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Thanks for the welcome Rory and sorry about your hearing. I’m afraid I have seen off plenty of sound engineers in my time! Did you see Challenger win the Murphy’s on RUK last week? What a c…..character eh?
Dunwoody got a rare tune out of him to beat my old favourite Strong Promise, if I recall. Never forgiven him!
Have they let you out of Kempton yet John or will you be sitting in the same spot in the pressroom next Monday?!
Strangely enough GD, the TRF crew didn’t quite double the crowd last night. I nearly fainted in shock when I saw around 30 people (before everyone else starts hyperventilating, they were in the same party – looked like a works Christmas do) queuing up to get in the gate.
In all fairness I’ve been exceptionally lucky – only been there three times since last Weds, and only going there twice next week. Happy days!
So you guys did double the crowd last night then gc?
Hihihihi, I exaggerate a touch. As Shadow Leader says, the pitch / grandstand populace did amount to more than just us, though the 25,000+ throng of Cheltenham three days previously it certainly wasn’t.
Still, chat was chatted and TRF categories were discussed. I’ll pass those on to Corm asap.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Mr Hunt, can you please try and stop C. Lysaght from nattering throughout your radio 5 commentaries? It drives me mad.
Have they let you out of Kempton yet John or will you be sitting in the same spot in the pressroom next Monday?!
Strangely enough GD, the TRF crew didn’t quite double the crowd last night. I nearly fainted in shock when I saw around 30 people (before everyone else starts hyperventilating, they were in the same party – looked like a works Christmas do) queuing up to get in the gate.
In all fairness I’ve been exceptionally lucky – only been there three times since last Weds, and only going there twice next week. Happy days!
I must admit, despite my comments about it being like a morgue 50 mins before racing, the crowd did pick up to the largest winter evening "crowd" I have seen in a long time – still little atmosphere though.
Word had clearly got around that the TRF Superstars were putting in a guest appearance and the crowds had obviously flocked to get a view of the wonderful group.
I quite agree. I still can’t believe how they’ve just dropped it. I always thought it would be one of the staples of the BBC’s sports output. Imagine 15-20 years ago being told that there would be hardly any on BBC – almost unimaginable.
The thing is as well Andy, how much sport has the BBC lost in those 15 or 20 years? Cricket, Rugby, Football, Boxing etc all to varying degrees. You can see various afternoons devoted to such thrillers as indoor bowling or snooker while horse racing coverage has declined from their choice when you could possibly have expected it to increase with the loss of the other sports over the years.
We are told the viewing figures for racing are consistently low yet any criticism of their coverage is ignored and we are told how wonderful it is by Carl Hicks.
Those in charge must really hate the sport.
Good job the likes of O’Sullevan & Bromley aren’t starting out now, there would be no future for them at the BBC.Well, that is what baffles me – the company that ‘produced’ those two Legends of Broadcasting – now has such distaste for the sport. The head of Sport at the BBC must really hate the sport – it’s hardly regular on 5Live either on Saturdays.
Hope you don’t mind me challenging this final line Andy !! I know this is essential a TV debate but the sport gets very regular Saturday coverage on 5 Live, indeed it would be a challenge to find one feature race on a Saturday that hasn’t been covered during my five years on the station and beyond. Add to that extensive midweek coverage year round and I hope you will happily stand corrected Andy?
Best wishes,
John HuntPoint taken John, however, the coverage of the Festivals are fine – no problem at all. But the Saturday just gone did highlight something – I was away at another event so had the radio with me. The Bolton/Liverpool match finished, then the England/Aus Rugby – then over to Cheltenham for the last 2 fences of the Paddy Power – now that isn’t the first time something like that has happened. Yes, it’s better than no coverage, but gives the impression that it’s not really important.
We could go off on an tangent at the way a lot of sports on BBC have been ‘marginalised’ at the altar of the great god of football. Being a public service broadcaster should mean there is a wide range of variety – alas no it’s football 1st, 2nd, 3rd, everything else can be thankful for what coverage it gets. Sorry, but that’s okay for commercial broadcasters, but really the BBC should cover 1-1.5 matches a weekend leaving time for other sports and/or discussion comment.
Sorry, rant over, and welcome to the forum John!!Word had clearly got around that the TRF Superstars were putting in a guest appearance and the crowds had obviously flocked to get a view of the wonderful group.
…though we do owe all of them a 20% refund following the dissatisfaction expressed at Grey Desire’s no-show.
"It’s like going to a Westlife concert and finding out the talented one’s gone off sick!", one disgruntled racegoer lamented.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I quite agree. I still can’t believe how they’ve just dropped it. I always thought it would be one of the staples of the BBC’s sports output. Imagine 15-20 years ago being told that there would be hardly any on BBC – almost unimaginable.
The thing is as well Andy, how much sport has the BBC lost in those 15 or 20 years? Cricket, Rugby, Football, Boxing etc all to varying degrees. You can see various afternoons devoted to such thrillers as indoor bowling or snooker while horse racing coverage has declined from their choice when you could possibly have expected it to increase with the loss of the other sports over the years.
