm 12 months ago.
Freelance commentator Mark Scott was brought in last season to commentate on matches with ex-Town player Micky Stockwell doing summaries.
“I really enjoyed doing it,” said Stockwell. “Our listeners were very kind and responded to us and all being well I hope to be working with Mark again.”
There were reception difficulties in some Suffolk areas when SGR fm first took over but these were rectified, and with Ipswich now high profile after the appointment of Keane their audience is set to increase for what could be a memorable 2009/10 campaign.
Last season BBC Radio Suffolk had their own agreement to do live commentaries on Ipswich away matches, but were limited to a set number of updates during home games.
