TalkSport to drop all non-sports content

The station, owned by UTV, will become the first radio broadcaster in Britain to offer nothing but sports-related programming in its output.

TalkSport, which rebranded from Talk Radio 12 years ago to highlight its commitment to sport, currently broadcasts around 40 hours of non-sports-related content a week. Among the shows to be lost in the revamp will be George Galloway's current affairs programme, The Week, which currently airs for three hours every Friday night.

It is understood the overnight phone-in shows will remain, but discussion will be restricted to sporting topics only.

Moz Dee, TalkSport's programme director, described the move as an "exciting yet natural step."

"We want to change expectations of overnight radio, focusing on up-to-the-minute sport news and information from around the globe," he continued.

"It gives us a great opportunity to work with an international network of sports reporters covering everything from American sports to British teams and athletes competing on the other side of the world, and makes us the only UK station focused on sport all of the time."

TalkSport won national radio station of the year at the 2011 Sony Radio Academy Awards. According to the latest Rajar figures, the station has an average weekly audience of 3.2 million.