Commonwealth Games

This month I will be reporting on my 3rd Commonwealth Games for talkSPORT. I am really looking forward to being in Birmingham for the event as it is a city which I called home between 1997 and 2000.

My first Commonwealth Games for talkSPORT was in Glasgow in 2014. It is where John and I cemented our friendship and then realised that we also had very similar values and there was a potential close working relationship sometime in the future.

I should not have even been in Glasgow. I had covered London 2012 for Yorkshire Radio but the station had been closed in 2013. Despite this I chose to travel to an event called the World Media Briefing where journalists and broadcasters are given an update on preparations for the Commonwealth Games and how the organisers would assist in helping us to report on the event. I only went because it was a good excuse for a few days away in Scotland.

At the briefing, I met the Head of Live Sport from talkSPORT, who was wondering what coverage to give to Glasgow 2014 and who could be based in the city for the duration interviewing the medallists. It was a big summer for talkSPORT who were heavily committed to the Men’s Football World Cup in Brazil, but also recognised the importance of the Commonwealth Games – especially coming so soon after London 2012.

So, I was a solution to a challenge. I was asked to cover Glasgow 2014 for talkSPORT and recognised it as a huge opportunity. It also meant I got to sit next to John who had a similar role covering the event for LBC, and during that fortnight in Scotland, the seeds were sown for something that would eventually happen in 2019. We called it Anything but Footy.

I also travelled to Gold Coast for the 2018 Commonwealth Games but don’t like to mention it.

by Michael Weadock, July 2022