Radio Sports Commentators and Reporters 2013/14 (non-football)

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  • connor the judgconnor the judg Posts: 8,961
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    Lv County Championship Cricket Division 1

    Monday 7th July - Thursday 10th July

    BBC London, BBC Somerset & BBC Bristol
    Kevin Hand and Anthony Gibson: Middlesex v Somerset

    BBC Yorkshire stations, BBC Newcastle & BBC 5 Live Sports extra (Day 1 & 2)
    Dave Callaghan, Martin Emmerson, David Townsend and Kevin Howells: Yorkshire v Durham

    Lv County Championship Cricket Division 2

    BBC Derby & BBC Essex
    Ed Dawes, Dick Davies and Paul Newton: Derbyshire v Essex

    BBC Solent & BBC Gloucestershire
    Kevan James, Alan Mullally and Bob Hunt: Hampshire v Gloucestershire

    BBC Leicester & BBC Kent
    Richard Rea, Matt Coles and Peter Guise: Leicestershire v Kent

    T20 North Group

    Friday 11th July

    BBC Yorkshire Stations
    Dave Callaghan: Durham v Yorkshire

    BBC Newcastle
    Martin Emmerson, Cullum Throp, Simon Pryde and Matt Newsum: Durham v Yorkshire

    BBC Radio Leicester
    Jason Bourne, Charles Dagnall and Andy Gibbs: Leicestershire v Lancashire

    BBC Lancashire
    Scott Read and Phil Cunliffe: Leicestershire v Lancashire

    BBC Northampton
    Chris Edgerton and Graham McKechnie: Northamptonshire v Derbyshire

    BBC Derby
    Iain O'Brien: Northamptonshire v Derbyshire

    BBC WM & BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
    Adam Bridge, Clive Eakin and Darren Maddy: Warwickshire v Worcestershire

    BBC Hereford and Worcester
    Dave Bradley and Graham Hill: Warwickshire v Worcestershire

    T20 Blast South Group

    Friday 11th July

    BBC Somerset
    Ed Hadwin and Steve Snell: Somerset v Gloucestershire

    BBC London & BBC Surrey
    Mark Church and Kevin O'Brien: Surrey v Glamorgan

    BBC Wales
    Ed Bevan, Rick O'Shea and Mike Powell: Surrey v Glamorgan

    BBC Solent & BBC London
    Kevan James, Adam Blackmore and Kevin Hand: Hampshire v Middlesex

    BBC Radio Kent
    Matt Cole and Peter Guise: Sussex v Kent

    BBC Sussex
    Adrian Harms and John Lees: Sussex v Kent
  • connor the judgconnor the judg Posts: 8,961
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    Lv County Championship Cricket Division 1

    Saturday 12th July - Tuesday 15th July

    BBC Northampton, BBC Bristol & BBC Somerset
    Chris Edgerton, Steven Lamb, Lizzy Ammon (not on Day 1) and David Sleight (day 1): Northamptonshire v Somerset

    Sunday 13th July - Tuesday 15th July

    BBC Newcastle, BBC WM & BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
    Martin Emmerson, Clive Eakin, Phil Britt and Kevin Howells: Durham v Warwickshire

    BBC Manchester, BBC Lancashire, BBC Nottingham & BBC 5 Live Sports Extra (Days 2 & 3 only)
    Scott Read, Robin Chipperfield, David Townsend and David Sleight: Lancashire v Nottinghamshire

    T20 Blast North Group

    Sunday 13th July

    BBC Derby
    Iain O'Brien: Derbyshire v Yorkshire

    T20 Blast South Group

    Saturday 12th July

    BBC Kent
    Matt Cole and Peter Guise: Essex v Kent

    Tuesdays 15th July

    BBC Sussex & BBC 5 Live sports extra
    Adrian Harms and John Lees: Sussex v Glamorgan

    BBC Wales
    Ed Bevan, Rick O'Shea and Mike Powell: Sussex v Glamorgan
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    Tuesday 15th July - ESPN Radio

    Marc Kestecher presented The 2014 MLB All-Star Game on ESPN Radio from fieldside at Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota alongside Tim Kurkjian and Peter Pascarelli

    Major League Baseball: The 85th Annual All-Star Game
    National League @ American League - Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton (8pm ET commentary), with Tim Kurkjian (AL bench) and Peter Pascarelli (NL bench) reporting

