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Derek’s the new face of Radio 5 Live’s coverage for racing. He used to work in the BBC Radio Sports department when I worked there.
Tommo says he has been like a kid in a sweet shop because of his return to the BBC, where he first started.
When he was first approached to join the BBC radio team for Cheltenham, he wanted to shout it from the roof tops but was sworn to secrecy.
He adds that BBC radio will actually get a bigger audience than Channel 4 because every single race from the Cheltenham Festival will be broadcast.
Tommo really has taken on a new lease of life at the age of 62, what with his new Middle East work as well. Good luck to him. You have got to admire his capacity for work and his zest for life, especially in the face of adversity.
Good news. I like Thommo and I think his broadcast personality is good for the sports mass appeal. The more he is on TV/radio the better.
He adds that BBC radio will actually get a bigger audience than Channel 4
Probably will not be difficult as C4’s Cheltenham coverage cannot even make it into the C4 "top thirty" programs during festival week.
In the corresponding week last year it had fewer viewers than the likes of Deal Or No Deal (immediately after the C4 racing coverage), Come Dine With Me, Embarrassing Bodies and even the delightfully named My Phone Sex Secrets.
Also with many racing fans at work it is more likely that many will surreptitiously listen to the coverage on the radio. When I used to work in the "real world" I would go to my car and listen to each Festival race on the radio.
Even now, when I am now on course for the Festival, I still have the BBC Radio coverage on through an earpiece to get the post race interviews. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the BBC Radio figures are already higher than the C4 figures.
Racing very rarely hits the top 30 in the TV charts – even in the BBC1 "top thirty" figures for Grand National week last year the National only just scraped in in 30th place with 4.07m viewers and, believe me it will be lucky to get half that number this year.
and even the delightfully named My Phone Sex Secrets.
I remember that!
If you forgive the pun, it was an excellent tongue-in-cheek documentary about housewives ‘acting’ over the phone for their clients, featuring plenty of grunting, moaning and filthy language.
A bit like The Racing Forum really.
Mike
Good for him! I wish him every success. Much as his interview style is like nails down a blackboard to me, I admire his individuality, tireless energy and enthusiasm.
As for the festival, I have the week off work as usual, and will be glued to whatever media option I can lay my hands on.
I like him. Met him once and seemed a very nice and genuine guy. He can talk for England and although sometimes he seemed a little off the mark with his racing knowledge he more than makes up with his personality.
It was a sad for C4 when they let him go IMHO.
Alice Plunkett makes me want to pack in racing.…. he seemed a little off the mark with his racing knowledge
Alice Plunkett makes me want to pack in racing.Why have racing presenters who lack racing knowledge?
And, on the second point, Graham Cunningham has the same effect on me. Made out of cardboard (even Jim McGrath looked animated next to him at Kempton today), dull as ditchwater, repetitive as a scratched record and completely clueless to boot- according to him, Ruby Walsh was "obviously" going to make the running on Irish Saint today.How did this numpty land the job? I’d rather listen to Thommo’s banal offerings than put up with Cunningham’s pseudo-intellectual piffle.
Have to agree about Cunningham. He may be knowledgeable but he’s got as much personality as that useless computer screen he mucks about with.
Not hos biggest fan, but thin he is perfect for that job. Although John Hunt and Mark Johnson both do terrific jobs currently.
I think the new Channel 4 set up awful. Graham Cunningham is monotone and boring. In this technological day and age, why do we have watch his hand messing around with a computer screen? The runners and riders should be an automatic moving screen with commentary about each as they go. Can’t he keep up like John Francome and Simon Holt? Mick Fitzgerald, obviously only tips runners from the Henderson stable, hardly an objective look on each race, and his bellowing, grating voice hardly makes for easy listening.
Bring back Tommo, Francome, and even that sexist oaf Big Mac. Racing doesn’t get the audience it deserves, but will lose even more without these personalities that have escalated the profile of racing over the years, and have made it enjoyable to watch. It’s painful watching channel 4 racing at the moment.
Even my wife (who doesn’t even watch racing) said what the hell are you watching? Why has he got his hand all over the tv screen? So amateur, and even more so boring.In this technological day and age, why do we have watch his hand messing around with a computer screen? The runners and riders should be an automatic moving screen with commentary about each as they go.
It was an absolute shambles on Saturday, with Graham and Jim really messing up the tapping of the buttons on the screen.
They kept hitting the wrong buttons and either nothing happened or the wrong thing happened. There were hairy hands everywhere and it was an absolute embarrassment.
As you say, there’s absolutely no need for us to see them from above tapping the buttons. Why they have to show us that, I’ll never know. That should be a behind-the-scenes task that we don’t need to see in operation.
The run-through of the runners and riders has become a dog’s breakfast.
I Completely agree. I just can’t think why anyone should make the decision to show them messing around with the screen. It’s almost like seeing the autocue while the presenter reads it. It’s a big step backwards. What was wrong with summing up the horses in the paddock too? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s worse than the Beeb I’m horrified to say.
Tommo says he has been like a kid in a sweet shop because of his return to the BBC, where he first started.
When he was first approached to join the BBC radio team for Cheltenham, he wanted to shout it from the roof tops but was sworn to secrecy.
He adds that BBC radio will actually get a bigger audience than Channel 4 because every single race from the Cheltenham Festival will be broadcast.
Tommo really has taken on a new lease of life at the age of 62, what with his new Middle East work as well.
Good luck to him. You have got to admire his capacity for work
and his zest for life, especially in the face of adversity.
don’t you mean gravy-training?
Terrible commmentaries at Nottingham today. Obsessed about where the favourite Missed Call was in the 5pm and mentioned that rather than the winner as they crossed the line. I presume he must have tipped it.
" They’ve got two to run and the favourite’s being urged along to try and get into this, Missed Call, he hasn’t picked up yet with one and a half to run here in the 5pm at Nottingham…coming into the final furlong and the favourite is now beginning to come down the outside but he’s not going to get there, Elhaame wins it…"Thankfully no longer on our tv screens.
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