There's also an article on Broadcast about talkSPORT's drive time plans @ http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/r...014135.article

Not a clue. I can't see it happening in all honesty and it's even more surprising to see this on a talkSPORT website when schedules for the first day of the tournament show 10:00am-1:00pm presented by Hawksbee & Jacobs on their Back Home show (and Mike Parry on Breakfast with Brazil).

It can be seen two ways I suppose, Townsend could be plugging ITV's coverage on TS. The other side is that he is paid well by ITV and TS and should be putting all his efforts into one or the other.

I'd imagine a BBC pundit (or even commentator) will pop up on Radio 1 (maybe the breakfast show) to preview the day. Not sure if Radio 2 would feature anyone.

Obviously, 5Live breakfast will have BBC pundits on.

Townsend didn't do two shows a week during the 2006 tournament based in Germany when he presented The Weekend Sports Breakfast, as he was too busy with ITV. I'd be very surprised if he can manage a two or three hour show, five days a week, followed by his work on the telly.

Having waited a fair while to see an official press release from talkSPORT detailing their coverage, I have to say the above is a bit of a let down. It doesn't tell us much that we didn't already know and doesn't go into the specifics about match presenters, commentators, reporters etc.

The only new information to come from the press release is confirmation that Danny Kelly and Micky Quinn will be presenting the Weekend Sports Breakfast throughout the World Cup and that on matchdays talkSPORT will be staying on-air until 11pm.

Both of these moves are welcome, and on the latter they are reverting to type after this season's odd decision to match Five Live by ending their sports coverage at 10.30pm on Champions League nights etc.

Otherwise there's not a great deal to take from it; it suggests that Stan Collymore, Alvin Martin and Ray Parlour will be their co-commentators in South Africa (possibly in that order of seniority) but it still doesn't tell us what role Harry Redknapp will actually have.

The descriptions of Townsend & Parry and Drive look pretty generic and it smacks of them hedging their bets - perhaps they have still not settled on what to do in these slots after Carra's call-up.

4-4-2 is right about Andy Townsend - he didn't do any presenting for them during World Cup 2006 and I don't think he did his usual Weekend Sports Breakfast during Euro 2008 either, even though he was based in London then.

I can't see this changing in any great way this time around, perhaps Townsend & Parry may present in their usual slot during the last two weeks of the competition (once we hit the quarter finals there is only one 3pm kick-off taking place on a weekday), as Andy's ITV commitments will have reduced considerably by that point and there should be less travelling involved.

But you can forget about him doing much on talkSPORT during the group stage where Andy will be needed on ITV throughout most days.

It just makes sense to have H&J follow Breakfast before the live coverage starts at noon/1pm for the bulk of the tournament, as it means they're not having to schedule fill-in presenters around an absent Townsend and this also allows Parry to concentrate on mixing with the fans for "colour" pieces to be used on various shows. I can't see them having their schedule this way for the opening day of the tournament and then for it to return to usual on the Monday.

With Drivetime, I'd be very disappointed if Darren Gough continues to work alongside Durham each day as he brings nothing to the table and I don't see how he can benefit the coverage.

The Broadcast article suggests talkSPORT haven't yet decided how to replace Carragher so it could be the case they are currently negotiating with other players or managers to work with Durham during the six weeks.

Personally, if they can't get someone of the ilk of Carra, I wouldn't mind it if they did a similar show to the 2002 Today programme they had during the World Cup that year, which was a round table style programme with 2 or 3 different guests each day.

On the pundits point Col brings up, Ray Houghton is a mainstay of talkSPORT yet has never worked for them in any great way during past World Cups or European Championships due to his RTE commitments. However, he pops up on various shows briefly as a phone guest during tournaments and I expect to hear Ray, and perhaps Andy Townsend too, turning up on talkSPORT in this way this summer.

Changes are afoot....

The information I have now doesn't list any commentator initials anymore. Therefore there is no "AP and SC" down as was before.

A couple of other bits have changed, including Friday 11th June. It's basically the same as before except that 10:00pm-11:00pm is now listed as "World Cup Phone-In" and 11:00pm-1:00am is down as "The World Cup Round-Up".

On Saturday 12th June, it's now similar with "The World Cup Round-Up" on air again between 11:00pm-1:00am.

