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I do not know how many went to Cheltenham who use the Forum but I have gone every year apart from last year for the last 10 years.
I always find it immensely enjoyable and in recent times have enjoyed the Festival Radio channel. They have always made it entertaining and light hearted with a phone in at the end of the day and in the past it has been fronted by Luke Harvey and they have had jockeys like Tom Scudamore amongst others who assist and it has been fun.
This year it was sponsored by Timeform (not sure if it was the first time) and was fronted by Alex Steadman. I have to say his voice is enough to drive you insane. It is so dull and uninteresting.
I do not know what knowledge he as about the sport which may indeed be vast but as a broadcaster he makes Christian Williams sound interesting.
He was so boring and bland I turned off after the second day and others that I spoke to did the same,solely because of him.
Please get rid of him for next year and bring back Luke Harvey and bring some fun back to it.
Agree. Was all a bit worthy and the guy who’d all but lost his voice was hard to listen to. Also missed the phone-in part with which we invariably listened to as we left the course. Some great wind ups were executed.
Timeform Radio has provided radio services for Festival Radio / Cheltenham Radio / http://www.cheltenham.co.uk for the rump of this season (from the Open meeting to the Festival inclusive) in lieu of the previous providers.
For the Open, Boylesports, New Year and Trials meeting, that meant presenters, paddock experts and pundits wrought entirely from Timeform Radio’s ranks. For the Festival, they provided presenters and paddock experts (no pundits) to work alongside other safe pairs of hands such as Dave Farrar, Jonathan Powell and Ian Carnaby.
I don’t know for sure, but I can only presume it was at the racecourse executive’s behest that the phone-ins, wind-ups, etc. were not retained this year. I very much enjoyed the broadcasts, anyway – all week I had the RUK pictures on but with the sound muted and Festival Radio on instead.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Much as I like Luke, it has to be said that a light hearted, jolly, in-jokey approach to the broadcast for something of the magnitude of the Cheltenham Festival isn’t entirely wise. It’s more than possible that the format needs tweaking in response to public demand, but I struggle to find justification for some of the criticism posted here. Steedman is a consummate anchor who did excellent work all week and could never be described as dull. For the record, "the guy who’d all but lost his voice" is Timeform’s Kieran Packman. Use of excellent pundits such as Steve Mellish, Lydia Hislop and Donn McLean added to the depth of the review programme. It was undeniably less funny than in the old days, but I gather you can still catch parts of the Goon show on Youtube.
Other tracks are using the Timeform Radio team to at least some degree. Those include Ascot, Goodwood and Haydock.
Of course, it is always a matter of opinion but I reckon Alex Steedman is out of the top drawer of racing presenters and a nice chap to go along with that.
I find it very difficult to accept Luke Harvey as a form expert, gossip and funny quips and he is up there with the best. I s’pose itall comes down to what you want from a presenter.
Colin
I agree with both Rory and Colin regarding Alex.
On the Timeform radio the one I thought rather iffy was that Irish bloke
– don’t you agree Rory?I agree with both Rory and Colin regarding Alex.
On the Timeform radio the one I thought rather iffy was that Irish bloke
– don’t you agree Rory?A complete gobshyte; probably doesn’t even live in Ireland.
It’s that manky point-to-point apologist that follows him around that I can’t be doing with.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
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