We are told the viewing figures for racing are consistently low yet any criticism of their coverage is ignored and we are told how wonderful it is by Carl Hicks.
Those in charge must really hate the sport.
Good job the likes of O’Sullevan & Bromley aren’t starting out now, there would be no future for them at the BBC.Well, that is what baffles me – the company that ‘produced’ those two Legends of Broadcasting – now has such distaste for the sport. The head of Sport at the BBC must really hate the sport – it’s hardly regular on 5Live either on Saturdays.
Hope you don’t mind me challenging this final line Andy !! I know this is essential a TV debate but the sport gets very regular Saturday coverage on 5 Live, indeed it would be a challenge to find one feature race on a Saturday that hasn’t been covered during my five years on the station and beyond. Add to that extensive midweek coverage year round and I hope you will happily stand corrected Andy?
Best wishes,
John HuntPoint taken John, however, the coverage of the Festivals are fine – no problem at all. But the Saturday just gone did highlight something – I was away at another event so had the radio with me. The Bolton/Liverpool match finished, then the England/Aus Rugby – then over to Cheltenham for the last 2 fences of the Paddy Power – now that isn’t the first time something like that has happened. Yes, it’s better than no coverage, but gives the impression that it’s not really important.
We could go off on an tangent at the way a lot of sports on BBC have been ‘marginalised’ at the altar of the great god of football. Being a public service broadcaster should mean there is a wide range of variety – alas no it’s football 1st, 2nd, 3rd, everything else can be thankful for what coverage it gets. Sorry, but that’s okay for commercial broadcasters, but really the BBC should cover 1-1.5 matches a weekend leaving time for other sports and/or discussion comment.
Sorry, rant over, and welcome to the forum John!!Andy,
I dont want any of this to sound patronising and you are quite right; football is king. But I think your experience last weekend illustrates the strength of 5 Live rather than its weakness. There you are at an event and within a few minutes you have commentary on top class Football, Rugby and Racing ringing in your ears. Where we are constantly unlucky in racing is that so many times on a Saturday afternoon, the race time of the feature race clashes with the conclusion of the early Premiership footbal match. Football will always hold sway we do what we can around that.However, this Saturday is different. There is no early kick off in the football which should free us up nicely for detailed coverage of Kauto Star and also enable us to bring news of Binoculars’ reappearance. The evidence of last Sunday at Cheltenham showed exactly what 5 Live will do for racing, time allowing. Everton v Middlesboro reached halftime just as they jumped off for the Greatwood Hurdle and we gave full commentary from flight number one onwards together with news of what was happening with Sizing Europe and Jered and Hardy at Punchestown. It was lovely to be able to do so much but please remember the timings of other events, especially football, always need to work in our favour.
Best wishes
John HuntNo, not patronising at all – I do fully understand, and I’m not anti-football, there was a time when I ate, drank and slept Football, it’s just I see ‘the bigger picture’. I don’t remember it being like this years ago on the old Sport on 2 – the current domination by football isn’t healthy and doesn’t need/shouldn’t be like this. That’s the job of commercial broadcasters.
Thanks for the reply anyway.Welcome to the Forum John.
Im the one who joined you for the odd comentary in the box at Haydock all those years ago when you used to be our main commentator.
Regarding 5Live, The Cheltenham coverage is always great to listen to when im at work and cannot bear having to wait for hours till i get home so i can watch the reruns.
Likewise i agree that Football will always take centre stage and Racing will be fighting with other sports for coverage and at least 5Live do cover racing a lot more than what the BBC Television channels will be doing in the future.
I wish the radio times would say which races are likely to be broadcast….I love listening to the Melbourne Cup in the early hours of the morning….and we miss Luke Harvey’s slot in the morning……
Word had clearly got around that the TRF Superstars were putting in a guest appearance and the crowds had obviously flocked to get a view of the wonderful group.
…though we do owe all of them a 20% refund following the dissatisfaction expressed at Grey Desire’s no-show.
"It’s like going to a Westlife concert and finding out the talented one’s gone off sick!", one disgruntled racegoer lamented.
gc
So the surprise guest appearance of Shadow Leader wasn’t a crowd puller?!
and we miss Luke Harvey’s slot in the morning……
Three minutes of giggling. Amateurish and unprofessional, an opportunity wasted.
Can somebody please explain what on earth the BBC are playing at on Saturday. The first televised race from both meetings are on BBC1 and the rest – the most important ones – are then shifted onto BBC2. Makes it almot impossible to record on the DVD hard drive which is never accurate, either that or we haven’t got the hang of it yet. You can bet it won’t be on BBCI Player either
So the surprise guest appearance of Shadow Leader wasn’t a crowd puller?!
Seemingly not – they didn’t realise what they were missing – the puffa jacket disguise obviously worked too well
According to a letter in the Racing Post yesterday, commentary on the Grand National last year began at the 5th fence on BBC Radio 5 with no build up immediately prior to the race, while that should be totally unbelievable it certainly is indefensible, don’t think even John would defend it
Wasn’t World Cup Final day was it
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