[old oak]

Originally Posted by The Difference

Thanks for posting the amendments to the July/August weekend schedule details you posted 4-4-2.

Having a two-hour Olympic (and Paralympic?) magazine show during the Games, rather than a rugby union show while that sport is out of season, makes good sense. It'll be interesting to hear whether Mike Bovill, Andrew McKenna or someone else presents it and who the studio pundits to be used on this show will be.

Doubt if anyone will bother.

[Ambassador]

Stubbs and Quinn were pretty poor this morning. Stubbs seems to want to have a proper debate and doesn't seem to get the 'comedy' value of Quinn. Quite akward radio at times.

[jackyork]

Originally Posted by Ambassador

Stubbs and Quinn were pretty poor this morning. Stubbs seems to want to have a proper debate and doesn't seem to get the 'comedy' value of Quinn. Quite akward radio at times.

Stubbs is not alone!!

[Ambassador]

Originally Posted by jackyork

Stubbs is not alone!!

Indeed. The posh vs common Saggs- Quinny gimmick doesn't work at all.

Can we just have Saggs, Marcotti, Kelly and the odd H&J all day?

[Venetian]

Originally Posted by Ambassador

Indeed. The posh vs common Saggs- Quinny gimmick doesn't work at all.

Can we just have Saggs, Marcotti, Kelly and the odd H&J all day?

You got that right Ambassador and agree with your second para.

Quinn charges £2.50 per show (inclusive of a bacon sarney) .. can be the only reason he gets so much work.

[Joe19]

Agree about Stubbs and Quinn, Ray just wants to have a normal debate without shouting louder than the other person.

On the subject of Quinn, he totally missed the point that a Spurs fan was making earlier, which is pretty common when Sir Harry Redknapp is discussed (and praised to the hilt). A Spurs fan (Mark I believe) gave an appraisal of Redknapp, stating he did a good job results wise but his media relations for the club weren't the best, with Quinn either ignoring the second point or not listening and asking "what more could the Spurs fans want in terms of league positions?", even though the fan had praised that part.

[Mark F]

Talksport do act like the verbal extentsion of the tabloid media...only hear what they want to.]

Mind you so do BBC sports presenters like Alan Green.

[Jeremy999]

That's true.

Though at least with the BBC a caller can come on air and tell Green that if he likes Spanish football so much, we'll pay for him to go over there and commentate, as happened on Sunday night. He didn't like it, obviously.

I think on Talksport any such comments would be dumped before we heard them

[hooter]

Originally Posted by ramage

Now we come to the interesting part of the year, after tomorrow the football will be finished & Talksport will have to stumble their way through till the start of next season.
What will they talk about?.
The truth is they are top heavy with presenters that only know about football.
Overnight will be stacked with American sport.
Breakfast show will stumble through as it usually does talking absolutev sh*te & where the've been & what freebies they have lined up.
Saggers &Quinn will be slating England, Beckham & laughing at everthing that Quinny says.
Hawksby & Jacobs will manage to get by as they are both interested in other sports'
Durham & Goughy. If you think they talk rubbish now what will they make up when there's no football.
By now i've stopped listening, you may get a token gesture of pressmen talking about cricket, tennis , golf, even a couple of minutes of F.I. but you know that really they are just filling in time waiting for the football season to start again.
Even with the Olympics happening, i dont think they have the personel capable of doing that justice.
Keys & Gray have the right idea, they are off till midway through August.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[Ambassador]

Why aren't TS using the 'in for Keys and Gray' trailer for Stubbs/Quinn?

God help a first time listener tuning into Quinn. I do quite like him, but probably because I like Saggers and he's always with him

[garbage456]

Any ones else's talksport on mw down since about 7am.

[sandy warr]

there is a transmitter problem - engineers are working on it

[ramage]

Originally Posted by sandy warr

there is a transmitter problem - engineers are working on it

I dont know if you are the sandy warr that works on the breakfast show, but if you are, can you please explain how the worst broadcaster on radio ( Irani ) manages to keep his job.

