Football
My wife, a research scientist, has spent most of our eleven years of marriage patiently explaining to me why football is so important and is always interested to hear about my dealings with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland sports team. She once gave me an idiot's guide to the offside rule, just in case I ever found myself locked in a room with Chick Young and he quizzed me about it. This has yet to happen.
Listeners, on the other hand, often quiz me about the amount of football on Radio Scotland. Or on why the midweek commentary is on medium wave and not FM. Or why we cover some matches and not others. The answers always revolve around choice and rights. On Saturdays we utilise just about every frequency and platform we can to provide as much commentary as possible. Midweek, we maintain the choice of arts and music programming on FM.
It's not a policy that pleases everyone. A lot of fans now go to matches and listen to commentary on mobile phones which only have FM receivers. One angry listener recently contacted Off The Ball suggesting that Radio Scotland get into the 21st century and realise that "everyone has MP3 players these days."
"What's an MP3 player?" asked Stuart Cosgrove
"Must be one of those internationals you can sign under the Bosman rule" came the reply.
But joking aside, this diary is meant to prompt comment and discussion. So I'd be interested to hear what listeners think of our split-frequency policy on football.
And here's another thought...
In America, some radio stations have had success in repeating baseball commentary overnight for shift-workers, taxi-divers and insomniacs. Should ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Scotland do the same with football?
