JACK Radio scores with award-winning podcast The Offside Rule

Oxford, UK—JACK Radio, the groundbreaking new national digital radio station which plays music exclusively by female artists, has announced that it will be welcoming award-winning football podcast, The Offside Rule, to its weekly line-up ahead of the 2019/20 Premier League season – the first time that the celebrated podcast has had a home on British radio.

The Offside Rule will launch on JACK Radio on the first day of the new Premier League season, Friday 9 August, and will broadcast weekly from 7pm to 8pm, with a replay on Saturday mornings from 6am to 7am.

The Offside Rule is fronted by three talented broadcasters, Lynsey Hooper (IMG/Premier League, BBC Final Score and BBC Radio Five Live), Kait Borsay (ITN, talkRADIO) and Hayley McQueen (Sky Sports News, Premier League TV); and is produced by leading podcast production company, Muddy Knees Media. The programme began in 2012, born out of frustration at the lack of representation of women in the industry. These three, first-class broadcasters wanted to create a space for football, regardless of gender; leading the conversation around the week’s football stories and giving behind-the-scenes insight.

Over the past seven years, the women have interviewed football figureheads including Sven Goran Eriksson, Phil Neville and Kelly Smith, and have broadcast live from Wembley Stadium, provided support for grassroots football, and travelled around the world to cover World Cups and European Championships, including covering the Women’s World Cup in both Canada (2015) and France (2019).

The Offside Rule will return for the 2019/20 season and will continue to bring with it a magazine-style format of loose, informal discussions between Kait, Lynsey and Hayley, and a rotating panel of special guests. The show focuses on all football – the men’s game, the women’s game; all versions and all levels.

The launch of JACK Radio was announced late last year and made headlines with its world-first-broadcast radio format, which provides an exclusive platform for women in music and creates a completely unique listening experience, irrespective of gender. The station has since been evolving its content to include clever initiatives which focus on areas such as health and lifestyle, and sport, making it a natural fit for a partnership with The Offside Rule.

Lynsey Hooper, presenter of The Offside Rule, said: “We are absolutely thrilled that The Offside Rule will soon be heard on national radio through JACK Radio. There is great synergy between both brands and, as a result of this collaboration, it means that more football fans up and down the country will soon be able to listen to a quality football podcast that just happens to be presented by three women.”

Belinda Doyle, Programme Director at JACK Radio, said: “The Offside Rule is the perfect fit for JACK Radio and is perfectly pitched to complement our existing on-air content. Lynsey, Kait and Hayley are world-class presenters who are passionate, engaging and knowledgeable, and we know that our listeners are going to love them.”

JACK Radio also recently launched a women’s sports news bulletin, providing daily updates on women’s sporting events and achievements across the country. The station sits alongside its more established sibling, Union JACK; a national digital radio station which celebrates the best of British music and comedy. Both stations are the brainchild of the team who created Absolute Radio and who are behind the highly successful and multi-award-winning JACKfm – the most awarded local radio brand in UK radio history – JACK 2 Hits and JACK 3 Chill.

JACK Radio is available across the UK on digital radio (DAB+), online at JACKRadio.com and via the JACK Radio app.