About RSN

RSN

RSN Racing & Sport (ACMA call sign 3UZ, verbally "RSN 927") is a commercial sports radio station broadcasting to Melbourne and much of Victoria, Australia. Broadcasting on 927 kHz AM (5 kW) and DAB+ digital (9A Melbourne), with the Ballarat repeater 3BT on 1314 kHz AM and 18 AM/FM open narrowcast repeaters across regional Victoria, the station is dedicated to thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing coverage alongside AFL, cricket and other sports. First broadcast as 3UZ on 8 March 1925, it is officially Melbourne's longest-running commercial radio station — turning 99 in March 2024, with centenary celebrations due in 2025. Wikipedia lists the owner as Sports Entertainment Group (Sports Entertainment Network Pty Ltd), and www.rsn.net.au as the station's website.

Overview

RSN's identity is racing: "Australia's #1 Racing & Sport Station. Home to all 3 codes of racing in Victoria." The station's 24/7 schedule is built around live race coverage — the thoroughbred gallops, the harness trots, the greyhounds — with expert tips, form analysis and the race callers who are the station's stars. The slogan states the remit: all three codes, all Victoria, all racing.

But the 3UZ call sign carries a century of Melbourne radio history: the station that launched commercial radio in Melbourne in 1925, the home of Bert Newton, Graham Kennedy, Don Lane, Stan Rofe and John Blackman, the "3UZ" of the Top 40 era — before the 1986 sale to the racing industry remade it as the racing station. The 99th birthday (March 2024) — "the kind of innings Don Bradman would be proud of" — celebrated the longest commercial innings in Melbourne radio, with the centenary due in 2025.

The 3UZ entertainment era — 1925 to 1986 — was Melbourne radio's golden age on a single frequency: the variety shows, the Top 40 battles, the breakfast stars, the "Tailwaggers' Club" and the "Early Risers' Club." Newton, Kennedy, Lane — the names that defined Australian television — learned their craft on 3UZ's airwaves. The station's 1986 sale to the racing bodies was the end of the entertainment era and the beginning of the racing era: the frequency's second life, as enduring as its first.

History

First broadcast as 3UZ on 8 March 1925 (on 930 kHz, 1925–1978), the station was Melbourne's first commercial radio station — the beginning of commercial radio in the city. Through the 1920s to the 1980s, 3UZ was a general entertainment station: the home of Australia's biggest stars — Bert Newton, Graham Kennedy, John Blackman, Stan Rofe, Don Lane, Don Lunn, Allan Lappan — and the great race callers: Bert Bryant, "the voice of Saturday racing from the 1950s into the seventies" (inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2003), Bryan Martin, Brian Blackmore, John Russell, Bill Collins, Brian Markovic, Ron Hawkswell.

In 1986, 3UZ was sold to the Victorian racing industry: the harness and greyhound racing bodies, the three Melbourne thoroughbred clubs (Victoria Racing Club, Melbourne Racing Club, Moonee Valley Racing Club) and Country Racing Victoria. In 1988 the station reintroduced horse racing coverage; in 1996 it rebranded as Sport 927. Through the late 1990s and 2000s, the station acquired AM/FM open narrowcast stations and Shepparton's 3SR, extending coverage across Victoria; established 3BT as the Ballarat rebroadcaster; and affiliated with ACTTAB Radio and TOTE Sport Radio. In 2004 it joined Melbourne's DAB digital radio trials; in 2011 it briefly rebranded as Radio Sport National before becoming RSN Racing & Sport (after the Tote Tasmania sale to Tatts Group).

In 2001, Racing Victoria became the state's principal thoroughbred authority (the metropolitan clubs retaining individual stakes); in 2021, Racing Victoria took control of the thoroughbred industry's stake in RSN via its integrated media arm — making RSN a sister to the Racing.com television station and website. The harness and greyhound authorities continue to hold stakes. RSN's programming was previously syndicated to Tasmania and the ACT; as of 2024 it broadcasts to Victoria only.