    The same team of Kestecher, Sciambi, Singleton, Kurkjian and Pascarelli (in largely the same roles) were all involved in ESPN Radio's coverage of the 2014 Home Run Derby on Monday night. Last weekend, Kestecher presented their coverage of the Saturday Game of the Week of Washington Nationals @ Philadelphia Phillies with Sciambi and Singleton commentating, while John Brickley hosted Sunday Night Baseball with Tom Hart and Chris Singleton commentating on the rain-shortened New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles game. This coming weekend, Hart and Singleton are ESPN Radio's scheduled commentary pairing for both Saturday and Sunday's Los Angeles Dodgers @ St. Louis Cardinals games.
  • Tony YeboahTony Yeboah Posts: 9,870
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    Thursday July 17

    Live Super League: Leeds Rhinos v Castleford Tigers – BBC 5 Live Sports Extra

    Presenter/commentator: James Deighton
    Special guest summariser: Eorl Crabtree

    Friday July 18

    Live Super League: Widnes Vikings v Warrington Wolves – BBC 5 Live Sports Extra

    Presenter/commentator: Dave Woods
    Special guest summariser: Iestyn Harris
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th July - @TheOpen Radio

    Richard Kaufman is presenting live coverage of The 143rd Open Championship from Royal Liverpool Golf Course, Hoylake, Wirral

    Commentators: Ron Jones, Matt Adams, Robert Lee, Paul Eales, Richard Boxall and Gordon Brand Jr

    Reporter: Rob Nothman

    Coverage is available on 87.7FM as a restricted service licence radio station in the local area of the course, via live audio streams on TheOpen.com and for the first time on the TuneIn radio app and in podcast form on production company IMG Sports Radio's Audioboo page. IMG Sports Radio is the company that is also responsible for Live@Wimbledon, UEFA.com's Champions League Matchday Live and the official Premier League weekly podcast.

    @TheOpen Radio's coverage set-up is the same as it always has been in the years I've listened to it - Richard Kaufman doing a sterling job of anchoring everything from the studio near the eighth hole while also providing bits of commentary from his monitors, while the other six commentators are out on the course in three groups of two, following specific groups of players on their rounds. I don't think there are three set commentary pairings given that there are four former professional golfers, however from what I have heard Robert Lee has been taking the lead in the pairings he has worked in. Only Ross McFarlane is missing from the team we have heard in previous years.

    Rupert Bell and Bob Bubka are providing reports from Hoylake for talkSPORT - hopefully both will pop up for a few guest stints on @TheOpen Radio at some point as they have done in previous years.
  • 4-4-24-4-2 Posts: 5,413
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    talkSPORT's coverage of Dereck Chisora v Tyson Fury will be hosted by Colin Murray and Gareth A Davies with commentary from Dave Darrar and Steve Collins.
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    4-4-2 wrote: »
    talkSPORT's coverage of Dereck Chisora v Tyson Fury will be hosted by Colin Murray and Gareth A Davies with commentary from Dave Darrar and Steve Collins.

    Thanks for posting this information 4-4-2, I was wondering when talkSPORT would be announcing their commentary team and coverage plans for next weekend's Dereck Chisora v Tyson Fury II fight. One additional bit of information, the talkSPORT.com schedule lists Fight Night to be broadcast between 8pm-midnight next Saturday.

    When looking for information about @TheOpen Radio's coverage from previous years, I actually stumbled upon Swansea Steve's post from a few years back about talkSPORT's boxing coverage at the turn of the millennium. Steve Collins was one of their regular co-commentators between 1999 and 2000, so he's no stranger to the station's airwaves albeit going back some time. I see this Saturday's talkSPORT schedule has been adjusted to reflect his involvement in their coverage - Fight Club with Gareth A Davies is now a one-hour show between 9-10pm, with Steve Collins then being the subject of My Sporting Life between 10pm-midnight (which is a repeat).

    I'm a bit disappointed that the two boxing commentators among talkSPORT's ranks of regular football reporters, Dom McGuinness and Graham Beecroft, have again been overlooked to do the commentary in favour of a complete newcomer to the station (ala Ron McIntosh doing Haye-Chisora in 2012), although with the fight taking place in Manchester I think there's a strong possibility that the former will be used in a reporting role. But then Dave Farrar has received good reviews for his boxing commentary work on Channel 5, BBC Radio 5 Live, Eurosport and elsewhere in the past - he was Radio 5 Live's commentator on Amir Khan v Danny Garcia the morning after talkSPORT's last fight in 2012 and has commentated on a number of Tyson Fury's previous fights for Channel 5.

