The community station has secured a deal to broadcast Friday night footy with commentators through the National Indigenous Radio Service [NIRS] – an indigenous radio distributor based in Brisbane.

And according to Radio Adelaide general manager and former sports presenter Rob Popplestone: “No costs from the NIRS broadcast would be passed on to Radio Adelaide”.

Popplestone told InDaily the station would broadcast AFL every Friday night, no matter which teams are playing, and that the NIRS would deliver commentary that is not “a biased Adelaide call for an Adelaide audience”.

The station has also recruited Adelaide radio personality, former first-class cricketer and SANFL umpire Ken “KG” Cunningham, and former Olympian and Adelaide 36ers coach Phil Smyth to present a midday sports program every weekday on Radio Adelaide.

“Midday Sport”, will run from 12pm to 1pm on Radio Adelaide, pushing Roundabout – a program aimed at older listeners – to 2pm.

Popplestone said Cunningham and Smyth were “two of the most respected sports presenters in the state” and would be “on hand to act as mentors for [less experienced staff and volunteers] that need support”.

The AFL broadcast will be commentated by former Australian Rules footballers Andrew Underwood and Damian Kitchke, as well as sports caller Terry McAuliffe.

He said the new sports programming was designed to attract listeners that would normally get their sports coverage from commercial stations Triple M or FIVEaa.

But he rejected any suggestion Radio Adelaide was leaning towards a more commercial broadcast style with the shake-up.

“We’re definitely not anything to do with those [stations],” said Popplestone.

However, he argued it was important for the station to “sound more professional”.

“I really wanted to lift the standard of what Radio Adelaide delivers across the station,” he said.

“I’m not sure the difference between what a community station sounds like and a commercial station sounds like [but] we have to sound the very best, because we exist for our listeners.”

He said he believed the new program would fill a hole for midday sports in the Adelaide radio market.

“This state is hungry for sports interviews and news – they can’t get enough of it,” he said, adding that Midday Sport would maintain the station’s community focus and “put a spotlight on individuals and sporting events not normally covered by the media”.

He added that Cunningham and Smyth would be paid “far lower” than sports presenters on commercial stations, and even: “they’ll be paid lower than other current hosts on Radio Adelaide”.

The last time Radio Adelaide went through a major programming shake-up it caused uproar among volunteers, who warned a failure to consult on the changes put the station’s licence at risk.

But in December Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced it had approved the transfer of Radio Adelaide’s licence from the University of Adelaide to an independent entity – Educational Broadcasters Inc.