OWEN HANNIE TALKS ABOUT
HIS GREAT SPORTING JOURNEY
From a professional cyclist to a sports broadcaster, Owen’s
journey has been quite a fun ride.
Written by: Machaba Matsapola
W
hen Owen Hannie was a
student at Wits Univer-
sity in 1997, he tried his
luck at a campus radio station
but was rejected. A year later
when he moved to what was then
called Rand Afrikaans
University (now University of
Johannesburg), he auditioned at
the campus radio station and got
a presenter slot. While juggling
studies and campus radio, he
later decided to leave and pursue
professional sports as a cyclist.
During that time, he managed to
get into a TV show and joined
Supersport.
Speaking to Frequency Magazine
at Metro FM studios where he
has been a sports presenter since
2013, The 41 year old Kimberly
born details his journey: “When
I joined Supersport, a colleague
who also worked at 5FM told me
that the station was looking for
people. I auditioned and became
part of 5FM in 2005; I was on the
afternoon drive show with DJ
Fresh, then left in 2011 for Cape
Town. When I was down there, I
missed radio and decided to call
Metro FM and found out they
had an opening for weekend, I
joined them in 2013.”
Hannie says he was always pas-
sionate about sports and that
back in high school he played
cricket, soccer, athletics, swim-
ming and joined cycling in varsity.
“I never thought that I’d be in
sports broadcasting but when I
started I looked up to veterans
like Gerald De Kock who took
me under his wing and Arnold
Geerdts; those were the two guys
I learnt a lot from,” he shares.
Over the years Hannie has devel-
oped his skills as a sports radio
presenter and TV presenter/com-
mentator. “I also do commentary
for Supersport, when commen-
tating on cycling, you get 189 rid-
ers so overtime you get to know
their different styles and the
more you’re in it, the more you
get to know more about them,”
he says. “I got the utmost respect
for radio commentators because
they paint a picture for you and
you get to see everything.”
With his extensive knowledge
on sports broadcasting, Hannie
would like to help youngsters
who want to come into the
industry and also advocate for
veterans to have longevity in the
industry. His favourite soccer
teams are