    This will be the first time Colin Murray has presented any live sports coverage on talkSPORT (or done anything outside his usual weekday mid-morning show) since joining the station a year ago. I think I'm right in saying that he presented live boxing on occasion for Radio 5 Live during his time there? Two years ago, Mark Saggers hosted their live coverage of David Haye v Dereck Chisora but I guess he's taking a post-World Cup break after spending the whole five weeks of the tournament in Brazil.
  • connor the judgconnor the judg Posts: 8,961
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    Monday 14th July

    BBC WM

    BBC WM Sport with Mike Taylor

    Elite League Speedway
    Mike Taylor and Rob Gurney: Wolverhampton Wolves v Belle Vue Aces

    Wednesday 16th July

    BBC WM Sport with Mike Taylor

    Elite League Speedway
    Mike Taylor: Belle Vue Aces v Wolverhampton Wolves

    Women's Super League Football
    Rob Gurney: Birmingham City v Bristol Academy
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    Saturday 19th July - ABC Local Radio

    Julian Abbott presented ABC Grandstand

    Rugby Union: Super 15 Qualifying Finals
    ACT Brumbies v (Waikato) Chiefs - Jim Maxwell and Owen Finegan, with Brett McKay at pitchside (7.40pm AEST commentary)

    Rugby League: National Rugby League
    Melbourne Storm v Canberra Raiders - Alister Nicholson and Peter Robinson, with Dan Conifer at pitchside (5.30pm AEST commentary)
    Brisbane Broncos v New Zealand Warriors - Zane Bojack and Billy Moore (7.30pm AEST commentary in Queensland and on the ABC app)

    Yes, it was the Jim Maxwell of Test Match Special fame leading the commentary - I didn't realise he covered rugby union. From checking Twitter, it seems that ABC's Canberra-based commentator Tim Gavel would normally cover Brumbies games for them but is off to Glasgow to cover the Commonwealth Games for them.

    Radio Sport in New Zealand simulcast the Storm v Raiders and Brumbies v Chiefs on their main station with the Broncos v Warriors game on Radio Sport Extra, with Dean Butler doing studio-based continuity. It was mentioned that they wouldn't be broadcasting commentary on the other qualifying final, (Natal) Sharks v (Otago) Highlanders, which is being broadcast overnight New Zealand time. Seeing as they take most of their commentaries on games involving home-based teams other than the All Blacks which take place outside of New Zealand from radio stations in the home team's nation, I guess no South Africa station is covering it.
  • connor the judgconnor the judg Posts: 8,961
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    Lv County Championship Cricket Division 2

    Sunday 13th July - Wednesday 16th July

    BBC Essex & BBC Solent
    Paul Newton (Not day 4), Dick Davies (Day 2 & 4), Glenn Spiller (Not on Day 2), Kevan James and Alan Mulally: Essex v Hampshire

    BBC Hereford & Worcester & BBC Leicester
    Dave Bradley (Not on Day 4), Trevor Owens (Day 4) and Richard Rea: Worcestershire v Leicestershire

    Monday 14th July - Thursday 17th July

    BBC Gloucestershire, BBC Bristol & BBC Derby
    Bob Hunt and Iain O'Brien: Gloucestershire v Derbyshire

    T20 Blast South Group

    Wednesday 16th July

    BBC London & BBC Surrey
    Mark Church: Surrey v Somerset

    BBC Somerset & BBC Bristol
    Steven Lamb and Ed Hadwin: Surrey v Somerset

    Friday 18th July

    BBC Gloucestershire & BBC Bristol
    Bob Hunt & Ian Randall: Gloucestershire v Surrey

    BBC London & BBC Surrey
    Mark Church: Gloucestershire v Surrey

    BBC Wales
    Ed Bevan, Rick O'Shea and Mike Powell: Glamorgan v Essex

    BBC Solent
    Kevan James and Adam Blackmore: Hampshire v Sussex

    BBC Sussex
    Adrian Harms and John Lees: Hampshire v Sussex

    BBC Kent & BBC Somerset
    Ben Croucher, Peter Guise and Steven Lamb: Kent v Somerset


    T20 Blast North Group

    Friday 17th July

    BBC Radio Leicester
    Jason Bourne, Charles Dagnall and Andy Gibbs: Leicestershire v Durham