Sunday 13th June has "World Cup Today" instead of Call Collymore now between 5:00pm-7:00pm, and Ian Collins is on as normal between 11:00pm-1:00am.

The comms for 5Live on June 11th have been announced, should I post now or on the actual day of games?

I don't see any problem with mentioning it now, but we'll do the "definitive" guide nearer on the day of the games.

SA vs Mexico - Alan Green, Darren Fletcher and Chris Waddle
France vs Uruguay - John Murray, Connor McNamara and Jan Molby

At the end of the Weekend Sports Breakfast today, Mark Saggers and Micky Quinn mentioned they'd be attending talkSPORT's World Cup launch this coming Thursday.

Hopefully most of the remaining questions about their coverage will be answered then.

The same day that ITV launch there coverage

I heard a new trailer on talkSPORT today saying that Townsend & Parry will be on from South Africa every weekday during the World Cup.

What with Andy's ITV commitments I'm not sure how that's going to work.

The daily 3pm kick-offs for much of the tournament should mean that one of the station's four weekday daytime shows will have to go off-air for about a month. Surely the most logical solution here would be to rest Townsend & Parry in order to allow Andy to concentrate on his ITV work and let Mike focus on being talkSPORT's man with the fans. I guess we'll find out their plans on Thursday.

According to a new trailer that has been running since last night, talkSPORT have signed up Paul Merson to be part of their World Cup coverage.

They are trailing a World Cup Launch show to be presented by Mark Saggers between 7-10pm on Thursday night, which is slated to introduce all of the key members of their coverage team including Harry Redknapp and Merson.

Due to Merse's complete lack of co-commentary experience, I'm expecting him to be a studio/gantry pundit. Perhaps he may be the replacement for Jamie Carragher as Adrian Durham's co-host on Drive from South Africa.

Also, Micky Quinn is due to be travelling out to South Africa ahead of the World Cup. He's going to be sampling the various hostelries and bars in some of the host cities.

There are still no mentions of commentators on any of talkSPORT's trailers though.

Been digging around on the web and looks like Radio2000 in South Africa have rebranded for the tournament (http://www.radio2000.co.za)

Any thoughts on this?

Also, anyone else planning to listen to some SA based radio stations for some of the matches?

Still have that first interview stored still hiliarious to listen to

Its going to be dire hearing Jacqui Oatley squealing Juliette Ferrington is better

It sounds like talkSPORT have signed up Ray Stubbs for the World Cup coverage.

Listening to their World Cup Launch Party show at the moment and Mark Saggers has announced that he will be on during the next hour as "one of the newest members of their team".

Also, the station is doing another World Cup single as they did in 2006. They've kept that quiet.

I'm surprised they've signed up another presenter/anchor. Maybe he'll present one of the late night World Cup shows rather than match coverage. Did they say what he'll be doing exactly?

They've not. He's just mentioned that he'll be presenting ESPN's nightly highlights shows from South Africa.

If Saggers is doing the 7-11pm slot, Durham is doing 5-7pm and Danter will mostly be commentating, perhaps he'll be presenting the 12/1-5pm weekday slot?

Alternatively, they might have just trumped up his involvement and he'll just be appearing in a role that is a slight extension to the ESPN slot on Saturday morning's Weekend Sports Breakfast.

I'm not having a go at TS here but Ray Stubbs is eternally boring.

Well, I think Stubbsie's great. He's the kind of sports presenter you can really relate to as a fan, similar to Ian Danter and Danny Kelly (although the three have very different styles aside from this) in that respect. I really hope he's involved in a substantial way.

Harry Redknapp and Paul Merson were on in the first half hour of tonight's show - first impressions, I though Harry spoke very well and gave a good insight into the Spurs players in the England squad, Merson was slightly better than I expected but was very clichéd.

Ian Wright is back on the station now. Hope he's staying in the UK for Studio Five and won't be involved in their coverage.

Stubbs is solid, nothing more. Mark Saggers is a far more accomplished presenter

Ian Wright is just....well, I'm no fan!

I do have to say, I'm glad Mark Chapman is presenting on 5Live, I really rate him and even though Saggers is good, there isn't room for 3 good presenters on 1 station. I doubt when Saggers left the bosses were saying "It's OK, Mark Chapman will be with us in a year" but Colin Murray's move to MOTD2 is a blessing in disguide for 5Live listeners.

