主播大秀

I am very excited about the World Cup and I am looking forward to it immensely. But, and there is a but, would it be possible to try and avoid a repeat of the Germany World Cup over-the-top matyness which meant the listener felt he or she was an eavesdropper on a private hooly at someone else's expense? A bit of professionalism would be nice. It isn't everyone, but the people who behaved that way last time know who they are.
Colin Paterson and Mark Chapman are brainwave selections.

Will live commentary be available to those living outside the UK?

I'm going to enjoy it a lot more now Murray is no longer involved. I still 'don't get it' why so many people in the Beeb think he's the wonder boy when clearly from comment on blogs and areas such as Guardian Media, his presentation skills are widely derided.

What are we supposed to say, wow? Everything you've commissioned or touched has been a nightmare - and yet you don't think Bacon - Tennis, Paterson in a bus and Campbell (again) in a market square cafe won't be. The same roster of mates and nobodies won't do. Where is the new talent coming through? Chapman!! Chuck-in Green's cynicism & negativity and it's a good thing Talksport have full coverage for some & the TV has captions

When will we start hearing "this is the World Cup station" ident?

Why are 5 live taking less people compared to Germany 2006?

Who is going to be part of the commentary team for England matches and the final,will there be any new blood or will it be Greeny,Ingham and Taylor?

How come there will be 606s only after England games? There are other games that fans will want to talk about

Is Adrian Van Klaveren going to be travelling with the 5 live team to the World Cup ?

Just had a thought is David Pleat going to summarize exclusively for 5 live for the duration of the World Cup or do you plan to share him with ITV?

I am looking forward to your responses mr Wall!!!

I'm going to miss Simon Mayo at Wimbledon this year, who always seemed to get the most out of the correspondents, pundits, and obviously the 'showbiz' guests. I'm surprised that Bacon seems to have been automatically given the gig - never heard him show any enthusiasm for tennis before (or any other sport really) - but I will be listening with interest.

It isn't completely clear from the article above, but I think Danny Baker is actually going to South Africa to broadcast for three hours a week. Personally I enjoy listening to him on the radio, but I'm sure some of the other people on this blog will question whether he needs to be out there too.

I am just delighted that there will be no Colin Murray. Having said that, it means he is staying in the studio to host every programme involving football. The guy is talentless and annoying and that's being polite to him.
Why to 5Live insist on someone who clearly riles everyone? Why? Do they not realise that their listeners are more important than one man? Why the stubbornness and the spiteful attitude towards listeners?

Sound like it is going to be interesting :)

The term "laugh out loud" is overused on the internet but I have genuinely just done this. At this.

"All the fun in SW19 starts on Monday June 21st with hosts Richard Bacon"

Perlease.......

if only you could 'listen again' to some of the broadcasts on Breakfast with Nicky and Matt someone or other. It was juvenile, puerile and did indeed overdose on matyness.

I love nearly all of the rest of the line up though!

These were the broadcasts from Germany during the last World Cup, I should have made that clear.

"working with our team in Johannesburg?" (AVK)

Is this another way of working the bar on expenses maybe?

Another worry is taking Robbie Savage. Assuming this bloke will not earn another contract at Derby, does this mean he is a shoe-in at Five Live? Remember the Ian Wright experience guys. Not very intelligent footballer promoted well out of his intellectual depth. Not good.

Klav's the Yentob of 5-Lite. With no experience of radio, commisssioning, or senior management - he hides behind plaititudes & shifting expectations

Suprised Pat Nevin is remaining with the station for the world cup isn't he usually used to try and make sense of Mr Murrary's ramblings. I fear for MOTD 2 now!

""working with our team in Johannesburg?" (AVK)

Is this another way of working the bar on expenses maybe?"

M'yes - my initial instinctive thought on reading that was, "Jolly!"

