August 7th 2024 marks 2 decades since I first took root at talkSPORT, an occasion that was marked by my great friends Hawksbee and Jacobs on air last Friday whilst I was in the News Building working on our live coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics. It was only a little 10 minute chat with Paul & Andy, but we crammed so much into that 10 minutes; my last-second cover shifts for Alan Brazil; Throwing up on air; reading an entire Steve Bruce murder mystery novel as “Steve Bruce” for listeners during lockdown and cosying up to Gene Simmons. And that’s just scratching the surface of what I’ve got up to in my time at Hatfields, London Bridge and a multitude of sporting venues across the country and indeed the world!
The fact that I’ve been doing official Olympic commentary during my week long stint in the talkSPORT 2 presenters chair last week is just one indication of how far talkSPORT has come as a brand and an influence in broadcasting during these past 20 years that I’ve been involved.
When I arrived in my initial role as a Midlands reporter in 2004, the radio landscape was wildly different in terms of what rights the station had to bring live commentaries of sport to its listeners. At that time, it hadn’t been long since talkSPORT provided “unofficial” commentary on Euro 2000 games from hotel rooms in Amsterdam in defiance of what the station bosses at the time thought was restraint of trade against them by denying them the chance to even bid for rights to an important major tournament. As a result, lawyers were present on the shoulder of the commentators who had to regularly read out disclaimers saying “We are NOT the BBC” etc etc. That sort of thing had to be said within 60 seconds of a goal going in or the station would be in breach. And in big trouble.
To say times have changed, then, is a bit of an understatement- for example, the EFL deal we’ve just extended for another few years means we have exclusive national rights to at least 130 Championship fixtures, up to 35 League One/League Two games, plus our unrivalled Playoff commentaries and Carabao Cup coverage…and that’s not to mention all our existing Premier League exclusive deals plus all the Boxing, Cricket, Darts, Horse Racing, Rugby League…and now Rowing!!
More on that later, but back to my nerves on that sunny August afternoon in 2004 when I arrived at Gresty Road to report on Crewe Alexandra vs Cardiff City for Adrian Durham’s flagship Football First ‘around the grounds’ Saturday show. My apprehension had been building during the week despite my own self confidence in my reporting abilities. I didn’t really know anyone in the team at talkSPORT, aside from my now sadly departed colleague Nigel Pearson (who got me the job in the first place!) and I had heard that new reporters didn’t always last beyond the short term if you didn’t get to the pace of what was required of you straight away.
I’d spent that summer investing in broadcast kit of my very own after the years I’d spent utilising the BRMB kits provided for me in my local radio days. TalkSPORT did have spare kit that could have been provided, but those were in short supply in 2004 and I was encouraged to buy my own, as it was suggested to me that the work I would get from owning it would effectively pay for the unit by Christmas time if i showed well. So I took out a loan and took the plunge.
The title of Adrian’s 3-5pm show may have changed over the years from Football First to GameDay Live, but the format has remained largely untouched. Adrian hosts from a top flight ground alongside a reporter and there are colleagues stationed around pretty much all the other games that kick off at that time in the top 2 divisions. The pace is utterly frantic and ‘word economy’ is King. I wasn’t commentating on Crewe v Cardiff, but I quickly discovered that you could be called upon to describe the action when penalties were awarded, as happened early on at Crewe. The Railwaymen were awarded a spot kick and I switched my mic on so that I could alert producer Andrew Hughes off-air that a goal was in the offing. Andrew had a speaker directly in front of his producers chair that was linked to all reporters when they had goal news or a red card to report on.
“Thanks Ian” Andrew said to my news, “Let me know when it’s spotted please…”
“Erm…Dean Ashton’s just placing it on the spot now…” I replied.
“Right standby, coming to you now” he barked and seconds later, Adrian broke off from what he was discussing to say “Penalty at Gresty Road, talkSPORT’s Ian Danter!”
This was my sudden cue - not that such commentary was alien to me at all at this point, but I was barely 10 minutes into my national radio debut and I’m describing action already! The penalty was scored by Dean and I called it as best i could and gave the score out as the cue for Adrian to pick up and continue with the next reporter.
I can’t have been too awful because Jamie the production assistant, whose job it was to allocate reporters to games across the week, started giving me regular work both on Saturdays and in midweek. These games were almost always in the Midlands (Crewe the furthest north and Oxford the furthest south) but increasingly I was also sent out of the region to cover matches. One of my first such trips was to Anfield only a month after my debut, where I watched a sublime Xabi Alonso passing masterclass in Liverpool’s midfield as Norwich City were utterly swept aside.
I had never worked at an ‘away’ stadium as big as Anfield in all my time on BRMB, so this was a bit of a moment, undoubtedly. I also sensed that the bosses (and Adrian who wanted the best team available to him as often as possible) were happy with my early progress. This, I deduced, could only be a good thing being sent up North this early on.
Nowadays, I’m up and down the country as a matter of course to take in the commentary games we provide across the network and I love it so so much. Add to that the work I’ve done calling major darts and cricket tournaments over the years and it’s a rich seam that I’ve mined during my stint…but I hadn’t ever reckoned with the notion of Olympics work coming in I must say!
Once it became clear to the bosses that radio rights would be made available beyond the BBC for the Paris games, talkSPORT swiftly moved into high gear and secured them whilst asking established team members such as myself whether they could take on presenting/commentating duties, which I and others were only too happy to do.
For me specifically, this meant the Rowing regatta at Vaires sur Marne would be where I would be concentrating the most - whilst working alongside one of Britain’s most decorated Olympians in Sir Steven Redgrave!! (I think I called him ‘Sir Steve’ a lot rather than feel too familiar with someone I barely knew!) As with other sports away from my usual football work, commentating on a sport like Rowing requires slightly different disciplines in one way or another, although the principles of doing your homework about competitors’ back stories etc is essential in any sport you cover.
Thankfully, Steven, Polly Swann and Jack Beaumont were there as experienced Olympic rowers alongside me to bring the knowledge and the expertise that we commentators lack. As usual, we’re just there to say what’s happening - they deal with the ‘why’.
And Team GB delivered a far more successful team performance on the water than they’d managed 3 years ago in Tokyo, securing 8 medals across the events (including 3 superb golds), four times as many as they’d accrued in the previous Games. All too soon, my Olympic duties were done and dusted, but not before I’d covered a myriad of other sports in amongst the rowing, throwing to reporters on the scene in Paris and doing a bit of impromptu tennis and golf commentary into the bargain! Loved it.
And now to prep the start of the upcoming domestic football season, as Leeds v Portsmouth looms large on the horizon as my first commentary of the campaign, with the next Premier League jamboree following on close behind the following weekend. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing more new ‘stadia wot I ain’t never been to before’ (8 to go in the 92 for me) and seeing the usual lovely folk that I break bread with - for far too short a time usually - in each and every press room I visit.
Maybe all those extra League One games we have available to us might afford me the chance to occasionally take in my beloved Blues now and again in their quest for a swift return to the Championship. We shall see!!
Thank you for all the lovely messages that I’ve received on my socials about my first 2 decades at talkSPORT. You’re all very kind - here’s to many more!
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