SEN show Crunch Time hit by budget cuts after COVID-19

It has been one of the most listened to shows on SEN. However, the station’s big hitter will take on a new look for the rest of 2020 following budget cuts brought on by the COVID-19 crisis.

SEN’S award-winning program Crunch Time has been crunched.

The Saturday morning show has been dialled back by an hour for this season and will start at midday instead of its regular 11am timeslot.

Gerard Whateley will continue to host the show but given budget cuts and other issues surrounding the COVID-19 crisis, it has been scaled down.

The 11am start was its early selling point as the show was seen to set the agenda with the news on a Saturday morning before its rivals who generally all started their football coverage an hour later.

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Gerard Whateley will continue to host SEN program Crunch Time. Picture: AAP Images

Ironically a similar show on Fox Footy, which features members of the original Crunch Time team, has been locked in for the rest of the season.

Saturday Countdown from midday is a podcast style show involving Anthony Hudson, Mark Robinson, David King and Dermott Brereton, all of whom have worked on the SEN show previously.

King was this week pulled from a regular Monday morning spot on Whateley’s show by Fox Footy who wanted exclusive access to the highly regarded analyst.

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