Programming

RSN's schedule is racing, 24/7:

• Weekdays — Sports Overnight (midnight–5:30 am); RSN Breakfast with Michael Christian and Mick McGuane (5:30–8:30 am); Racing Ahead with Shane Anderson (8:30–10 am); Winners with Nadia Horne (10 am–1 pm); RSN Racing (1 pm–midnight).
• Saturdays — Sports Overnight and Allsports with Andrew Kuuse; On The Punt with Bruce Clark (6:30–11 am); RSN Racing (11 am–midnight).
• Sundays — Allsports; The Thoroughbred with Adam Olszanski (7–8 am); Correct Weight with Deane Lester and Matt Stewart (8–11:30 am); RSN Racing.

The coverage — live races, expert tips, form, the three codes — is the station's core: the punters' station, the racing industry's voice. The thoroughbred gallops (the Melbourne Cup carnival, the Cox Plate, the Caulfield Cup — Victorian racing's crown jewels), the harness trots, the greyhounds — the three codes that the 1986 buyers represented, still the station's trinity. The AFL, cricket and other sports fill the gaps: the sports station that racing built.

Coverage & Audience

RSN broadcasts on 927 kHz AM (5 kW) and DAB+ 9A in Melbourne, with the 3BT Ballarat repeater (1314 kHz AM) and 18 AM/FM open narrowcast repeaters across regional Victoria: Shepparton 1260, Bendigo 945, Mildura 1359, Swan Hill 106.9, Wangaratta 99.3, and the FM narrowcasts (87.6 Bairnsdale/Coleraine/Sale/Traralgon; 88.0 Casterton/Heyfield/Heywood/Horsham/Moe/Morwell; 89.9 Lakes Entrance; 95.5 Orbost; 92.7 Yarram). The audience is Victoria's racing public — the punters, the industry, the sports fans: the state's racing community, on the state's racing station.

Ownership

Wikipedia lists RSN's owner as Sports Entertainment Group (Sports Entertainment Network Pty Ltd) — the SEN group. The station's heritage is the Victorian racing industry: the 1986 sale to the harness, greyhound and thoroughbred bodies; Racing Victoria's 2021 consolidation of the thoroughbred stake (sister to Racing.com); the continuing harness and greyhound stakes. The racing industry's station, now within the sports media group.

Digital Presence

RSN streams online — rsn.net.au (per Wikipedia and directories), the live 927 AM stream, the DAB+ digital service — broadcasting across Victoria and streaming everywhere. Contact: Level 8, 766 Elizabeth Street, North Melbourne VIC 3000; (03) 9347 8111. On social media (@RSN927, RSN Racing & Sport), the station promotes the race coverage, the tips and the events. The station has iOS and Android apps. The digital presence carries the racing: the live coverage, the form, the three codes — RSN 927, everywhere.

As RSN, Melbourne's racing and sport station carries a century of radio history: the 1925 3UZ first broadcast, the stars, the race callers — and the all-racing present, on 927 AM across Victoria. From the 930 kHz beginnings to the DAB+ digital, from Bert Newton's variety to Bert Bryant's race calls, from Sport 927 to RSN Racing & Sport — the frequency has been Melbourne's companion for 100 years: the entertainment station that became the racing station, the 3UZ that became RSN 927, the longest commercial innings in the city's radio history — 99 years in March 2024, the centenary in 2025, the racing never stopping — RSN 927, Australia's #1 Racing & Sport Station, home to all 3 codes — the thoroughbreds, the harness, the greyhounds — on 927 AM, DAB+, and the repeaters across Victoria — RSN Racing & Sport, the 1925 station, the racing station, the century station — 3UZ to RSN, 8 March 1925 to today, Melbourne's longest commercial voice — on 927 AM, then and now, the racing and the sport, on 927 AM — RSN, a century of Melbourne radio, on 927 AM always.