1116 SEN (call sign

3AK 3AK is the call sign of SEN 1116, an earlier the on-air name of a former Melbourne talk-back radio and music station, which, in 2003, leased its licence to sports network SEN 1116. A number of unusual events and precedents throughout the statio ...

) is an Australian radio station in Victoria. Owned and operated by

Pacific Star Network Sports Entertainment Group (SEG) (formerly Pacific Star Network) is an Australian sports media content and entertainment business. SEG is the owner and parent company of Sports Entertainment Network (SEN). In December 2014, Pacific Star Network ...

, it broadcasts a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comedy ...

format from Lower Plenty to Greater

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

. First broadcast on 29 November 1931 as 3AK, the station currently broadcasts from studios in

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip Local government ...

History

The station first broadcast on 29 November 1931 as 3AK. In October 2003, amid growing debt and struggling ratings, 3AK operators Data & Commerce Limited placed the station up for sale. In November, owners Data & Commerce Limited entered into a lease with the newly formed Sports Entertainment Network to create SEN 1116, a 24-hour

station. Headed by managing director Danny Staffieri, formerly of

FIVEaa FIVEaa (pronounced ''Five Double A'') is Adelaide's only commercial talkback radio station. The station has a range of programs including news, sports, current affairs, social issues, football calls, gardening, lifestyle, cars, travel and heal ...

, the new station was promoted as 'entertaining radio with a sports focus', and would rival horse racing station

Sport 927 RSN Racing & Sport (ACMA callsign: 3UZ) is an Australian radio station in Australia. Owned and operated by thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing bodies of Victoria, it broadcasts a sports radio format to Melbourne, and to much of Victor ...

. On 19 January 2004, SEN 1116 launched onto Melbourne's airwaves, with former AFL footballers

Garry Lyon Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mai ...

, Tim Watson and

Billy Brownless Anthony William Brownless (born 28 January 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer and radio and television media personality who represented in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s. Early life Brownless wa ...

heading the station's "Morning Glory" breakfast show, Richmond Football Club premiership player Kevin Bartlett in mornings,

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

Francis Leach Francis Leach (born 1968) is an Australian radio announcer, sports editor and journalist. Career Leach began his career at Triple J in the early 1990s hosting the ''Three Hours of Power'' show, the weekly late night heavy metal show. Later on he ...

in afternoons, and

Dermott Brereton Dermott Hugh Brereton (born 19 August 1964) is an Australian former professional Australian rules football player in the Australian Football League (AFL) who is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation. Of Irish descent (his p ...

and Anthony Hudson in drive. In the year's first radio ratings survey, the station jumped from reaching 1.2% of the Melbourne radio market as 3AK, to 2.1% as SEN, growing to 2.8% in the year's fourth survey despite the lack of coverage of any major sports. However, in July, the station secured broadcast rights to the 2004 Summer Olympics, alongside

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total radio ra ...

, 2CC,

6iX 6IX (stylised as 6iX) is a commercial radio station in Perth, Western Australia, broadcasting a classic hits and oldies format from its studios in Osborne Park. First broadcast in 1933, the station is currently owned and operated as a joint ...

, HO-FM and Hot 100, among others. SEN also carried coverage of the

2004 NRL Grand Final The 2004 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2004 NRL season. It was contested by the Sydney Roosters, who had finished the regular season in 1st place, and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, who had finishe ...

from 2GB, and the

2004–05 FA Premier League The 2004–05 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclays Premiership for sponsorship reasons) began on 14 August 2004 and ended on 15 May 2005. Arsenal were the defending champions after going unbeaten the previous season. Chelsea won the tit ...

from BBC Radio 5 Live. In December 2004, the SEN brand was revealed to be expanded into

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

, with Sports Entertainment Network leasing

news talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

5DN from

Australian Radio Network ARN is a group of commercial radio stations around Australia. It includes the Pure Gold, KIIS Network, CADA, ARN Regional and iHeartRadio brands. The company operates the ARN News service in Australia, which uses international correspondent ...

to create SEN 1323. Launching on 1 February 2005, the station became a simulcast of its Melbourne sister station, with only one Adelaide-based programme - "The Boys Next Door", hosted by former FIVEaa presenter Mark Aiston, The Sunday Footy Show panelist Mark Bickley and

Port Adelaide Football Club Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed the Power, whilst its reserv ...

ruckman Matthew Primus. However, while the station remained flat in Melbourne, ratings dwindled in Adelaide; despite gaining coverage of the New Zealand cricket tour of Australia and the 2005 VFL season, Sports Entertainment Network entered

voluntary administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry ...

