This Speedway season the Kent SLYDE Kings enjoyed superb coverage on the county's airwaves thanks to a tie in with internet-based radio station Coastal Radio, housed in the Cinque Port town of Sandwich.
Back in January we announced that a tie in between ourselves and Coastal would see a regular weekly report on the Sunday Kevin Mann show, giving an in depth look at the week’s events and previewing the following day’s meeting at Central Park Stadium. The question then turned to who was going to front the Kings on the airwaves and we turned to a member of our media team Glenn Collins, himself a Sandwich born lad and was delighted to accept the role of Broadcasts Officer.
Glenn said, “it’s been a fantastic experience if very nerve wracking at first and I am delighted that I can play a part in helping take the club forward. I came here as a fan in 2013 and now four years later to be doing this is amazing and I am really grateful for the opportunities Kent Speedway club have given me.”
Being an internet-based radio station it was possible for people across the county (and beyond) to listen in and Coastal found they were getting new listeners in the form of the Kent SLYDE Kings fans who would also join in by setting Glenn challenges of words of the week to slip into the show!
He recalls, “That was good fun, and I think just shows the level of interaction we as a club have with our fans and I don’t think any other club comes close to it.”
However, it wasn’t just Coastal who felt the benefit, a number of their regular listeners were former Canterbury Crusaders fans who were delighted to hear that Speedway was thriving in the county once again - and they were soon joining new friends in the stands at Central Park.
As reports were fed back through the airwaves, listeners old and new were able to keep up to date with the triumphs and tribulations of the Kent SLYDE Kings (fortunately more of the former than the latter, in what was a memorable season for the Central Park Stadium based club) and individual performances.
One of the chief protagonists in the unfolding drama was the teenager who after one dark night in the West Midlands in mid-season stepped up to the plate to skipper the side through the beginning of a period which saw the Kings transformed from one in mid-table to one destined to finish level top of the table come play off qualification time.
Thus it was that on the last Kevin Mann Show of the 2017 Speedway season coverage, 18-year-old Jack Thomas was named the Kent SLYDE Kings Coastal Radio Rider Of The Year after a number of impressive performances and that very successful spell as Kent’s youngest ever captain. Jack joined Kevin and Glenn via a telephone link to accept his award and answer questions sent in from the listeners in the first phone in of its kind in the partnership. Jack spoke at length about how the season had been for him and his pride at winning the award and doing his best for the team.
But it was his answers to the three questions that will give the SLYDE Kings' fans most encouragement when he expressed his hopes that he is back at Central Park in 2018 and how many fans would love to see the popular Norfolk born racer back on the South East shale once again.
Another big announcement for 2018 is that the Kent SLYDE Kings will once again be receiving coverage from Coastal Radio. We thank them for their efforts in 2017 and look forward to working with them once again in 2018.