5 Live - Australian Open Tennis

Mens Semi Final - Murray v Federer

John Inverdale presenting.

Commentary from Jonathan Overend (sets 1,3,5), Alastair Eykyn (sets 2,4), Jeremy Bates, Pat Cash + Goran Ivanisevic.

David Law reporting from the crowd.

5 Live Sports Extra - Australian Open Tennis

Womens Final - Victoria Azarenka v Li Na

Presented by John Inverdale.

Commentary from David Law (sets 1,3), Alastair Eykyn (set 2) + Jeremy Bates.

Jonathan Overend contributed as well and Kelli Underwood reported from the grounds with the fans.

I was very unimpressed by the interaction between BBC Five Live and Dial Gobal. It sounded like amateur night.

Just spotted this:

http://radiotoday.co.uk/2013/01/more...-sports-extra/

The three upcoming Ice Hockey Olympic final qualifiers in Riga, Latvia will be covered live on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra in February.

Live commentary of all three games will be provided by Seth Bennett, plus reporter Nick Hope will cover the tournament providing news, features and interviews back to audiences in the UK.


It is about time we had coverage of these on 5 Live SE, especially as they have been online-only for a few years now, normally provided by BBC Coventry&Warwickshire I think. Seth Bennett is the obvious choice - I have listened to Sheffield Steelers commentaries from the days in the 1990s when they used to scrap Saturday and Sunday night BBC Sheffield programming to bring live commentary on Steelers ice hockey and/or Sharks basketball. I'm not sure if Steelers games still go out on FM any more, but even quite recently they did midweek games, but I guess Mark Forrest's show may have ended that if there was anything left.

5 Live - Australian Open Tennis

Mens Final - Novak Djokovic v Andy Murray

Presented by John Inverdale.

Commentary from Jonathan Overend (sets 1,3), Alastair Eykyn (sets 2,4), Jeremy Bates, Pat Cash + Mark Woodforde.

Reports from David Law (courtside) and Kelli Underwood (in the grounds)


In previewing the football Inverdale asked Mike Ingham about his days as part of the team at Wimbledon long ago, did not know he'd done that.

TMS- India vs England One Day Series

Commentators: Simon Mann, Prakash Wakankar, Simon Hughes (Games 1-4) and Russell Fuller (game 5)

Summarisers: Sunil Gavaskar, Steve James and Simon Hughes (intermittently)

Reporter: Russell Fuller

I know they like Simon Hughes because of his versatility (he can do both analyst and play by play), but, I am really not a fan. I don't think ball by ball commentary suits him, at one point during the second ODI he said Samit Patel had been caught behind when in fact Chris Woakes had been given LBW. Not only could they not look more different, but, Patel was englands last chance in that game so mistakenly identifying him as out was pretty poor.

This series also saw debuts for Steve James and Russell Fuller in the TMS box. I thought Steve James was a little too dour for my liking, he actually reminded me a lot of the golf commentator Mark James, he just sounded a bit bored.

Jury is still out on Russell Fuller, I only heard a bit of his commentary, but, it's nice to see some proper journalists being given a chance on TMS after the ball by ball debuts of Ed Smith and Charlie Dagnall over the summer. I don't like ex-players doing the ball by ball, I think TMS needs a balance between journo's and ex pro's otherwise it loses its magic and becomes bland.

Going forward I would love them to give Mark Church (BBC Surrey ) a chance or Kevin Hand, I think they are very underrated, if they are looking for new blood. They seem to have settled on Ali Bruce-Ball and Fuller as the next cabs off the rank, however. Looking forward to the NZ tour!

If the TMS editors are looking to promote commentators from BBC Local Radio, I'd recommend Richard Wilford and Mike Taylor from BBC WM and Coventry & Warwickshire. Both are excellent all-rounders but have broadcasting styles well suited to cricket. Yes, as a WM listener I know I am more familiar with those two than others, but having listened to a considerable amount of 5LSE's county cricket coverage from across BBC Local Radio last summer, where we got to hear a number of good cricket commentators, I still feel Wilford and Taylor are two of the best candidates BBC Local Radio has to offer - neither would sound out of place on Radio 5 Live's football coverage either.

Good to hear Russell Fuller getting the chance to work on the India series. I've always liked him from both his work on Sportsworld for the World Service and the odds and ends of presenting he has done on 5 Live Sport (I much prefer him to some of the presenters they have given permanent hosting roles to during his time there) so I hope he is turning his hand to cricket commentary successfully.