    BBC Newcastle
    Martin Emmerson: Leicestershire v Durham

    BBC Yorkshire Stations
    Dave Callaghan and Dave Fletcher: Yorkshire v Birmingham

    BBC WM & BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
    Clive Eakin, Mike Taylor and Rob Gurney: Yorkshire v Birmingham

    BBC Manchester, BBC Lancashire & BBC Radio Derby
    Gary Hunt, David Sleight, Scott Read and Iain O'Brien: Lancashire v Derbyshire

    BBC Northampton
    Chris Edgerton and Graham McKechnie: Northamptonshire v Worcestershire

    BBC Hereford & Worcester
    Dave Bradley and Graham Hill: Northamptonshire v Worcestershire
  • Ian CleverlyIan Cleverly Posts: 10,684
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    BFBS Radio

    PDC World Matchplay Darts, Blackpool - Dan Dawson
    England v India (2nd Test at Lords) - Er, Can't remember
  • LanarkianLanarkian Posts: 7,534
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    BFBS Radio

    PDC World Matchplay Darts, Blackpool - Dan Dawson
    England v India (2nd Test at Lords) - Er, Can't remember
    I'm guessing that it was Guy Swindells at Lord's.
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    BFBS Radio

    PDC World Matchplay Darts, Blackpool - Dan Dawson
    England v India (2nd Test at Lords) - Er, Can't remember
    IanFergus wrote: »
    I'm guessing that it was Guy Swindells at Lord's.

    Guy Swindells was reporting on the second England v India Test on either Thursday and Friday when I caught one of his reports on Sky Sports News Radio, who have been carrying updates from his World Sports Communications agency. I'm not sure about this weekend though.

    talkSPORT carried WSC's updates on the England v Sri Lanka Test series - Guy did all of the First Test and three days of the Second Test, with Bob Platt providing updates on the Saturday and Sunday of it - but have produced their own on-site reports from Jon Norman on the England v India Test series. Jon returned from Brazil, where he was working on the production side of talkSPORT's World Cup coverage, in time to file updates on the series so far.
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th July - @TheOpen Radio

    Richard Kaufman is presenting live coverage of The 143rd Open Championship from Royal Liverpool Golf Course, Hoylake, Wirral

    Commentators: Ron Jones, Matt Adams, Robert Lee, Paul Eales, Richard Boxall and Gordon Brand Jr

    Reporter: Rob Nothman

    Rupert Bell and Bob Bubka are providing reports from Hoylake for talkSPORT - hopefully both will pop up for a few guest stints on @TheOpen Radio at some point as they have done in previous years.

    There was no guest appearance for either Rupert or Bob on @TheOpen Radio this year as far as I heard - but Dame Laura Davies did make a guest appearance during the final round.

    Davies joined Richard Kaufman in the studio yesterday, replacing Richard Boxall who signed off from their coverage at about 3pm. She was there for at least an hour but I'm not sure if she stuck around for the rest of the afternoon. Out on the course, Robert Lee and Gordon Brand Jr followed the Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler pairing while Ron Jones and Paul Eales followed the Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson group. Matt Adams was watching various other players finish their final rounds.

    Must say a big well done to all involved on @TheOpen Radio - I listened for long periods on all four days of the championship and I really enjoyed their coverage, it was as fast moving and professional as it always is.
  • swansea steveswansea steve Posts: 1,404
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    Thanks for posting this information 4-4-2, I was wondering when talkSPORT would be announcing their commentary team and coverage plans for next weekend's Dereck Chisora v Tyson Fury II fight. One additional bit of information, the talkSPORT.com schedule lists Fight Night to be broadcast between 8pm-midnight next Saturday.

    When looking for information about @TheOpen Radio's coverage from previous years, I actually stumbled upon Swansea Steve's post from a few years back about talkSPORT's boxing coverage at the turn of the millennium. Steve Collins was one of their regular co-commentators between 1999 and 2000, so he's no stranger to the station's airwaves albeit going back some time. I see this Saturday's talkSPORT schedule has been adjusted to reflect his involvement in their coverage - Fight Club with Gareth A Davies is now a one-hour show between 9-10pm, with Steve Collins then being the subject of My Sporting Life between 10pm-midnight (which is a repeat).