It never ceases to amaze me how negative some of the regular posters are on here,i dont see how AVK going to South Africa can be described as a Jolly

Any company worth their salt who have a major opeartion overseas would expect their head honcho to come and see how things are progressing,its common sense!!

Hi Jonathan, I hope its not too late to post to this blog.

I for one found it interesting about how quickly you had to chnage your plans.

I'm really looking forward to the summer of sport on Five Live and in particular the World Cup and Wimbledon.

I've noticed from the press release that Arlo White is going to be part of the world cup commentary team. This I am happy about because I reaolly like Arlo, it is a surprise though because I never heard him commentate on football for Five Live. I hope we will hear more from Arlo on a freelance basis in the future.

I'm dissapointed that Simon Mayo isn't returning to Five Live for the Wimbledon fortnight. I read that you did want him to. To me it would only be fair as when he was a full-time Five Live presenter he regularly did weeks depping at Radio 2.

Whilst I have been impressed with Richard Bacon on the station I'm not too sure about his Wimbledon appointment but I had similar resivations about Simon and he proved a fantastic choice so I'll not judge Richard until he has started.

Finally, presumably next season Colin will be unavailable to host Sunday's shows. I would like to champion the case of Russell Fuller, he is an excllent sports presenter and he deserves a regular slot on Five Live.

Thank you very much for the swift reply.

Its great news that Arlo will do some presenting as well and also Ian Dennis. I'm slightly surprised Colin will do both as I thought he would be required to watch the matches in the MOTD offices with the pundits.

Jonathan Wall i like others who do not post that often really appreciate your thoughts and hopefully you will continue to answer question regarding sports coverage because it is interesting

I hope you do not mind if I slightly deviate from the World cup to general questions and thoughts

What I would like to know is why Alan Green is always used for all the big matches, even though you have fantastic commentators in the likes of John Murray and Ian Dennis to name just 2, I don鈥檛 think it is fair that Greeny in previous seasons has got the UEFA cup final when he did not even cover any matches in the previous rounds

Why are 5live obsessed with Alan Green when you have so many quality commentators to replace him with?

I hope that Alan Green is not commentating on the UEFA cup final on Wednesday and John Murray and Ian Dennis get the gig

Jonathon Wall's response beggars belief. It is straight out of the 'everything in the garden is rosy' PR department. All the presenter changes have been a success. Everyone loves the new format.

And the real bombshell (or is it two) Murray is staying on Sundays for next year.
"He's really settled down well into his new role as part of our sports line-up and we are really pleased". Jonathon, large swathes of you audience are really NOT pleased. We happen to be the suckers who have to listen to his inane ramblings and end of turning off.

Come out of the bubble, wake up and wise up. Please.

I am sorry Jackstumps, but regarding post 23 what a load of tosh,i dont understand how Colin Murray can be considered a rubbish presenter when the following all rate his talents.

-Radio 1
-Radio Five Live
-Radio Ulster
-Channel 4
-Channel 5
-UKTV G2

Its not just the 主播大秀 who rate his talents,so to come out with "Come out of the bubble, wake up and wise up. Please" is patronising beyong belief, again i point out it is not in the intrests of 5live to have an unpopular presenter, they would lose listeners,so i wonder why they are sticking with Murray?

My guess is from there audince research, they have found out that people enjoy watching and listening to Murray,thus him getting more gigs on the 主播大秀

Fedster makes a good point. The fact he's also been poached by the 主播大秀 for TV sport - so far for the darts and MOTD 2 - means they obviously think Murray is a talented presenter too.

I don't know how Jackstumps can claim "large swathes of you[r] audience are really NOT pleased" . Has he done an accurate poll of the Radio 5 listenership? I suspect he has read the scathing comments of a few posters on these blogs (which represent a tiny minority of the listeners) and drawn his own conclusions.

I have no doubt that Murray does irritate some listeners but Fedster is absolutely spot on; audience research and listening figures are more indicative than a few vocal posters on blogs.

