I think the M’s have got to cover the AFL, if ARN did it I reckon it’d be bad for all parties involved
1 Like
As far the best game caller around, back in the day, 3AW usually had Rex Hunt, Dave Hookes, Anthony Hudson, and Tony Leonard, KG and Chris Dittmar from 5AA and Trevor Sprigg and George Grljusich from 6PR, while ABC had Tim Lane, Peter Booth and the interstate guys like Rod Kliner, Wally Foreman, Peter Walsh, Roger Wills, and Clinton Grybas(before he went to 3AW to join Rex)
Seemingly MMM has gone the other way when it comes to doing Adelaide games this year (Melbourne sent a crew up for the Swans home FNF game), doing a studio pre match before handing it to the Adelaide callers to handle the call. With Perth now having their own call team the same thing generally happens although usually an Adelaide based caller will compliment the team.
3AW used to take 5AA’s calls with KG and Chris Dittmar, even for FNF because that way Rex and co could do the Saturday games in Melbourne. They used Dave Hookes for PBP as well as Huddo and Tony Leonard. 3AW always took the 6PR calls with Trevor Sprigg and George Grljusich, even for FNF too or if there was a later start at Subiaco or WACA(e.g a game at the MCG started at 2pm, but the Perth game started at 5.30pm). ABC always takes the local stations calls, but will use Gerard Whateley for the bigger games/FNF/finals.
Except for matches in Sydney and Canberra. ABC in Sydney has never had a stable calling team. In the early 2000s it was Mike McCann, then people like Quentin Hull, Dan Lonergan and Drew Morphett were flown in from Melbourne or Brisbane to call the matches. In 2014 Kelli Underwood moved from Melbourne to Sydney to be the local commentator (as she began her role on The Back Page on Fox Sports at the same time) but moved back to Melbourne at the start of this season. In the first half of this season David Lithgow called a few Swans and GWS games, but has now been dropped.
Tim Flynn called games at the SCG for a while before Mike McCann did. But…ABC started sending Tim Lane, Peter Booth or Dwayne Russell and later on Drew Morphett or Dan Lonergan to the SCG, maybe because of complaints about Flynn being biased towards the Swans. 3AW used to get complaints about KG or George Grljusich being biased towards the SA or WA sides when on relay to 3AW. The one thing i couldn’t stand was George being biased towards the Eagles. But 6PR sometimes was the only feed available at the AFL web site, so i had to endure him a lot for games out west. same thing with KG when 5AA was the only option for a game.
for the most part, they use local commentators for Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane matches, while either Gerard Whateley or Adam White cover Melbourne and Sydney matches.
Why would ABC air the Demons-Dockers game from Darwin while the other stations did the game in Melbourne? is it part of the AFL deal?
Because it was an AFL match and they broadcast AFL matches. According to the AFL website SEN also broadcast the match in Melbourne, so it would have been classed as the “B” match.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is a bit different. Carlton v Adelaide (1.10pm AEST start) is classed as “B” match but will be broadcast on 3AW not ABC in Melbourne. Instead the ABC will air the more important clash between West Coast and North Melbourne into Melbourne.
Looking at the ladder, i can see why ABC would take the Kangaroos-Eagles at Subiaco from their Perth station, 6WF, rather than the Blues-Crows game at the MCG. However is 5AN the only station taking the Melbourne game, or is Tasmania taking that game too?
Tasmania is taking the Carlton-Adelaide game on AFL Live (Crocmedia) and Heart FM (relay of Triple M Melbourne broadcast).
ABC sometimes has 5AN and the Hobart station(can’t remember their callsign) take a different game form VIC and WA like this week.
It’s really only required that 3LO and 6WF take the game in Perth, plus there is a overlapping game in Melbourne(Bombers-Saints). Does it make any difference if ABC takes the 1.10pm game or the 3.20pm game?
Most likely situation is the “A” stations in Melbourne, MMM and AW have said bugger sending the team over to Perth for a game involving North Melbourne, we’ll do the two local games thanks. Looking at the broadcast guide radio seems to be a week to week proposition.
There was one time when the AFL stepped in and had Magic 1278 carry a game from York Park when 3AW, ABC Local Radio and Triple M were at a Melbourne based game. It was Shane Healy, Graham Dawson and Brad Hardie from 6PR in Perth who did that game on relay to Magic 1278. That game must have featured either the Eagles or the Dockers?(edit: it was the Hawks and Kangaroos in 06.)
It’s happened with ABC and the Rugby Union and League before, where 702 calls the Rugby Union, but QLD,ACT and regional’s take the NRL instead. But that happens now only when the Wallabies play, with the NRL game online only. It’s happened before too where Local Radio called the Ashes, while Regional Radio carried AFL. That was before Digital Radio came in, so now they air AFL on analog and the Cricket on Digital Radio
What i’m interested in seeing is what 3AW might do with 3 games this Saturday. with that third game being Adelaide v. Collingwood, will they send a crew over to Adelaide Oval or have 5AA do the call for 3AW(and 6PR) 5AA is doing the 4.35pm game too as it involves Port, so they may elect to take the easy way out with the 5AA call for the night game.They will use 6PR for sure on FNF as it is in Perth and have their own crew at the SCG for Thursday Night Football.
Doesn’t 5AA have one team calling all the Port games and another commentating all the Crows games?
Yes.[quote=“JohnsonTV, post:39, topic:1471, full:true”]
Doesn’t 5AA have one team calling all the Port games and another commentating all the Crows games?
[/quote]
Yes.
Looking at MMM’S lineup this week they’ve got Barry Denner and Brad Seymour for Thursday Night Football, the Perth team for FNF, the “A” team on the 1.40pm game, Denner and Dale Lewis for the 4.35pm game, and the SA crew for the Collingwood game. two weeks in a row that JB and co have to give way to one of the interstate crews.