    I'm a bit disappointed that the two boxing commentators among talkSPORT's ranks of regular football reporters, Dom McGuinness and Graham Beecroft, have again been overlooked to do the commentary in favour of a complete newcomer to the station (ala Ron McIntosh doing Haye-Chisora in 2012), although with the fight taking place in Manchester I think there's a strong possibility that the former will be used in a reporting role. But then Dave Farrar has received good reviews for his boxing commentary work on Channel 5, BBC Radio 5 Live, Eurosport and elsewhere in the past - he was Radio 5 Live's commentator on Amir Khan v Danny Garcia the morning after talkSPORT's last fight in 2012 and has commentated on a number of Tyson Fury's previous fights for Channel 5.

    This will be the first time Colin Murray has presented any live sports coverage on talkSPORT (or done anything outside his usual weekday mid-morning show) since joining the station a year ago. I think I'm right in saying that he presented live boxing on occasion for Radio 5 Live during his time there? Two years ago, Mark Saggers hosted their live coverage of David Haye v Dereck Chisora but I guess he's taking a post-World Cup break after spending the whole five weeks of the tournament in Brazil.

    Pleased with the commentary team TS have put together for the Fury v Chisora fight. Steve Collins was great when he previously worked for the station and Dave Farer is a safe pair of hands. He’s commentated on fights for channel 5 before, including Fury v Chisora 1 (which was at about the same time of year in 2011 and was an absolute dog of a fight). Here’s hoping they can summon up a bit more energy than they showed that night.

    Anyway, back to TS’s coverage and yes, you are right, Colin Murray has previously presenting live boxing on 5Live, in particular, and he presented their coverage of Ricky Hatton’s last fight.

    As for Dom McGuinness, has he actually done commentary of boxing previously for anyone? I obviously know he has reported on many a fight for TS, but I wasn’t aware of any previous boxing commentary he has ever done? I’ll admit I’m not too familiar with his pre-TS career so he may have done boxing in the past. I’ve never actually heard him commentate on football either come to think of it—though I think he’s a terrific reporter.
  • LanarkianLanarkian Posts: 7,534
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    Guy Swindells was reporting on the second England v India Test on either Thursday and Friday when I caught one of his reports on Sky Sports News Radio, who have been carrying updates from his World Sports Communications agency. I'm not sure about this weekend though.
    Guy Swindells certainly reported for BBC London from Lord's on Saturday.
  • 4-4-24-4-2 Posts: 5,413
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    Dereck Chisora withdraws from Tyson Fury fight with hand injury - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/28412473
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    Disappointing that Dereck Chisora has had to pull out of Saturday's fight, I was really looking forward to listening to it. From what I've read It doesn't appear as if a makeshift opponent will be found for Tyson Fury to fight on the night, so it'll be interesting to see what talkSPORT decide to do.

    Billy Joe Saunders' shot at the European Middleweight title against Emanuele Blandamura now tops the bill in Manchester, I wonder if talkSPORT will feel it worthwhile to cover this fight and perhaps some of the undercard too or if their live coverage will be knocked on the head and alternative programmes will air instead. Unsurprisingly the talkSPORT.com schedule for Saturday night has yet to be updated - I guess the alternative to covering the Saunders fight is to extend The Transfer Tavern by another hour and do a pre-season edition of Football First in its usual 9pm-midnight slot. That or stick out a My Sporting Life repeat(s), surely they can't really do a Fight Club discussion programme when live action they should have access to is taking place?
    As for Dom McGuinness, has he actually done commentary of boxing previously for anyone? I obviously know he has reported on many a fight for TS, but I wasn’t aware of any previous boxing commentary he has ever done? I’ll admit I’m not too familiar with his pre-TS career so he may have done boxing in the past. I’ve never actually heard him commentate on football either come to think of it—though I think he’s a terrific reporter.

    Thanks for clearing up my question about whether Colin Murray had presented boxing coverage before - now you mention it I remember listening to him hosting Radio 5 Live's coverage of Ricky Hatton's final fight.

    To answer your question about Dom McGuinness, he has commentated on fairly low profile boxing bouts for a few satellite television channels including Nuts TV, where he was also Ricky Hatton's co-host on his short-lived chat show Ricky Speaks, a series which ran on said channel for a few months in 2008. More recently, he's presented The Fight Show on SportsTonightLive when that channel did studio shows in 2011 and 2012, although going by their YouTube archives he didn't commentate on their live boxing coverage - BBC London's Andy Rowley did instead. So he's got experience of boxing commentary, although not the big league experience his former talkSPORT colleague of many years Andy Clarke does - who now commentates on the sport for Sky Sports.