Exactly Dr Bean, the same arguments made by Jackstumps are aimed at the likes of Richard Bacon,Stephen Nolan etc, the anti 5live posters on the 5live blog, who think just because there is alot of criticism on here about 5live presenters,that suddenly equates to "large swathes of you[r] audience are really NOT pleased"

It is laughable it really is.

The facts are this 5live is a station which is going in the right direction, with quality presenters all through its schedule.

"The facts are this 5live is a station which is going in the right direction, with quality presenters all through its schedule."

I wouldn't go that far Fedster. There are some presenters on 5Live I choose not to listen to, and there are some good ones who have left who I don't think have been adequately replaced. I also liked the pre-Christmas schedule much more than the one we have now.

However, these are all my opinions, which I'm happy to air on these blogs, but there is no way I'd be as presumptuous as to assume they represent the views of 'large swathes' of the 5Live audience.

From listening to Alan Davies' Arsenal podcast, i'm looking forward to his show, should be a great laugh, obviously not biased to Arsenal players and fully supporting JT and Cashley

Please reassure me about value for money and Danny Baker's South African jaunt.
Have just listened to his Sat morning show broadcast from SA. WHAT IS THE POINT OF
HIM BEING OUT THERE, AT LICENCE PAYERS' EXPENSE? CAN ANY LISTENER TELL ME HOW THEY BENEFITTED FROM KNOWING HE WAS DOING HIS SHOW IN BETWEEN WATCHING MATCHES AND GENERALLY SUFFERING SUCH EXTREME CONDITIONS, NOT TO MENTION THE CRASSNESS OF GOING ON ABOUT HOW CHEAP THE FOOD IS.
DANNY NEEDS TO RAISE HIS GAME AND GIVE US MORE REASON TO SUBSIDIZE HIS
WORLD CUP JOLLY.
BY THE WAY DOES ANYONE ELSE THINK THE 主播大秀 SHOULD DISCLOSE HOW MUCH EACH PRESENTER IN SOUTH AFRICA IS COSTING US?

My comments posted at 12:40 are apparently still being "reactively moderated" at 15:20. Is your team of moderators also working long range from South Africa?

Its now more than 5 hours since I posted my comments about value for money from presenters sent to South Africa at licence payers' expense. The post is apparently still being "moderated".
I am beginning to feel the cold hand of censorship. Perhaps the Great Moderator could comment, thank you.

Jondaw, this is a common tactic when you publish something unpalatable. I've had that before with Michael Crick's blog. They wait until the issue has died down or the subject gets buried, then it appears or never appears, without explanation.

I agree there needs to be a good deal of scrutinty applied to the type of programming, the hours of programming and the number of people sent to cover the World Cup by the 主播大秀. The TV studio is the most aggregious waste of our money and needless extravagence I've seen so far. It rotates, but the many of the games are at night when it wont make a jot of difference, and in the game today is didnt rotate at all. Total waste of time.

Lunchtime legend is making a list of all the 5Live talent who don't need to be in South Africa. Who would you add to the list?

Ryanw, Thanks for your interesting comments (and for bothering to respond). The strange thing is that your content is just as critical (rightly) as my original post, which still hasn't cleared the "moderators"!
Thanks also for letting me know about Lunchtime legend. Has he got a website?

Alan Davies and his co presenters were excellent value this morning. Even better, we haven't had to waste money sending him to South Africa.

Hi Jondaw - no website, I'm just a humble occasional poster like most people round here who are unhappy with the direction 5live has taken in recent times.
I was quite suprised to hear Arlo White just now - I thought he'd left the 主播大秀. Bit of a kick in the teeth to the current entourage when you feel obliged to use him rather than one of your own -as if there aren't enough of them.

Hot the heels of the flagarent wasting of license fee payers money with rotating television studios and puff pieces on North Korea live from South Africa by the army of 主播大秀 journalists on junkets comes this...