Presuming it was the former Glamorgan player, I suppose Steve James was a sensible choice logistically given that he was in India primarily as a writer for The Daily and Sunday Telegraph. It makes sense for TMS to call upon journalists for the ODI and T20 series, I remember for the post-Ashes limited overs matches a few years ago they used Stephen Brenkley from The Independent quite heavily.

yes Mike and Richard are great commentators and should be used by wm more. i am also thinging if these 2 was to go from wm wm sport would be in a right state

To be fair, WM's management does seem to get the best out of their talents by giving them both plenty of football, cricket, speedway and even the odd athletics meet to work on, as well as giving them cover shifts on non-sport weekday programmes when others are away. Hopefully this will continue post-Mark Forrest, hearing Mike back in the studio doing a speedway season preview at half-time in last night's football commentary was a positive sign. Although certainly Mark Regan and probably Rob Gurney (given that he rarely covers other sports) seem to cover more football games as lead commentator than Richard and Mike, the latter two probably get more airtime on the station overall than Rego and Rob these days (surely Richard must with his Sunday morning breakfast show) so it is not as if they are being underused.

The way things are going on Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, which is now simulcasting an increasing amount of BBC Local Radio sports commentaries nationally (something I'll continue to lavish that station with praise for), we could hear a fair bit of them on national radio - should Warwickshire have another successful County Championship campaign this summer and if the BBC find a way of sustaining local radio's speedway coverage, perhaps through utilising 5LSE - without it being to the detriment of their work on WM.

I would argue that less talented BBC Local Radio football commentators than Mike and Richard have been used as reporters on 5 Live Sport and/or nationally-produced 5LSE commentaries in the past and that if called upon by the network Mike and Richard would impress as football commentators (it was always a bit of a mystery to me that 5 Live seemed to have overlooked WM's commentators for these opportunities), but given the cuts to 5 Live's national football commentary roster I think that ship has sailed for the time being, with the BBC tending to use established national voices rather than people brought up from local radio on the now less frequent occasions when they produce their own football commentaries for 5LSE (rather than taking those from the home team's local BBC station).

[quote=The Difference;63966502]To be fair, WM's management does seem to get the best out of their talents by giving them both plenty of football, cricket, speedway and even the odd athletics meet to work on, as well as giving them cover shifts on non-sport weekday programmes when others are away. Hopefully this will continue post-Mark Forrest, hearing Mike back in the studio doing a speedway season preview at half-time in last night's football commentary was a positive sign. Although certainly Mark Regan and probably Rob Gurney (given that he rarely covers other sports) seem to cover more football games as lead commentator than Richard and Mike, the latter two probably get more airtime on the station overall than Rego and Rob these days (surely Richard must with his Sunday morning breakfast show) so it is not as if they are being underused.

Richard seems to get a bit of cover but not Mike and you are right about rego and rob i think as sports editor mark gets to choose who does what

Wales V Ireland (RBS 6 Nations RU) (13330GMT KO)

BBC Radio Wales - Simon Davies (hosting) Gareth Charles, Garin Jenkins and Phil Benntt (All frequencies / Online) with Nick Webb pitchside reporter

BBC Radio Cymru - Eleri Siôn (hosting) Cennydd Davies, Garan Evans and Emyr Lewis, with Gareth Rhys Owen pitchside reporter

BFBS - Hamish Stuart
Swansea Sound - Gaelon Downes
BBC 5LSX - Johnny Saunders (0-40) Conor McNamara (40-80) and Robert Jones

5 Live Six Nations Rugby Union - 2.2.2013

With Mark Pougatch at Twickenham

England v Scotland - Alastair Eykyn, Matt Dawson, Gavin Hastings & Ian Robertson

talkSPORT

Saturday 5th January

Rugby Union: Premiership
Gloucester v London Irish - Russell Hargreaves

Friday 11th, Tuesday 15th, Saturday 19th, Wednesday 23rd and Sunday 27th January

Cricket: One-Day International Series
India v England - Jack Bannister (all five matches)

Saturday 12th January

Rugby Union: Heineken Cup Pool 3
Harlequins v Connacht - Elliot Cook

Sunday 13th January

Rugby Union: Heineken Cup Pool 2
Ospreys v Leicester Tigers - Russell Hargreaves

Sunday 13th to Sunday 20th January

Snooker: The Masters
Alexandra Palace, London - Jonny Bryan (end of session updates)

Monday 14th to Sunday 27th January

Tennis: Australian Open
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne - Lynsey Hooper

Saturday 19th January

Rugby Union: Heineken Cup Pool 4
Glasgow Warriors v Northampton Saints - Nick Heath

Sunday 20th January

Rugby Union: Heineken Cup Pool 2
Leicester Tigers v Toulouse - Nick Heath

Sunday 3rd February

BBC Radio Cumbria Sport Presented by James Phillips

Swinton v Workington Town John Walsh and Paul Crarey (commentary)
Hunslet v Barrow Raiders John Gibson and Jos Kenley
Whitehaven v York City Knights John Cox

5 Live - Italy v France - Andy Gillies

BBC Radio Leicester

Presented by Jason Bourne from the Parc y Scarlets

LV= Cup - Pool Stage
Scarlets v Leicester Tigers - Martin Ballard and Bleddyn Jones (13:00 commentary)