Ideally it would be Sat, Tues and Weds with Mark Pougatch and Sun, Mon, Thurs and Fri with Chapman but I have a feeling Murray is still going to do some shows

Five Live's sports presenting line-up just doesn't cut it for me. It's a big reason as to why I hardly ever listen these days.

I can't stand Mark Pougatch, he sounds false and I just can't warm to him, Eleanor Oldroyd is so bland and I don't see the big fuss about Mark Chapman. Having had to endure Scott Mills' terrible Radio 1 show during a job a few years back, I can't help but see him as Mills' lackey. And as for Colin Murray...

I think talkSPORT have a much stronger line-up of live football presenters.

Mark Saggers is accomplished and authoritative, Adrian Durham is so knowledgeable and great at doing around the grounds (when he's in serious mood and not on Drive!) and I think Danny Kelly's offbeat style is perfect for Thursdays, Fridays and weekend mornings. Ray Stubbs will be a great addition to their roster if he is to have a significant role.

But for me Ian Danter is the stand-out sports presenter on national radio right now. If you haven't heard him yet, you should give him a chance.

He's very versatile and is a top commentator and reporter away from his presenting, but as the host of Football First on Sunday he's really come into his own. He's got quite an understated style and, unlike some others on the station, doesn't court controversy. He gets on well with whichever pundits you put alongside him and manages to get the best out of them without becoming the star of the show.

I like his sense of humour and enthusiasm for the game, and he has an advantage in being a Blues fan as you know he can relate to those of us who've watched our teams struggle in Division 4 and those fans who support Premier League high flyers.

Dants is top dollar and, as I often say in the talkSPORT thread, should be a much bigger player on talkSPORT than he is currently. That or he should be in a more high profile gig as a TV sports anchor/commentator.

That station's "Listen Live" is just airing the end of South Africa 2 Colombia 1.

Listening to it those air horns are going to be bloody annoying. Possibly spoiling all the coverage any station tv or radio does.

For the record, the following people were heard on talkSPORT's World Cup Launch Party show tonight.

Mark Saggers presented the full three hours, joined by:

7-7.30pm: Harry Redknapp and Paul Merson
7.30-8pm: Mike Parry and Jason Cundy
8-8.15pm: Alan Brazil and Ray Stubbs
8.15-8.30pm: Andy Goldstein and Andy Jacobs
8.30-8.45pm: Alan Brazil and Ian Wright
8.45-9pm: Alan Brazil and Micky Quinn
9-9.15pm: Paul Merson and Paul Hawksbee
9.15-9.30pm: Paul Merson and Adrian Durham
9.30-9.45pm: Ian Danter and John Anderson
9.45-10pm: Ian Danter and Ronnie Irani

Ian Abrahams was also heard throughout the night, chipping in to ask questions to guests in the venue.

Micky Quinn confirmed that he'll be co-commentating on Argentina v Nigeria - and made a point of saying that he'd doing this live in the stadium - and it was said he'd be co-hosting the coverage of Uruguay v France alongside Mark Saggers on the opening night.

Dants later said that Quinny would only be out there for the opening week of the tournament before returning to the UK. The presenting details we knew from the first few days of the tournament were confirmed and Dants also mentioned he'd be commentating.

John Anderson will be the first member of the talkSPORT team to be heard in South Africa, he'll be flying in at the same time as the England team.

Disappointingly there's been no mention of any commentators other than Dants though, I reckon if they'd signed Alan Parry he'd have been mentioned tonight. As we know from the Football Commentators thread in the Broadcasting section, Ian Crocker will be going to South Africa with ITV rather than talkSPORT.

Hopefully they'll put out a press release to clear up a few of the remaining unanswered questions over the next few days.

Le Difference, can I dare to guess your team, does it begin with a K?

I agree with many points you make, Pougers has a Mr Logic vibe about him, Eleanor is a lightweight aye. If you'd listened regularly to Chappers' Championship podcast (or whatever it is officially called) you'd rate him I guarantee, I don't have that Radio 1 bias against him, plus I don't mind genuine manure fans. Kelly is fine just as long as he isn't paired with my favourite Danny Baker - worse than a two hour block of vuvuzelas that would be!

What can Stubbsy bring to the party though, seriously?