, citing $3.5 million in losses. The SEN 1323 lease was cancelled, resulting in ARN launching

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

-format

Cruise 1323 Cruise 1323 (call sign: 5DN) is one of Adelaide's longest running radio stations. In its 80+ years it has changed considerably. It was the first commercial station to begin broadcasting in South Australia. History Radio 5DN began operating ...

. The Melbourne station was sold back to

, the renamed Data & Commerce Limited.

2010s

In July 2015, the newsroom shared between SEN and sister station 3MP 1377 was closed, replaced with the Victorian news service from

Macquarie National News Nine News is a radio news service providing the half-hourly radio news bulletins to radio stations across Australia. History On 16 September 2009, Macquarie Radio Network shut down its news website, livenews.com.au after two years of existence, c ...

, based at

3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Histo ...

. In November 2015, it was announced that

would depart ABC Grandstand Digital following the axing of the ''Grandstand Breakfast'' programme, and will again join SEN, hosting ''SEN Breakfast'' alongside David "The Ox" Schwarz to replace ''The Morning Glory''. Current co-host Andy Maher will move to afternoons, launching ''SEN Lunch Break'', moving Daniel Harford into drive with Mark Allen.

Andrew Gaze Andrew Barry Casson Gaze (born 24 July 1965) is an Australian former professional basketball player and coach. He played 22 seasons in the National Basketball League (NBL) with the Melbourne Tigers from 1984 to 2005, winning the league's MVP a ...

and Tim Watson, while losing regular timeslots, would remain with the station as a contributor. In January 2018, the station's schedule was again refreshed. Former ABC commentator

Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley is a Melbourne-based sports broadcaster and writer. Since January 2018 he has been chief sports caller and host of the ''Whateley'' program on the sports radio station SEN1116. He is also co-host of Fox Footy's ''AFL 360'' progra ...

joined the station as chief sports caller and mornings presenter, with Kevin Bartlett moving to the drive show following the departure of Harford. In April 2018, parent company

merged with sports media business

Crocmedia Sports Entertainment Network (SEN), formerly Crocmedia, is an Australian radio and television distribution company established in 2006 by journalists James Swanwick and Craig Hutchison. SEN's parent company is Sports Entertainment Group (SE ...

, most notable for producing the AFL Nation broadcast call heard across regional Australia. In July 2019, SEN has partnered with Crocmedia has purchased 23 narrowband radio licences across Australia including Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Gold Coast, Darwin and Alice Springs.

Notable announcers

Current announcers

*Andrew Hayes * Andy Maher * Anthony Hudson * Ben Graham * Cam Luke * David King *

Dwayne Russell Shane John Russell (born 4 March 1965) known as Dwayne Russell is a former professional Australian rules footballer and currently a commentator of the sport. Born in Adelaide, Russell made his senior football debut as a sixteen-year-old in 19 ...

Kane Cornes Kane Graham Cornes (born 5 January 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life A product of Sacred Heart College and Glenelg in the SANF ...

Kym Dillon Kym Dillon (born 19 June 1959) is the former sports presenter for Nine News Adelaide. He is also part of the successful sports coverage and football commentary team at FIVEaa. Prior to his media career he played football for SANFL clubs North Ad ...

* Liam Pickering *

Michelangelo Rucci Michelangelo Rucci (born 10 November 1963) is an Australian sports journalist, and writer. Of Italian descent, Rucci grew up in the western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, and graduated from Woodville High School. He is a sports writer in ...

Nathan Buckley Nathan Charles Buckley (born 26 July 1972) is a former professional Australian rules football coach, player and commentator. He is listed by journalist Mike Sheahan as one of the top 50 players of all time. Buckley won the inaugural Rising ...

Peter Vlahos Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

* Sam Edmund * Tim Gossage * Tim Watson

Former announcers

*Brad Spicer *Bruce Eva *Bryan Martin * Christian Argenti * Daniel Harford *Darren Berry *Darren Parkin * David Schwarz *

*Jack Heverin *Jason Richardson *John Rothfield *

Hamish McLachlan Hamish Angus McLachlan (born 28 August 1975) is an Australian sports broadcaster and host with Seven Sport. Since he joined the Seven Network in January 2008, he has been a host/presenter/reporter at multiple events, including being a part of ...