"The 主播大秀 has ignored pleas for public sector pay restraint with a multimillion-pound offer to boost the salaries of more than 13,000 workers."



They are beyond scrutiny it seems. Time that the 主播大秀 was more accountable.

If we in this country had a backbone, we'd do something about our complaints instead of whining about it and taking it. If we had a backbone we'd stop paying the licence fee and demand answers and wouldn't back down until we got the answers and the changes we were after. The 主播大秀 has to answer for the waste they are indulging in at the expense of the general public.

Instead we whine whine and whine some more, then eventually bend over! This habit has to stop. I wish we were more like Greeks in some respects. They know how to make themselves heard through strikes.

Who is this "We" you are referring to PA71, you seem to be assuming that eveyone agrees with your view,

Fed, I am sure most people in this country don't like to see the 主播大秀 waste their money, specially durinig such hard times when everyone is having to make do with less. What have the 主播大秀 cut exactly? The licence fee actually increased which I am sure you know.
Oh I know what the 主播大秀 cut? Champagne. That's right no more bubbly for the poor didums.

I am really enjoying Nicky Campbell broadcasting from South Africa. There is an obvious enthusiasm in what he does and a real interest in the ordinary people who follow the game. It gives a feel for the international nature of the competition and the fans who are there for the whole experience.

I would tend to agree with you Prosperogirl. I'm enjoying Nicky's blend of human interest, football and cultural vignettes. I am much less convinced Vassos is offering any value, unless he is busy producing many of the programmes, after reading the back pages for a couple of minutes every morning.

Sport is 5Live's strong suit so it's not surrpise they're doing it well.

Lunchtime Legend, thanks for your reply on 14 June. Apologies for the delay but after my posts around then I thought this blog had dried up so didn't check it for a few days.
Glad to see I was wrong!

England' performance against Algeria has been well matched by the poverty of the 5 live coverage.I will give three examples.

I switched on last night at 18.00 to hear a preview of the game against Algeria. After 30 minutes I switched off as no one though that I could possibly be interested in the Algerian team (we were not given their team nor any information about their players). We were told quite emphatically that they would be playing for a draw and had just one forward. These were not the tactics which I saw unfold, incidentally.
Alan Green says that he is expected 'to wear the flag of St George' when commentating. By whom? Not by me for sure. Just be objective and balanced, please Alan.
Before the tournament started Sven Goran Eriksson was interviewed. About 15 seconds on the Ivory Coast and then, 'What do you think of the Ferdinand situation'
Who cares what he thinks about this but I would have loved to know more about his team, how he was going to deal with the possible loss of Drogba etc.
If I am the only listener who would like 5 live to stop being so jingoistic and provide more balance and more educated opinion then I will accept my minority status.
I love the world cup. I watch as many games as I can irrespective of who is playing and try to understand as much as I can about their players and coach. 5 Live makes very little contribution to that understanding especially when England are playing.

I can almost guarantee if 5live gave even more in depth analysis of the likes of Algeria, there would be floods of complaints, on this blog along the lines of 鈥渨ho cares about the Algerians鈥� and 鈥�5live should give more airtime to the English, especially seeing as they are a National Broadcaster鈥�

The 主播大秀 do as a whole give ample coverage to other teams, as well as the lesser known nations, you just have to switch in the World Service or even 5lives Up All Night to realise this.

As for Alan Green, as far I am concerned he 1 of the best Commentators around, and I welcome his forthright views.
VIVA ALAN GREEN!!
VIVA 5LIVE

Oxdale, brilliant points. The 主播大秀 seem to have forgotten this is a football tournament and instead are using every opportunity to give us social, cultural and political commentary on South Africa. A bus tour across the country visiting every orphanage and all the superifical celebrity coverage possible.

At the end of the Politics Show today Jon Sopel announced he was going out to South Africa this week. Can anyone tell me what experience he has covering football? None? I thought so. Another junket no doubt.

