Much of what Molly writes below I agree wholeheartedly with. My radio morning “drift” began like most others when I simply got too old for Radio 1, moving just in time to enjoy the last few years of the incomparable Terry Wogan and friends.
When Chris Evans arrived I swiftly made my exit and, for a while, tried 5 Live; surely a mix of informed comment and sport would be the ideal cocktail? Not so as this has been dumbed down to such a degree that I was, at one point, tempted by the local radio morons.
So I settled on the Today programme but gradually the quality, impartiality and objectivity I expect from my licence fee vanished since the day we voted to leave Europe. Where next who knows?
Sports commentaries too are a pale shadow of what we once so loved. This is strange as, given every possible box has to be ticked off by the likes of the BBC & Sky, you would think they might find someone worth listening too?
Read on…
As long as I can remember I have been an avid radio listener, especially sport, brought up listening to evening commentaries on the old Radio 2 medium wave frequency. The programme always started with a resounding tune at 8.02pm just after the news.
It was a delight to hear the mellifluous Welsh tones of Peter Jones or Bryon Butler as they described the action, often backed up by some incisive summaries from such as dear Jimmy Armfield. They painted a graphic picture without the need for hyperbole.
I was also a fan of the crackly 774MW Radio Leeds, particularly its rugby commentators including Tim Healy, Jack Wainwright and Tom Schofield plus a young Harry Gration as Sports Editor.
Post Bradford City games, home or away, meant a dash to the car for Sports Report at 5.00 pm that began with James Alexander-Gordon’s imperious reading of the days results; what intonation the old boy gave to each and every outcome.
Summer saw my attention bounce over to Radio 3 MW and the national institution that is Test Match Special with Brian Johnston, John Arlott, Don Mosey (who my Uncle Arthur taught at Keighley Grammar School) and a host of other serious commentators and world class summarisers.
Even back then Fred Trueman never seemed to be able to grasp what was going off out on the greensward. Graeme Swann thankfully was a long way off in my younger days as the close of play report was performed by that paragon of the cricketing establishment E.W Swanton .
In 1990 the goalposts changed with the introduction of Radio 5 Live, a new station aimed at serious news and talk as well as unrivalled sports coverage . I was an instant fan and tuned in regularly; even the midweek sports programmes started an hour earlier at 7 after Peter Allen’s Drive Time Show.
Over the last few years Radio 5 has changed its focus dramatically, aiming at a younger audience with BBC Director of Sport Barbara Slater seemingly hell bent in her pursuit of the “yoof”. This has resulted in an influx of opinionated presenters taking over as they try to introduce nauseous so-called “bants”.
I still have great respect for the commentators who, almost to a man and woman, are professional and still paint the picture for the listener at home much the same as their forefathers did. What does irk me is the requirement for the summariser to be a main player in proceedings.
When Jimmy Armfield or David Pleat spoke on football matters, it was with an air of authority; even past eighty, Armfield never lost the grasp of the modern game. Now we hear utter dross from such as Savage, Sutton and the truly awful Clint Morrison amongst others too numerous to mention.
In its pursuit of “yoof” some great names such as Garry Richardson, Cornelius Lysaght, Jonathon Overend and Mark Pougatch have left or are being released reflecting how the BBC view their sporting output.
Thankfully The Open and Wimbledon still receive unrivalled radio coverage by the corporation, but for how long? Equally, how the BBC can justify what must be a colossal budget to run Sports Personality of the Year Award (or SPOTY as we must now call it) given its sheer lack of sporting coverage defeats me.
I simply cannot see the focus improving much as they seem hell bent on making the output resemble some 24 hour podcast coverage . In far simpler times the BBC was widely respected for its news and sport coverage, no longer it seems.
To this old curmudgeon it is terribly sad but endemic of the times we are in.
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