* Kevin Bartlett * Mark Aiston * Mark Bickley * Mark Doran * Mark Fine * Matthew Primus *Matthew Hardy * Mark Allen * Sam McClure *

Terry Wallace Terry Wallace (born 13 December 1958) is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach. As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn where he played in three premierships. After one season wit ...

*Tony Schibeci *Tristan Foenander

Sports coverage

SEN has exclusive and non-exclusive rights to various sports in Australia: Australian rules football * Australian Football League *

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

Basketball * National Basketball League Cricket * Australian cricket team in the United Arab Emirates in 2018–19 *

Big Bash League The Big Bash League (known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, often abbreviated to BBL or Big Bash) is an Australian professional club Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash Le ...

Indian cricket team in Australia in 2018–19 The India cricket team toured Australia from November 2018 to January 2019 to play four Tests, three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches. Initially, the Test match at the Adelaide Oval was planned to be ...

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...

Football *

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

Golf *

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

* U.S. Masters Tournament Horse racing * Spring Racing Carnival *

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Me ...

* Zipping Classic Rugby League *

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco O ...

Rugby Union *

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

Tennis *

Related stations

SEN SA

On 13 October 2018, SEN parent company

confirmed it had purchased an AM narrowband licence in Adelaide, South Australia, returning the SEN brand to South Australia. The station launched on 1629 AM on 6 December 2018, with local presenters

, Andrew Hayes,

and

. Other programs, including

's morning show and live sports coverage, will be syndicated live from the Melbourne station. On 9 September 2019, ''SEN SA Breakfast'' commenced simulcasting on RadioTAB's 1539AM Adelaide frequency. On 2 December, a second South Australian frequency was launched – also on 1629 AM – covering

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

SEN Track

SEN Track is a radio network broadcasting coverage of

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

and

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

, which launched on 28 March 2020.

1170 SEN

1170 SEN Official Callsign 2CH is a Sports Radio Station in Sydney, New South Wales.

SEN Top End

On the 17th October 2021 SEN Top End launched on 1611 AM Narrowcast broadcasting coverage of the Northern Territory Football League,

and

SEN Hobart

On 7 July 2021 SEN Hobart launched on 1611 AM Narrowcast providing coverage of several local and national sports such as Cricket, AFL,

and

SEN Gold Coast

On the 3rd March 2021 SEN Gold Coast launched on 1620 AM Narrowcast providing coverage of several local and national sports such as Cricket, AFL,

and

Former stations

SEN 1323

SEN 1323 was launched on 1 February 2005 in Adelaide, replacing 5DN. It largely simulcast 1116 SEN, with a single opt-out program for the Adelaide market. The station closed following parent company Data & Commerce Limited entering voluntary administration in June 2005.

SEN+

SEN+ commenced broadcasting on 13 August 2018, replacing

Classic Rock Radio 3MP is a commercial radio station, broadcast from Rowville and licensed to Melbourne. Owned and operated by Ace Radio from studios in South Melbourne, it broadcasts an easy listening music format on 1377 AM and DAB+ digital radio. History Ea ...

. The station broadcast live coverage of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United ...

and

as well as live and timeshifted programming from the main SEN station. On 28 March 2020, it was replaced by

SEN Track SEN Track is an Australian radio network operated by Sports Entertainment Network, a division of Pacific Star Network. The network launched on 28 March 2020 and broadcasts live coverage of horse, thoroughbred and greyhound racing to nine cities ...

Notable programs

Former

*''No Man Should Ever Walk Alone'', a Monday night hour-long show hosted by Danny Frawley on men's health, including mental health (a cause he championed after opening up about his own struggles), addiction and lifestyle. Frawley hosted the show until his death in 2019.

Podcasts

The station also has produced some podcasts, including: *''Tiger Tragics'', a

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

-centric podcast hosted by SEN fill-in and weekend host and MCG public address announcer Tony Schibeci and SEN producer's Mitchell Scott and Karl Bianco. *''The Carlton Show'', a Carlton-centric podcast co-hosted by Maher. *''The Geelong Show'', a

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

-centric podcast co-hosted by Ben Casanelia of ''Inside Football'', SEN's AFL magazine. *''SEN America'', covering American sports leagues such as the NBA.

References

External links

1116 SEN websitePacific Star Network website
{{Navboxes, list1= {{National radio networks in Australia {{Melbourne radio {{Adelaide radio 1116 SEN Radio stations in Melbourne Radio stations established in 2004 Sports radio stations in Australia