I hope for the Slovak game we get more then the lazy token analysis that you described which was aired before the Algerian game Oxdale.

I hope the person who had the brilliant idea of using Robbie Savage as a pundit realises what an awful mistake it was.

I agree with you; yes he can be amusing but he's also a loose canon. He's also aggressive and overbearing. His 606 slot on Saturday was embarrassing. Even Mark Chapman sounded disgusted with him and his whining about being 'bored'. Good grief!

I can't find a tennis thread on here (Messageboard anyone?) but Bacon lived up to the worst fears posted on the earlier blogs yesterday. You could hear the exasperation in the voices of the excellent sports presenters when he suddenly went off on one and asked listeners to 'text and tell us what you can see out of your window'.

You couldn't make it up. He is just so bad.

Incidentally - page 21 of The Daily Mail today. Having a pop at Campbell, Bacon et all for 'a summer 主播大秀 junket'.

I stick by my view that Robbie Savage is a particularly unpleasant example of the modern professional footballer and doesn't deserve to be given any air time.

Telling - when the self-praise is os long and the ...

Ingerlund, Ingerlund, Ingerlund.
Well, this is edifying - Nicky Campbell talking to a bunch of neanderthals whose knuckles must be scraping along the ground.

Hadn't heard about the incident with the breakfast team. Hope all goes well for remainder of the trip.

It's been a tough morning for Victoria. Two hour show minus news, sports news, travel, weather = hour and a half, all taken up with fielding calls from England fans, with Harry Redknapp doing most of that to start with. No other news items covered in any depth whatsoever, no research needed.
Money for jam.

I was listening with interest to Nicky Cambell's World Cup breakfast this morning (Love the show!) and was astounded to hear Mike Ingham describe (I'm paraphrasing) John Terry's self-fulfilling press conference as 'England's only show of Spirit'!!! I ask you, Ingham sits on the fence mostly and is irritatingly prone to soundbites, but this showed his complete lack of understanding of the issues and his failings as 'Chief Football Correspondent from the 主播大秀'. Mike must be some kind of genius with incredible insight as his view seems opposite to every other respected correspondent. Time for Mike to be subbed off I think.

Re Jonathan Wall's justification for Danny Baker's trip to South Africa....the issue is quality not quantity. Yes he did a number of slots but, really, what did he add by being there? If the exercise was cost neutral I wouldn't waste time complaining, but as it is the 主播大秀 seems to be as casual as ever allocating its publicly funded budget. Does it all stem from the mind set of senior management who are so grossly overpaid, with no one to apply a reality check?

"The world cup station?"
I think not. Brazil versus Holland? Oh, is that an importnat game?
Nah, we'll put this other minority sport on, you football lovers will have to go elsewhere.
Every ground every match?
No, not quite.

Richard, it was only the world's #1 team and favourites playing the world's favourite sport at the world's biggest single sporting event. What would make you think that the self-proclaimed "World Cup station" would broadcast the match? There were much more important games to broadcast on 5Live in earlier rounds you know! But you can be sure that the 主播大秀 Bus (incidently is this bus we hear about branded, I would hope we've paid to have decals applied and special paint job applied, it's only fitting) we pay for will be bustling through another South African village as we speak in time to interview some patronising z-list celebrity with our entertainment reporter live on the spot to. Oh, and the 主播大秀 sound guy and cameraman and television presenter to do also interview said celeb.

Blooming disgrace, thats what it was.
cue the 'lots of people are interested in Timmy at Wimbledon' arguments.
Yes but not on the world Cup Station thank you very much.

Thank goodness tiz all over. As football just bores me I found it hard going when one day i found live coverage on both radio 4 and 5. May be tomorrow we can have something a little more intelectualy challenging to talk about.

dovesforlove ... don't expect to get much from Five Live then!

I seriously urge any football fan who watched the WC to read the following article. Excellent and to the point: