World Sport Overnight

World Sport Overnight is an Australian radio program on Melbourne radio station SEN 1116.

Early incarnations

In January 2004, with the arrival of new sports talk radio station SEN 1116 taking over from 3AK, World Sport Overnight was aired in a pilot format, with a 12am to 6am shift hosted by former NBL basketballer Andrew Parkinson and Australian swimmer Daniel Kowalski. It was known by a different name (?) and while only inducted for a short trial period, it became quite popular.

For a period following the first few weeks, overnight programming by SEN included a live feed from UK station TalkSport, which caused the ire of some listeners. However, Tony Schibeci was instated with his own program by late February, at one stage working for two weeks straight in the overnight shift before The Ring of Fire took over the weekend shift in late March.

Early hosts

*Andrew Parkinson & Daniel Kowalski
*Gary Turner
*Tony Schibeci

Boxing/Wrestling Shows

In mid-late 2004 a boxing show was aired once weekly during World Sport Overnight, with Stephen Peak, Howard Leigh, Tony Schibeci and Shannon McMahon among others appearing on the show.

The "New Generation Wrestling Show" was also established, with Schibeci joined by "Mozza" and "The Cremator". It still airs in 2006 and no longer includes "Mozza".

Weekend shows

Ring of Fire

In late March 2004, the Saturday and Sunday night show "Ring of Fire" was implemented, with the hosts using the aliases "The Fish", "Flash" and "The Cat". "The Cat" was quickly replaced by "Sputs", who used the alias "Racetrack Rasputin". The hosts real names were Simon Jordan, Rohan Hughes and Matt Fraser.

Ring of Fire was known for its humorous approach to sports, particularly during the French Open and Tour de France events. The show developed a cult following and the presenters used a good mixture of humour and all-round sports knowledge.

The show's run came to an end in mid-late 2004 and was replaced with coverage of the English Premier League.

Friday/Saturday Night Fever

In early 2005 the weekend shifts were hosted by Chris Couch, with Troy Zantuck and Stephen Peak also appearing on the show (along with Jack Collins).

Weekend Warriors

The Weekend warriors is part of World Sport Overnight and was introduced in mid-2005 on a Saturday morning hosted by Brett Phillips. The panel (including Peter Marcato and Darren Boyd) kicked off the weekend from 12am-2am. It also included Charlotte James and Mark Erwin among its contributors until it was revamped in 2006.

One Week at a Time

In 2006, Luke Mather and Mark Franklin became regular contributors to the weekend version of World Sport Overnight, which they called One Week at a Time.

Gladiators of Sport

Programming history

In mid-2005 the hugely popular Gladiators of Sport was introduced, hosted by Schibeci, with the panel consisting of Stephen Peak, Troy Zantuck and Howard Leigh. Later in the year a second edition of the show was added on Monday mornings, with Howard Kotton and Peak on the panel.

To coincide with Round 1 of the 2006 AFL Season, the show was moved from its original Thursday morning timeslot to Friday mornings.

After Kotton left the Monday morning show in early-mid 2006, Zantuck joined Peak on the Monday edition due to his inability to attend Fridays (from what Zantuck termed "work commitments"), with Peak and Leigh the two Friday Gladiators (with occasional appearances from the likes of Craig Moore and Peter Marcato).

The show

The premise of the Gladiators of Sport is the fact that host Schibeci was a voice-over on the Australian version of "Gladiators" in the mid-1990s. Adapted from this, each panel member is given a different "Gladiator" name. Zantuck with "Brutus", Schibeci with "Antonius", Peak with "Legalus Maximus" (in reference to his career as a lawyer) and Leigh with "Hollywood Maximus".

The show is famous for the "big mouth" of Peak who is often shouted down by Zantuck and bagged mercilessly. The saying "Unleash the Peak" is often worked into the show. With Matt Lee working behind the panel (as producer) the show has become a comedic look at the world of sport.

The Gladiators have won many broadcasting awards, and have knocked back many requests from station management to move to a day time shift, saying they wouldn't want to disenfranchise their loyal audience. In some cases it has been reported that they are SEN1116's highest rating show. As of June 2007 they were nominated for 8 Logie awards, wining all but 3.

Gladiators of Sport makes use of numerous soundbites from popular television shows such as "Seinfeld" and "Just Shoot Me!" (phrases including David Spade's "I just remembered something, you're boring").

External links

* [http://thegladiatorsofsport.blogspot.com The Gladiators of Sport Blog]
* [http://www.worldsportovernight.com/forum/index.php World Sport Overnight Forum]
* [http://www.sen.com.au/index.php?sectionID=5423&pageID=5426 SEN - World Sport Overnight]