    As for his football commentary work - Dom McGuinness was a regular commentator on talkSPORT's regional Premier League commentaries, which went out as an opt-out to the main output on 1089AM in London and South-East, in the 2002/03 season. He was their deputy to Jim Proudfoot at that time and commentated on games Jim was unavailable for. Graham Beecroft replaced him in this role the following season and not long after that, Dom stopped freelancing for talkSPORT having seen his role as Chief Football Correspondent come to an end (he spent a few seasons reporting for Final Score and Soccer Saturday before returning to the station after the UTV Radio takeover). I think Dom may have done the odd fully national commentary for talkSPORT in the early days of the station and, prior to that, I believe he was involved in Century FM's Manchester United coverage where he may have done some commentaries. I always rated him as a football commentator and wouldn't mind hearing him call a game once every so often now that talkSPORT have more commentary opportunities than they have ever had, particularly during FA Cup weekends. Mind you, I'd say that about a number of their regular regional reporters.
  • swansea steveswansea steve Posts: 1,404
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    Thanks for the info about Dom Mcguinness Diff-- I remember Talksport's regional opt-outs of 2002-2003, though as I was at Uni in Wales at the time, must have missed him popping up on there. Disapointing about the boxing on Saturday, depending when the fight is rescheduled for, it would be interesting to see if TS try to pick up rites again (or, as I don't know how these things work, use the rites they already have) given that there is a likelihood that it'll be rescheduled during the football season, I suspect they won't be as interested. I would love to see TS get back in to boxing properly as they did in the early 2000s, maybe not with the big international fights, but there are plenty of British fighters who 5Live don't cover who would be worth a go. I'd have thought that, given the demographic TS aim the station at, boxing might do well if it was covered regularly. I know this probably won't happen as with most fights being on a Saturday night, it would eat in to their Football First shows and it'll just be used as the odd summer filler, but I can still dream! TS did a great job with their live boxing in the early 2000s, and they have the staff at the station who could do a great job again.
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    Disapointing about the boxing on Saturday, depending when the fight is rescheduled for, it would be interesting to see if TS try to pick up rites again (or, as I don't know how these things work, use the rites they already have) given that there is a likelihood that it'll be rescheduled during the football season, I suspect they won't be as interested. I would love to see TS get back in to boxing properly as they did in the early 2000s, maybe not with the big international fights, but there are plenty of British fighters who 5Live don't cover who would be worth a go. I'd have thought that, given the demographic TS aim the station at, boxing might do well if it was covered regularly. I know this probably won't happen as with most fights being on a Saturday night, it would eat in to their Football First shows and it'll just be used as the odd summer filler, but I can still dream! TS did a great job with their live boxing in the early 2000s, and they have the staff at the station who could do a great job again.

    I'm sure talkSPORT could provide coverage of a rescheduled Chisora v Fury II fight if and when it takes place - if they've paid for the rights to it, they surely would either be eligible to get their money back and/or to have first refusal on radio rights to any rescheduled fight between the two. That's of course if they still want to cover it.

    The problem is, as you rightly say, their strong Saturday evening line-up during the football season. When they have a live 5.30pm Premier League commentary their coverage of that will go through to 7.30pm with Call Collymore usually running from then until 9pm, so if you want to broadcast live boxing then either you hope for a later bell time for the featured fight or you would have to curtail that show by an hour. Football First between 9pm-midnight is a well regarded programme, so it could be that it would rate better than the less well-promoted domestic fights would do in that timeslot.

    I agree with you that I'd be keen to see talkSPORT return to covering big domestic fights whenever they have the opportunity to do so. I don't know if you read the talkSPORT Chat thread Steve, but I have been discussing this very subject on there: see here. With the Premier League TV games between August and November having been determined last week, we now know the following dates when talkSPORT will not have a Saturday evening football commentary between now and then.

