Exclusive: Times Radio in discussions for Boat Race radio rights
Times Radio is in advanced discussions with the Boat Race over the exclusive radio rights for the annual Oxbridge regatta on the Thames, Morning Wire understands.
The race’s TV broadcast is already switching from the BBC to Channel 4 and organisers are now closing in on a move to commercial radio for the first time since 2010.
The two-race regatta, known as the Chanel J12 Boat Race, between the men’s and women’s teams at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, is set to be held in London on 4 April.
Previously the BBC held the radio rights for the race, which stretches between Putney and Mortlake, from its inaugural broadcast in 1927 through to 2004.
They then went to commercial radio station LBC for five years before returning to the BBC. But it is understood the rights could now head to Times Radio, should discussions be finalised.
Boat Race radio shift
Times Radio offers a highbrow audience in keeping with the event, while it is understood that the Boat Race would invite the station to present live from the course on the afternoon of action.
It comes amid a flurry of activity surrounding the annual race, which is seen as one of the capital’s great free spectator sports.
Fulham FC’s newly opened Riverside Stand will host hospitality for the regatta for the first time, while the pier below the terrace will become a new free zone for spectators, who numbered more than 250,000 in 2025.
Cambridge has dominated the recent races, winning five of the last six men’s events and the last six women’s Boat Races.
In fact, Cambridge women have won the last eight races; the longest winning run in the history of the Boat Race.
The two races, one hour apart, will this year fall in the 1pm-4pm Times Radio slot, which is hosted by Alexis Conran.
Details on commentators and hosts for the radio broadcast of the Boat Race are as yet unknown.