AFL radio moves: Gerard Healy joins SEN commentary team
An AFL champion and long-time 3AW stalwart has left the station and will be part of SEN’s coverage next year as the station enjoys a ratings boost.
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Long-time 3AW stalwart Gerard Healy has quietly left the station and will be a part of Craig Hutchison’s Sports and Entertainment Network next year.
While the Brownlow Medallist will still co-host 3AW’s popular Sportsday program, he will no longer be contracted by Channel 9, which last year took over Macquarie’s media business which includes the Melbourne radio institution.
In recent times Sportsday has become a syndicated production under Hutchison’s Crocmedia (now known as the Sports and Entertainment Network) umbrella and heard across 3AW and regional radio stations in Victoria and Tasmania.
But Healy remained an employee of 3AW, where he started the Sportsday program back in 1994 with cricket legend David Hookes.
The former Sydney and Melbourne champion has also been a regular on 3AW’s football broadcast and did several Thursday night games this year.
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Healy’s former co-host Dwayne Russell defected to SEN at the end of last year and was replaced by football writer Sam McClure.
The new combination — there have been only three co-hosts in the show’s 26 years on air — has proved to be a major success with a spike in the latest ratings.
Sportsday added 32,000 listeners, leaping from a 9.5 rating in the previous survey to an impressive 11.7.
There was also good news for SEN, which had an overall increase with Russell leading the way in the afternoons, up 1.5 to 3.6.
The sports station’s drive team of Bob Murphy and Andy Maher also increased 1.5 (to 3.7) while Breakfast with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson was up 0.6 to 3.2.
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