[4-4-2]

Originally Posted by ramage

I dont know if you are the sandy warr that works on the breakfast show, but if you are, can you please explain how the worst broadcaster on radio ( Irani ) manages to keep his job.

Do you expect her to reply to that?

[ramage]

Originally Posted by 4-4-2

Do you expect her to reply to that?

Not at all.
But i thought i'd let her know my feelings.

[Mark.]

I've put talkSPORT on because someone on Twitter suggested there would be a comment from someone about who would be replacing Rangers in the SPL.

Christ, do people actually listen to this rubbish on a regular basis? Adrian Durham has spent the last 15 minutes basically shouting "SCOTTISH FOOTBALL...STUPID...STUPID...SCOTTISH FOOTBALL...RANGERS...STUPID".

Still, I suppose it appeals to the white man van, which is what they'll care about (I type just as an advert for van insurance comes on).

[m4rk1]

Originally Posted by Mark.

I've put talkSPORT on because someone on Twitter suggested there would be a comment from someone about who would be replacing Rangers in the SPL.

Christ, do people actually listen to this rubbish on a regular basis? Adrian Durham has spent the last 15 minutes basically shouting "SCOTTISH FOOTBALL...STUPID...STUPID...SCOTTISH FOOTBALL...RANGERS...STUPID".

Still, I suppose it appeals to the white man van, which is what they'll care about (I type just as an advert for van insurance comes on).

It's nice to have someone independent come on here and say what we've been saying for ages. Not all shows are this bad though. Some are actually worse.

[Ambassador]

Originally Posted by Mark.

I've put talkSPORT on because someone on Twitter suggested there would be a comment from someone about who would be replacing Rangers in the SPL.

Christ, do people actually listen to this rubbish on a regular basis? Adrian Durham has spent the last 15 minutes basically shouting "SCOTTISH FOOTBALL...STUPID...STUPID...SCOTTISH FOOTBALL...RANGERS...STUPID".

Still, I suppose it appeals to the white man van, which is what they'll care about (I type just as an advert for van insurance comes on).

If Danny Kelly is on from 7pm tonight then you might get some sensible debate from TS.

[Big Boy Barry]

The one good thing from the Barclays debacle is that the usually obnoxious Henk Potts may be slightly less smug.

[Big Boy Barry]

Originally Posted by Mark.

I've put talkSPORT on because someone on Twitter suggested there would be a comment from someone about who would be replacing Rangers in the SPL.

Christ, do people actually listen to this rubbish on a regular basis? Adrian Durham has spent the last 15 minutes basically shouting "SCOTTISH FOOTBALL...STUPID...STUPID...SCOTTISH FOOTBALL...RANGERS...STUPID".

Still, I suppose it appeals to the white man van, which is what they'll care about (I type just as an advert for van insurance comes on).

To be honest, I think white van men are more sophisticated than Talksport.

[The Difference]

Originally Posted by m4rk1

It's nice to have someone independent come on here and say what we've been saying for ages. Not all shows are this bad though. Some are actually worse.

To be honest, I think that on a bad day - i.e. most of the time - Drive Time is by far the worst show on the station in terms of its format, agenda and the way it handles the topics it discusses.

Saying that it's coming off a good month in June, where as has been the case during previous tournaments (World Cup 2006 and 2010) it has been really boosted by being away from the studio doing a lengthy OB from the continent and having some major upcoming matches to get its teeth into. But during July it was always likely to return to form either concerning itself with sensationalising off the pitch happenings or wasting time with silly subject matter during the close season.

Adrian Durham on the Rangers debate in particular, for me, is must not listen radio. For as good as Adrian is on Matchday Live and as a live match anchor, we all know how he plays it during the week and he's at his worst when it comes to teams he has a sympathy for (see England).

