Taylor Cowper presenting his daily show from 91.3 Sport FM’s Hamilton Hill studio.
By Declan Byrne
It has produced some of the freshest talent on the airwaves, but 91.3 Sport FM is hoping to see more of its team hit the big time.
Operating out of Hamilton Hill, the community radio station is capitalising on WA’s sports-mad culture and producing the next crop of sports media professionals.
Colin Minson is the Station Chairman at 91.3 Sport FM. He says Western Australia’s insatiable appetite for sport has been key in providing a platform for budding journalists to ply their trade.
“It’s been a very rapid rise and I put it down to the fact that we are the only totally devoted sports radio station in WA.
“People are hungry for sport, it’s just been a question of them finding where we are on the dial. Once people find it, our numbers grow and so does our sponsorship,” Mr Minson said.
Sport FM boasts a number of highly notable former employees, both in front of and behind the microphone, and Mr Minson is confident more will be on their way.
“I just keep telling all our young presenters to be patient and the opportunity will come… We’ve had people like Corbin Middlemas, of recent times Brett Sprigg, Drew Jones who now works for Fox Sports in Melbourne and Sydney and also Ben Cameron who now works at 6PR.
“They’ve all come through our doors and done regular time and programs on our station… It’s a notch on our belts,” Mr Minson said.
One of those young presenters is Taylor Cowper, 21 of Canning Vale.
The aspiring broadcasting and journalism student saw volunteering at 91.3 Sport FM as an opportunity to combine his love of media and sport.
“I did a lot of other volunteering at other community radio stations and discovered a love for sport and sports commentary, and here I can do all that,” he said.
Mr Cowper, who is also the volunteer coordinator at the station, said he was proud of the comprehensive training that Sport FM was able to provide.
“We start with something as simple as cutting audio and work our way up to stuff like commercial radio by-laws… It reflects well on us when people go and get jobs having been trained here.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IExxVQLSuks&w=560&h=315]