BBC Radio Sheffield
host and commentator: PaulWalker
summariser: Mickey Walker

That's incredibly short! I suppose the growth of TalkSport, intro of Absoloute plus online streaming, it doesn't make it worthwhile

I think that it is a combination of costs of commentary rights plus commercial radio turning into formulaic music stations. It seems a long time ago when Capital (in London), Red Rose (in Lancashire), Piccadilly (in Manchester), Hallam (in South Yorkshire) and Metro (in the North-East) had great sports programmes. Add to that LBC (in London) with Sportswatch and Eadio Victory (on the South Coasf).

with following Sunderland and Hibs home and away i have heard some commentaries. i used to love pompy thquay. that was class. i love radio city their pashon is fantastic, wish metro or another station would get the commentary back for Sunderland. i am gutted MFR and NorthSound have lost full commentary cause i used to like their stuff when Hibs played Inverness, Ross County, and Aberdeen!

I am not sure what is going on in Scotland. Central FM (based in Falkitk) has commentary rights but will they be one-seadon wonders?

In that list I included each station's parent company in brackets next to their names, and you'll notice that six of the eight commercial stations which provide commentaries on English league clubs are owned by UTV Radio, also the parent company of talkSPORT. Clearly they have a commitment to live sport on a national level which is reflected by a number of their local stations too.

Outwith them, I think one of the biggest reason why so few commercial stations are covering football these days is as Ian Fergus alludes to, the bigger groups have swallowed up a number of the stations that used to and many of these groups no longer have any interest in breaking away from their primary music output to provide much in the way of local content, be it sport or anything else. This is true of Global (previously the Capital Radio Group) and to a lesser extent Bauer, although coverage of the Merseyside clubs does remain on their City stations and they have recently become the new owners of Absolute Radio nationally.

If you look at the other non-UTV Radio owned commercial stations that cover football, you will notice they are owned by relatively small parent companies. Orion Media only spans stations in the Midlands, those in the west of the region having a long heritage of providing football coverage (and they are in a better position than most to do so today, given that they have relatively big clubs on their patch who are outside of the Premier League and a local BBC opposition which only has one analogue platform). Jack FM is also owned by a smaller group and when it was in operation, Yorkshire Radio was owned by the owner of Leeds United.

And commentary of Wigan, St Helens, Warrington & Widnes Rugby League Matches also.

Incidentally Wigan v Doncaster is on Wish FM tonight with the usual team of Chris Milow (Presenter), Paul Chialton & Neill Rimmer (Commentary).

Ian Cheeseman & Paul Rowley on BBC Manchester also with commentary.

On the subject of commercial coverage - Pure Radio in Stockport is still offering full match commentary on Stockport County even though they are not playing in Conference North.

Jon Keighren continues to commentate, having commentated on Stockport in every season since, I believe, 1997/98.

If thats right, County were then playing in what is now the Championship on what was then Signal Cheshire that became Imagine FM before Pure Radio (a volunteer station) took over.

It's been a sad decline and fall for them hasn't it from Championship to Conference North but thats sport. Nice of them to still get coverage as they had over 3,000 at Edgeley Park last Saturday and I read Keighren is now on the board of directors at the club. He was joined by Pete Liggins I read for commentary last night on an away game at Workington.

i hope Central FM isn't a 1 season wonder. what do people think about Radio Borders? they have rugby on their station, don't cover Berwick Rangers much.

Thanks for the information Andy. Stockport County aren't the only non-league club to benefit from a non-BBC commentary service, I know Tamworth (TCR FM), Kettering Town (Poppies Radio), FC United of Manchester (FCUM Radio) and AFC Rushden & Diamonds (Radio Diamonds) are among clubs who are subject to regular coverage on community, RSL or web-based radio.