He's gone on record many times as saying that Rangers are his Scottish team (I seem to remember reading that this stems from the allegiance of a girlfriend he had during his time working for Setanta, but I could have this completely wrong) and as a consequence when he discusses all matters Old Firm/SPL he tends to be very one-sided. In the past there have been discussions about Celtic where he's been very critical of their players, manager, board etc in a way where I have come away with the gut feeling that he would have taken a different line if it was Rangers or certain English clubs (not Arsenal!) in question, so it's no surprise that he's taking the approach that he is here.

It'll be the same kind of widely emotive debate we hear when certain clubs crop up - see also "The Daily Arsenal", whenever Leeds United are mentioned and those who've been listening a couple of years may remember his "Middlesbrough watch" when he was convinced they would go down when Gareth Southgate was manager. It's nothing new and will be deeply predictable, with Adrian taking the pro-Rangers line and condemning anyone who disagrees with it.

Long-time talkSPORT listeners who remember Football First in Europe and Football First, Second and Third know all too well that Adrian is capable of much more than this and many have said it's the controversial-for-the-sake-of-it stuff on Drive Time like this that lets him down. But this is what talkSPORT want him to do on weekdays and it appears as if this kind of thing is what is bringing in the 4-7pm over 1 million listeners at the last time of asking. Make of that what you will.

Originally Posted by Ambassador

If Danny Kelly is on from 7pm tonight then you might get some sensible debate from TS.

Agreed. From 7pm you'll get a great contrast as Danny is well capable of making a silk purse from a sow's ear, as proven last summer when he was probably the form presenter of the station despite the quiet summer football-wise on a largely football-based programme.

Returning to the Rangers debate, I listened to an hour of Kick-Off during one of the Euro 2012 rest days last week and Danny and Alvin Martin had quite decent, listenable discussion on the then-upcoming SPL vote. Admittedly Danny and Alvin, like many of their talkSPORT colleagues, didn't seem to be that up on the full story but they gave a few of the more balanced Scottish experts (i.e. not Tom Miller) and callers their chances to set out the facts and give their take on it. Quite level headed and listenable radio on a very emotive issue.

[m4rk1]

Good post that Diff.

In truth Durham is one of the most knowledgeable broadcasters on radio give the right format.

Unfortunately the Punch and Judy format of Drive is not a good example of it. It doesn't help that his sidekick is not the right man for the job either.

What amazes me is why the two flagship programmes (Breakfast and Drive) attract such genuine criticism given the size of audience available at these times of day.

I can only presume whatever research is done into audience reactions is flawed, or that they just don't care. Gough knows very little about football, and is not able to add any better insight than the average bloke down the pub. Unlike Danny Kelly, who was correctly brought in to give some balance and can make paint drying into an interesting listen, Gough and Irani do not add to the professionalism of the station. If anything these two are bywords for it's ridicule.

[The Difference]

Originally Posted by ramage

Now we come to the interesting part of the year, after tomorrow the football will be finished & Talksport will have to stumble their way through till the start of next season.
What will they talk about?.
The truth is they are top heavy with presenters that only know about football.
Overnight will be stacked with American sport.
Breakfast show will stumble through as it usually does talking absolutev sh*te & where the've been & what freebies they have lined up.
Saggers &Quinn will be slating England, Beckham & laughing at everthing that Quinny says.
Hawksby & Jacobs will manage to get by as they are both interested in other sports'
Durham & Goughy. If you think they talk rubbish now what will they make up when there's no football.
By now i've stopped listening, you may get a token gesture of pressmen talking about cricket, tennis , golf, even a couple of minutes of F.I. but you know that really they are just filling in time waiting for the football season to start again.
Even with the Olympics happening, i dont think they have the personel capable of doing that justice.
Keys & Gray have the right idea, they are off till midway through August.

Good post - even though it's a few days old now, I wanted to come back to it and give my thoughts.

I guess you don't follow North American sports to assume that Extra Time will be filled with talk about action from over there - taking that approach at this time of year would be just as problematic as concentrating on football. The NFL, NBA and NHL are all out of season and we're around the middle of a long Major League Baseball season. So I don't think US sports will dominate any more than they have done since April (of which their role in the show is greatly overstated), instead I think we'll get a spread of sports discussed before the Olympics come to the fore. From a few random, fleeting listens over the past few nights I've caught an in-depth discussion on Wimbledon and a sports business expert talking about Malcolm Glazer putting shares in Manchester United on the NYSE. I think this is the kind of stuff we'll get.

