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Continuous Call TeamThe Continuous Call Team is a Australian radio sports program, covering the news and live games of the National Rugby League. It is produced and broadcast by 2GB Sydney, and is relayed to stations in New South Wales and Queensland via the Macquarie Radio Network. The show is transmitted on Saturdays from 12pm through to around 8pm, and on Sundays from 12pm to 6pm. Some stations carry both days, some only cover the Sunday broadcast. Some stations like 2HD in Newcastle take coverage of other teams in place of the 2GB broadcast (2HD for example carry games of the Newcastle Knights). The team consists of: In 2004, Peter "Chippy" Frillingos, who was a member of the team, and chief rugby league writer for the Daily Telegraph, died of a heart attack while working for the Telegraph. His spot was not filled for the remainder of the 2004 NRL season. A replacement was found in former rival, and ex-2UE commentator Darryl Brohman. The program is largely comedy based, combined with analysis of the state and games of rugby league and talkback and email messages from listeners. Often there are sections of the program where the game is not discussed, which was often to the chargin of "Chippy". The program is popular, and is a ratings winner for 2GB. Thanks to live streaming on the Internet, the program can be heard in other states of Australia and throughout the world, and many ex-pats living overseas email the team to have their say. One of these people included actor Russell Crowe, a devout South Sydney Rabbitohs fan, who emailed the team from Canada, where he was shooting his latest movie, The Cinderella Man. History The program began on rival station 2UE, who had the rights to rugby league for many years. When 2UE lost the rights to broadcast NRL games in 1999 to 2GB, the station asked commentator Ray Hadley to present a six-hour rugby league program, without having the rights to the actual games, nor having access to their reporters inside the ground. Several 2UE commentators, including John Gibbs and Darryl Brohman, joined 2GB. The program was renamed The Talking League Team. The team consisting of Ray Hadley, Peter Frillingos, Bob Fulton, Steve Roach, Tony Meaghey and Greg Alexander astounded industry insiders when they beat 2GB and ABC Radio, both of whom had the actual rights to NRL games in 2000 and 2001. Many network stations dropped 2GB coverage and switched to 2UE's coverage. At one stage, rival 2GB campaigned for Foxtel to cut off 2UE's access to the service, as they were calling games off their coverage. The team stopped the practice soon after the threat was made. In 2002, when Ray Hadley moved to 2GB, he brought his team over with him (with the exception of Alexander), and combined the comedy and listener-driven aspects of the program with coverage of live NRL games, and has continued to win the ratings since then. In 2004, the team lost long time member Peter Frilingos to a heart attack, and his spot was not filled for the rest of the season, to be eventually replaced by Darryl Brohman in 2005. External Links
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