It still matters - in cricket anyway

I am one of those lucky people who take it for granted that it is entirely possible to listen to a radio commentary of a five day game of cricket and never be bored. Its because I have had the immense privilege of being able to listen to Test Match Special (TMS) on BBC radio. I almost envy those who have not discovered the wonders of TMS because what a wondrous awakening they have available to them. For me there is little to compare to the joy of waking up at, say, 3am, on a cold winters morn getting a pot of tea and snuggling back down beneath the warm bed covers listening very quietly to a commentary of an England winter tour delivered by the masterful TMS team.

Now TMS is an institution, and it is not a trifling matter to amend or meddle with an institution and woe betide anyone that does. Now it seems that TMS has a new producer or some such and as is often the way of things, he has decided to make changes - notably bringing in some new commentators, and losing some others. Some of these have not been well received, and to be fair the excuses for these changes offered in the blog, have been fairly roundly exposed as little more than vacuous management speak. But the thing I find gratifying is the way people are not resisting change of itself, they are saying that the change must be for the better and that some of the new voices are simply not up to the job. Now its interesting that it is not the voice itself, although that does clearly matter, but it is the quality and depth of insight an analysis that the contributors can bring that is important and what concerns the listeners most (along with some issues about conflict of interest and ethics - also important values).

To me it is once again a reminder that, in a world of multimedia, wide screen freeze and replay TV, there are people out there that truly value spoken word and the quality of the material they are listening to, and still take the time to fight to preserve it.

It is things like this that reassure me that TESCAPE does have a ready audience, I only hope that when TESCAPE has been operating as long as TMS has been, that we can still retain such passionate and discerning followers.