I've not listened to The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast last week but from tuning in during Euro 2012 I felt they were struggling then. They usually benefit from having some good guests from/close to domestic teams (managers, assistant managers, radio reporters and regional journalists) and obviously that will have dried up during the summer months.

I think Stubbs/Saggers and Quinn will have the toughest task to come up with talking points during the summer in that they can't really go down the same kind of road Durham and Gough can on Drive Time and are more likely to play it straight. I guess the Rangers business and Olympic football talk will keep them busy for now.

As you say Hawksbee & Jacobs will be fine, item-wise they can spend a lot of time on the more quirkier side of sport and things like the July 4th Hot Dog Eating contest and Andy Smart running with the bulls in Pamplona will be about for them to chat about with experts. More serious topics like talking to Tim Vickery about the conclusion of the Copa Libertadores and other domestic South American leagues will continue. They'll have no trouble with their show.

I've kind of addressed Durham & Gough's Drive Time above but after a good month away at Euro 2012 this really is the time of year when they scrap the barrel. In previous summers I remember hearing Adrian using Drive to bemoan the Coalition Government (on a sports show!), the pair of them devoting a show to a court case involving George Michael and even spending an hour chatting about a movie Gough had seen the previous evening. All-in-all probably a show to avoid until August, unless the debates I mention appeal to you.

I do find that, on here at least, Kick-Off suffers a bit from "I don't listen to it, so I'll gloss over it in my overall appraisal of talkSPORT", which is a real shame as it's one of the station's very best programmes. Strangely enough this has particularly been the case last summer, with it being helped by Danny Kelly taking the reins all week with Mark Saggers covering for Keys & Gray. This time last year Kick-Off diversified away from football and we heard some good, intelligent guest co-host spots from the likes of John Amaechi and Colin Hart talking about their respective areas of interest for 2-3 hours and it made for as strong an example of sports radio as you'll hear anywhere. I'm sure that we'll get more of the same this year, particularly in the run up to the Olympics. Admittedly I didn't listen and only heard Danny trailing ahead, but last night they supposedly had an interview with Dave Brailsford (team principle of Team Sky in the Tour de France), which is the kind of thing I am talking about and would happily listen to.

On the subject of the Tour de France, I'm sure The Sports Bar will have Peta Todd (Mark Cavendish's girlfriend) on a fair bit to have their share of covering sports other than football, although I very rarely listen to that show so can't comment accurately on it. The weekend schedule 4-4-2 posted last week looks decent enough and hopefully the seasonal shows will find their feet during their short runs.

To cap off this mammoth post (well, couple of messages), I thought I'd shoehorn in some praise for Mark Saggers. I've been critical on here in the past of his shouty, Anglo-centric, over-expectant approach to big events (particularly the 2011 Rugby World Cup) but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with him during Euro 2012. He was much more level headed than I thought he'd be and, having caught a bit of the mid-morning show he hosted the day after England were eliminated, he was much more thoughtful and considered about it than he had two years previous. Credit where it is due, he went some way to winning me back round last month.

[Phil Ander]

The problem I had with Adrian Durham tonight was that he appeared to be suggesting that because Rangers are a big club they should be treated differently to everyone else. At no time did Goughie ask him what if it had been say Kilmarnock or Inverness who had got into doo doo would he be creating this much fuss?

Mr. D also seemed to assume that the SPL Chairmen disregarded the potential loss of income in their discussions. If that had been the case the meeting wouldn't have lasted as long as it did.

I support neither Rangers nor Celtic. Let's not forget the reason for the Newco. is that HMRC rejected an offer of 9 pence in the pound to settle what was owed to us as Taxpayers.

Adrian is clearly the Alan Green of Talksport.

[bigluke1970]

Im enjoying listening to Ray Stubbs and Micky Quinn