Six Nations
Italy v France - Russell Hargreaves

Sunday 3rd February - BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

5 Live NFL with Darren Fletcher from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, which was later part of Up All Night with Dotun Adebayo

American Football: NFL Super Bowl XLVII
Baltimore Ravens v San Francisco 49ers - Darren Fletcher and Rocky Boiman (11.30pm GMT commentary)

Darren and Rocky hosted two hours of build-up on 5LSE from 9.30pm, which included a number of pre-recorded interviews from the media day, before their broadcast began being simulcast on Radio 5 Live from just before the coin toss at 11.30pm. Coverage continued on Radio 5 Live Sports Extra until the conclusion of the trophy presentation just after 4.05am, while over on Radio 5 Live at this point Dotun Adebayo took over and continued with a post-game show including a chat with their North American correspondent Sean Wheelock until Up All Night ended at 5am. Most of the game will have also been simulcast on BBC Local Radio.

5 Live NFL included guest punditry from Mark Hunter and Martin Johnson (the Olympic rower and former England rugby union captain, both 49ers fan who were on the BBC Two coverage as well) at the start of and middle of the second quarter respectively. They also simulcast the trophy presentation with audio from host television broadcaster CBS. They went to news and sports bulletins between the first and second quarter at around midnight, at half-time at 1am, twice during the power outage (1.40am and 2am) and between the third and fourth quarter at about 3.20am.

As for how they handled the power outage, Darren and Rocky filled in for a few minutes after the lights went out a few minutes into the second half before their own line went down. 5 Live newsreader Jill McKenzie then picked up the reigns and segued into another news and sports bulletin. After this, Up All Night host Dotun Adebayo took over and spoke to Darren via mobile phone, before going to a pre-recorded news item. Returning from that, Dotun was able to announce that they had restored contact with the Super Bowl and spoke to Darren and Rocky for a moment before going to a 2am news bulletin. Meanwhile, 5LSE had gone to their looped announcement at some point during Dotun's pre-record, only coming back on-air after 5 Live's 2am bulletin. Both stations went back to the Superdome after the news and sport with play getting underway ten minutes later. This all lasted for around half an hour.


Dial Global Sports

Super Bowl Preview with Scott Graham and Rod Woodson, followed by Super Sunday with Jim Gray, Tom Brady and Larry Fitzgerald from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans

American Football: NFL Super Bowl XLVII
Baltimore Ravens v San Francisco 49ers - Kevin Harlan and Boomer Esiason, with James Lofton (49ers) and Mark Malone (Ravens) on the sidelines (6.30pm EST commentary)

Elsewhere, on other British stations that covered the Super Bowl without doing commentary, the BBC World Service had Caroline Barker reporting from New Orleans for Sportsworld, while talkSPORT carried live updates from midnight during their Extra Time show hosted by Jonny Gould (in London) and John Kreger (in Detroit), with newsreader Toby Gilles and producer Sohail Sahi providing studio-based updates and analysis.

Very sad to hear David Oates has died after a short illness

BBC Radio Merseyside - Friday 8th February 2013

Ian Kennedy presenting.

Wigan Warriors v Warrington Wolves - Ray French and Allan Rooney (commentary on 95.8 FM).

Mark Wilson and Andy Wilson are commentating on this game for Wish FM, with the former providing updates on talkSPORT as well.

at 7:30, Radio Leeds joined Radio Humberside's coverage of events surrounding the Super League rugby league match between Hull FC and the Bradford Bulls. The coverage lasted until after 9 PM, with Radio Leeds leaving it probably about 15 minutes earlier. Matt Dean and Simon Clark were in the studio, and Mike White was joined by the usual Hull FC commentary team at the KC Stadium. BCB's usual commentary team was at the stadium, so I'm not sure why Radio Leeds didn't have anybody there.

I have complained before about the style of commentary for sports that aren't usually covered on the radio, such as netball. Seth Bennett has been commentating on Great Britain's ice hockey matches for 5 Live Sports Extra. He has set a good example for other commentators to follow when covering minority sports.

Was Radio Merseyside's coverage on all frequencies or just 95.8FM? If true then it is good to know that they are completely opting out of the england network show, and not keeping RL hiding on MW.

There was coverage of the game on 107.2 Wire FM as well although I couldn't work out who due to a very poor signal where I was. Radio Manchester also had commentary as well as reports from Nathan Middleton on the rugby union Sale Sharks v Exeter Chiefs game

France V Wales (RBS 6 nations RU)

BBC Radio Wales - Simon Davies (studio host) Gareth Charles and Michael Owen (all frequencies / Online)
BBC Radio Cymru - Eleri Siôn (studio host) Cennydd Davies and Emyr Lewis (commentary)

BFBS - Simon Ward