Western Sydney community radio station secures Socceroos broadcast rights

Former Features Editor

Australia’s national soccer team is about to face one of their biggest games tonight, and they’re not the only ones about to be tested on the field.

Western Sydney community radio station SWR Triple 9 (formerly SWRFM) will break new ground after acquiring the broadcast rights to produce it’s own call of the Socceroos World Cup Playoff taking place at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.

The call team includes Julian Daw (Crocmedia and K-Rock), Scott Jackson (Sky News / Fox Sports News) and Will Gotsis (Football NSW).

So how did a community station that, just six weeks ago had never done a sports broadcast before, come into such a big responsibility?

Head of SWR Sport Julian Daw explains that the deal – which was denied initially – came about very very quickly, and all started with calling upon an existing contact.

“All the while we were thinking ‘We probably won’t get a look in but it’s worth a shot’, and sure enough at that time it wasn’t available to us and that was seemingly the end of it,” he told Radio Today.

“Then last Monday the rights became available to us and we moved very quickly to take advantage of it. It’s truly a testament to the people involved at SWR Triple 9 that they’re immediate reaction was ‘How can we make this happen?’ as opposed to ‘Here are the reasons why it can’t’.”

Daw is the newly appointed head of sport at SWR Triple 9, and brings five years professional sports broadcasting experience to the station.

“The brief I was given was to form a sports department that can stand alongside any other sports radio outlet in the country and hold it’s own, and I believe we are heading there quickly, from the content we have already produced to the many young broadcasters who have come on board looking for an opportunity to show what they can do the results speak for themselves.”

“We want this to become a place where would be sports broadcasters can come and cut their teeth and show what they can do. We’re all very hungry to establish a top quality product that can lead us onto bigger things as well as leave the station in the position where the next group of broadcasters can come along and get the best possible start.”

The station’s commitment to bringing Australia’s best sporting endeavours to Sydney’s listeners is undeniable – from already securing broadcast rights to the Western Sydney Wanderers A-League and W-League sides, as well as the NBL’s Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks games and this Friday’s Australian Baseball League game involving the Sydney Blue Sox. Never mind the things Daw has in store for 2018.

“SWR has really decided to become the hub of sporting content for the Western Suburbs of Sydney, it’s part of the ideal that we want to change the idea of what a local station can be.”

“Not only are we the voice of Western Sydney to the world but we want to bring the world back to Western Sydney and give them a radio station that can truly be Western Sydney’s own.”

You can hear all of the action on SWR Triple9 (99.9FM) from 6pm tonight (November 15).


An earlier version of this article stated that Julian Daw formerly worked at Crocmedia and K-Rock. This has been adjusted for accuracy. 

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