Good to hear Jon Keighren is still involved in Stockport County's coverage on Pure Radio as well as being on the club's board. I remember, during the period when Imagine FM was owned by The Wireless Group and then UTV Radio, him being a reporter nationally for talkSPORT covering games in the North-West on days when the Hatters were not playing. He was a very good reporter from what I recall and I'm sure he wouldn't have had much trouble in finding work of that nature on a regular basis had he have decided to pack in his work covering County during their descent down the divisions. But it's good to see that he's stayed committed to his club.

5Live

Fen vs Arse - John Murray and Martin Keown (Comms)
Chelsea vs Villa - ABB and Nigel Spackman (Updates)

Chelsea v Aston Villa is a commentary match on talkSPORT tonight.

I'm not sure if this is one of their 64 matches or if they have done a deal for it as a bonus match.

Wednesday 21st August - talkSPORT

Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off Exclusive from Stamford Bridge alongside Stan Collymore

Premier League
Chelsea v Aston Villa - Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore (7.45pm commentary), with Ian Abrahams at pitchside

UEFA Champions League Play-Off First Leg
Fenerbahce v Arsenal - Nigel Pearson

Cricket: Fifth Ashes Test Match
England v Australia - Jack Bannister, with Jon Norman conducting interviews from The Oval


talkSPORT Live

Premier League
Chelsea v Aston Villa - Kevin Hatchard and Jason Euell (7.45pm commentary)


BBC WM

Mark Regan presenting WM Sport from Stamford Bridge

Premier League
Chelsea v Aston Villa - Richard Wilford and Mark Regan (7.45pm commentary)


Free Radio 80s

Tom Ross presenting The Goalzone from Stamford Bridge

Premier League
Chelsea v Aston Villa - Tom Ross, Pat Heard and Ian Taylor (7.45pm commentary on 1152AM and DAB in Birmingham)

It'll come under their package which includes Wednesday nights, surely?

it was Richard Wilford Presenting

Thanks for the correction. I wrongly thought Wilford might be in the lead commentary role this evening as he posted the team news on Twitter, of course these days WM's online feed switches to the networked programme after the 7pm news so often I am unable to check which of their commentary team is doing which role.

Over on Sports Extra is Womens Super League commentary on Doncaster Belles v Arsenal. Don't recognise the commentators voice, Jen O'Neill is the summariser.

Are Diverse FM still doing commentary for Luton Town do we know?


Which for some reason is on the BBC Red Button 'channel(s)' as a Midweek Final Score.

Also, the scrolling text via Absolute 90s is saying that Stoke City v Crystal Palace will be Absolute's commentary on Saturday.
Last edited by Ian Cleverly : 21-08-2013 at 20:51

According to the schedule page on their very limited website they do.

Oh, and there were no reporters at the 2nd group games in the UEFA Women's U19 Championships today for either Radio Wales or Cymru, even with Wales v England being a fixture. Radio Wales were more interested in keeping you up to date with the Ashes Test score

Swansea City v Petrolul Ploiești (UEFA Europa League Play-off 1st leg)

BBC Radio Wales - Rob Phillips and Andy Legg (All frequencies)
BBC Radio Cymru - Owain Llyr and Iwan Roberts (SW FM commentary)
Swansea Sound - Anthony O'Connell (commentary)

Thursday 22nd August - talkSPORT

Drive Time with Adrian Durham and Darren Gough, followed by Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off: Ashes Special with Alan Lamb and Tim Collins from Melbourne's SEN Radio from The Oval (7-8.30pm) and then John Cross from the Daily Mirror (8.30-10pm)

UEFA Europa League Play-Off First Leg
Dinamo Tbilisi v Tottenham Hotspur - Geoff Peters
Swansea City v Petrolul Ploiesti - Roger Hughes

Cricket: Fifth Ashes Test Match
England v Australia - Jack Bannister, with Jon Norman conducting interviews from The Oval

does anyone no if any of the league cup games are live on the internet next midweek? just i listened to carlisle Blackburn in the last round on BBC Cumbria's website?

You shouldn't be able to unless talkSPORT and BBC 5 Live broadcast their games online - which I'd imagine they will.