    These dates are:

    Saturday 6 September
    Saturday 11 October
    Saturday 18 October
    Saturday 1 November
    Saturday 15 November (although England play Slovenia that night so they may want to do a Kick Off International Special in the usual live football slots)

    I first posted those dates thinking that editions of Fight Club could be on the cards at some point on those Saturday nights, but I'd be interested to see if talkSPORT would consider picking up rights to any big domestic fights on those evenings. If they are lucky, Chisora v Fury will be rescheduled for one of those nights, but elsewhere on Saturday 6 September, Carl Frampton - managed by friend of the station Barry McGuigan - fights Kiko Martinez for the IBF World Super-Bantamweight Championship and on Saturday 11 October there is a full domestic card involving James DeGale and Kevin Mitchell. As you say, Radio 5 Live don't tend to cover much live boxing these days - only really Carl Froch and perhaps George Groves now since Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe retired and David Haye lost to Wladimir Klitschko, they didn't even cover Amir Khan's most recent bout - so there may be opportunities for talkSPORT to pick up fights involving a number of the top British boxers if they want to.
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    Unsurprisingly the talkSPORT.com schedule for Saturday night has yet to be updated - I guess the alternative to covering the Saunders fight is to extend The Transfer Tavern by another hour and do a pre-season edition of Football First in its usual 9pm-midnight slot. That or stick out a My Sporting Life repeat(s), surely they can't really do a Fight Club discussion programme when live action they should have access to is taking place?

    For the record, the last scenario seems to be exactly what talkSPORT will be doing.

    The bit of Saturday's schedule affected by the cancellation of the Chisora v Fury II fight now reads:
    20:00 - Fight Club

    Gareth A Davies presents another edition of Fight Club. All the latest on the heavyweight division and hard hitting interviews.

    22:00 - My Sporting Life

    Danny Kelly speaks to a sporting legend about the highs and lows of their career.

    It'll be interesting to see if talkSPORT send a reporter to the Phones 4U Arena in Manchester to cover the card and have them updating it into Fight Club - which I presume will be a live show (unlike last weekend's pre-record) as Gareth A Davies was down to be involved in their Fight Night coverage. Given that the main event involving Billy Joe Saunders might not take place/conclude until after 10pm, with it then being difficult to provide satisfactory updates during a pre-recorded programme like My Sporting Life (I presume that will either be a repeat or a compilation show), they might not make the effort.
  • 4-4-24-4-2 Posts: 5,413
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    @BBCSport: Tyson Fury to face Alexander Ustinov - who Dereck Chisora broke his hand against sparring - this Saturday - more soon http://t.co/tw76DiNIeI
  • thelastwordthelastword Posts: 302
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    BBC Test Match Special- England v. India, the Test Series (5 matches)

    The First Test

    Commentators: Jonathan Agnew, Henry Blofeld and Simon Mann

    Summarisers: Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Vaughan, Phil Tufnell, Graeme Swann and Rahul Dravid

    The Second Test

    Commentators: Jonathan Agnew, Henry Blofeld, Prakash Wakankar and Ed Smith

    Summarisers: Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Vaughan, Phil Tufnell, Graeme Swann and Rahul Dravid

    The Third Test

    Commentators: Jonathan Agnew, Prakash Wakankar, Ed Smith and Charles Dagnall

    Summarisers: Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Vaughan, Vic Marks, Phil Tufnell and Rahul Dravid

    Charles Dagnall makes his test match debut for TMS in the third test, Alison Mitchell ha been working at the open and now the commonwealth games so I imagine she will make her test match debut in the final game of the summer. Also 5 summarisers have been used for the first time this summer, which I think is too many and may signal that Vic Marks is being phased out for the recently retired off spinner Swann.
  • Ian AberdonIan Aberdon Posts: 2,172
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    Graeme Swann mugging it up (he has so far) is one big turn off with his incessant impersonations. There's humour...then there's him. If he's for the long term then I don't think I'm going to enjoy it.
  • The DifferenceThe Difference Posts: 21,038
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    4-4-2 wrote: »
    @BBCSport: Tyson Fury to face Alexander Ustinov - who Dereck Chisora broke his hand against sparring - this Saturday - more soon http://t.co/tw76DiNIeI

    Frank Warren was on Hawksbee & Jacobs this afternoon and during their chat it wasn't mentioned that Tyson Fury v Alexander Ustinov would be broadcast live on talkSPORT. I'm sure it would have been had they been planning to do commentary on the newly arranged main event. The talkSPORT.com schedule for Saturday still reads as a Fight Club magazine show followed by My Sporting Life and I haven't heard anything contrary to that while listening to the station today. So presumably (at least at this stage) they are not planning to do commentary on the Fury fight now that he won't be facing Chisora.
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