Former Tory minister Zac Goldsmith to launch new sports radio station

The former Conservative minister Zac Goldsmith is launching a new sports radio station, trkradio, in the run-up to the men’s football World Cup this summer.

The Track Radio Corporation is understood to have been granted a licence by Ofcom last week, with Goldsmith and his brother Ben, a financier and environmentalist, the major investors.

Trkradio is due to go to air for the first time next month, with the station’s presenters and other financial backers to be confirmed over the next few weeks.

Sources involved in the launch told the Guardian that the station will feature a mix of reflective conversation about all sports with ambitions to offer broader content than staple football phone-ins, as well as playing music.

The day-to-day running of trkradio will be led by Iain Macintosh, formerly the head of UK audio at the Athletic, and the former LBC commercial director Jonathan Arendt.

Trkradio will join a competitive market for sports fans dominated by the BBC’s Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Sports Extra, and TalkSport, which has operated two channels for the last decade.

Zac Goldsmith resigned as a Foreign Office minister in June 2023, over what he described as the “apathy” towards the environment shown by Rishi Sunak’s government.

The men’s World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Mexico, the US and Canada, begins on 11 June, with the final on 19 July.