Cricket and Weather Again

[ariadnemyc]

I cruise in EU each summer - France last year, Ireland this year. I get fed up with the only UK radio programme being CRICKET. Worse, at 1755, they often delay the forecast for trivial reasons. I have logged two occasions when the delay exceeded 10 minutes - which could be a safety issue. Even when they do go over to the forecast, it is often done with bad grace and a snide comment
Why do we need wall to wall cricket on radio 4 when they have 5Live and World Service?

Is anybody interested in mounting a campaign against the BBC? Does anyone have a really high level email address we can target? Can we get other bodies such as caravanners, who suffer the same curse to join us?

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[Sybarite]

I am with you heart and soul..!! and have many posts to this effect.

The worst is when a cricket match is being reported and you escape to the World Service to find another one on there. It does happen occasionally. The only relief is that I now listen to the Beeb on the net. Doesn't help though when I'm travelling.

The thing is that they spend the most time on a sport at which the English representation must be by far the worst of any popular sport. And why is it always England and not the other countries making up the "B" in the "BBC"?

What also gets me is, as a former competitive swimmer, you hear eg on a news report that so & so broke a world record and they don't even give the time for the race. This happens regularly.

Rant over but willing to start again on demand.

John

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[Talbot]

With the recent poor level of forecasting accuracy, why not give up on the BBC, use weather fax or http://www.windguru.cz/ - this site seems to be doing very well by comparison.

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[Cornishman]

This topic was first aired on the Beeb while Noah was building the Ark, and he got nowhere with it then, so I doubt any protest from the occasional yottie will get any further in the 21st century. It is what gardeners call a 'hardy perennial'.

Oddly enough, the shipping forecast listening public is tiny compared with the sports listeners. Many of the cricket fans live on the Continent (Holland in particular) where BBC R5 Live is unobtainable beng on Medium wave only, whereas LW as we well know has a much greater range. Test Match Special used to be on the MW frequency of Radio 3.

When the last reshuffle of broadcasting times was being considered the RYA sent a high powered delegation to the BBC in an attempt to have the coastal station reports reinstated after every broadcast, but got nowhere. They only just saved the midday and early evening forecasts. With so many other options available the BBC is rapidly losing interest - they have been for years - which is why the full forecasts are at such unearthly times. Try NAVTEX.





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[ariadnemyc]

Of course you are right about audiences. But it is not just the sailing community that is affected. I am not only complaining about the weather, but about the complete denial of radio 4 programming for large chunks of the summer. This is denied to many groups. I mentioned caravanners, but there are campers, and all kinds of other tourists too. They cannot all want continuous cricket?!

Even if we cannot change the situation much, we can surely argue that delays exceeding 5 minutes in broadcasting the f/c are unacceptable. Yes I use navtex, and when I can get internet f/c I use other sources too. But there are times when navtex is unreliable (as it was for several weeks in Ireland this year) and internet access is not available.

I am sure the cricket lobby is small but vociferous. We are a small lobby. Why can we not be vociferous, and find allies as well? RYA and others are only one voice. We need to flood BBC with emails if we can get wnough people interested.

Don't give up so easily!

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[Cornishman]

I take your points - BUT

1. When Robin Sjoberg went to the BBC on behalf of the RYA I am quite sure he made it quite clear that he spoke with the whole membership behind him, and when he came back he put a brave face on it but I know he was disappointed at what happened. If somebody representing however many members the RYA had at the time (several hundeds of thousands when you take in members of the affiliated clubs as well) what chance have a few well aimed e-mails? Has the Caravan Club made any representations about TMS on Radio 4 LW?

2. As for giving up so easily - I have been involved in this argument for some 40 odd years, and have been ridden over rough shod too many times. When I first started the shipping forecast began with 'warnings of drift net fishing fleets' .

3. The BBC attitude has not changed in all that time. In about 1970 when the shipping forecast was at 1355 on BBC Radio 2 LW a certain newsreader called Jimmy Kingsbury ran out of time before the 1400 news one day when about half way around the coastal station reports. He said ' I will finish these off after the news' and he did. If memory serves me correctly he lost his job over it, or at least got a severe reprimand. That was the BBC attitude to the shipping forecast then, and I don't think it has changed.

4. To put another side to the story, when I served in a NATO HQ in Germany nearly every portable tranny was tuned to 1500m LW to listen to the cricket, and there were jeers and boos when the shipping forecast interrupted! Maybe it is different these days.



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