ABC Radio has the same fog issue. Corbin Middlemas and Luke Ball were flying to Launceston on the first flight this morning, however after a three-hour delay, they decided to return to the Southbank studio and call the match off the tube, alongside Ben Cameron.
Dean Brogan and Chris Rowbottom are at the ground.
Surely there are local teams that’d be a semi-decent B-team for Triple M and ABC?
There are not many experienced sports commentators who live in Tasmania.
Also, ABC’s sports department in Hobart (which Chris is a member of) is very small.
Fair enough, slim pickings for local sports broadcasters in Tassie. And fair enough too with probably more opportunities on the mainland for local talent. Alastair Nicholson comes to mind.
This isn’t a problem in other cities as both Triple M and ABC have local AFL commentators in all 5 mainland state capitals. I’d say it’s rare for Triple M talent to travel interstate.
Even more so given the MMM Friday Night team I don’t think have traveled outside of Melbourne save for Gather Round this year relying on locals (which they will again this Friday Night with the game in Brisbane).
With Tasmania Devils scheduled to enter the national competition in 2028, there will be a growing need for local commentators for home matches, rather than having commentators travelling from the mainland every second week or so. I think 2025 or 2026 will be a great time to start nurturing local callers.
Tasmania has probably suffered in terms of nurturing callers from having a state league which has gone downhill a bit in the last 10-20 years.
That said, it’s a popular sport to hate SEN around this forum but I have to give them credit for nurturing some talent in Tasmania. They often do breakaway local calls on their Tassie stations of AFL matches played in Tasmania. Whether they call any local matches (like SEN does in other places) I can’t recall, and can’t check on their today/tomorrow guide.
I remember when 6PR or 5AA would do games from York Park with the local sides, KG or Stephen Rowe for 5AA would go to Hobart or Canberra once or twice a year, same thing with Smokey Dawson and Shane Healy for Eagles/Dockers matches in Hobart or Canberra, 3AW would sometimes relay those calls if it was an “A” class match. Not an issue in other cities as both Triple M and ABC have local AFL commentators in all 5 mainland state capitals. MMM normally rely on locals for games outside Melb (Chris Dittmar for games in SA, Liam Flanagan for games in QLD, Brad Seymour for NSW, and Lachy Reid for WA). Easier to do that then calling it from the studio.
9News Perth’s Alexia Pesce was boundary reporter for ABC Radio’s coverage of Fremantle v Gold Coast this afternoon.
Akash Fotedar made his AFL commentary debut, calling the game alongside Clint Wheeldon. Shane Woewodin and Kara Antonio provided expert comments.
It's been a dream of mine to commentate an AFL game on a mainstream media network since I was probably 16.
— Akash Fotedar (@akashfotedar5) June 23, 2024
Today I got to live out my dream. I am so grateful to @ClintWheeldon and the team at the ABC for giving me this opportunity.
What a day! 🎙️📻🏉@abcsport pic.twitter.com/BgKHQf2ldl
Gerard Whateley was today announced as the Athletics caller for Nine’s Olympics coverage, meaning he will be absent from AFL Nation/SEN programming for at least 2 weeks - meaning the Friday night and Saturday Crunch Time spot will be up for grabs whilst he’s in France. Additionally, Matt Hill from SEN, Brenton Speed from MMM, Shane McInnes from 3AW and Adam Papalia from 6PR were announced as callers for Paris 2024.
Bigger question for me is will the last 4 names mentioned actually be in Paris or will they be calling from monitors in Australian studios?
This is in the section about Nine Radio - 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR:
“Commentating at his seventh Olympic Games, Ray Hadley will be joined at Paris sporting venues by two-time Olympian and President of Athletics Australia Jane Flemming, three time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Libby Trickett and Matthew Hill.”
“Radio reporters in Paris will include 3AW’s award-winning journalist Shane McInnes. There will be hourly Olympic updates and medal tallies, and the on-ground coverage will be complemented by a team of hosts and commentators broadcasting across numerous sports from an interactive Olympics studio in Sydney, which will be the Australian HQ for all Paris 2024 audio.”
So apart from the above mentioned people and 2GB’s Ben Fordham and 3AW’s Ross and Russ breakfast programs which will be in Nine’s Olympics studio on the Trocadero in Paris, all other radio calls will be done from Nine’s Sydney studios, with other programming done in their respective station’s studio.
It doesn’t say whether the TV commentators will be in Paris or in Sydney, but in the foreword from Nine’s Director of Sport and Olympics, he says “We will have a presence across multiple production hubs around the globe - including our Paris studio, every Olympic venue, the famous Teahupoó surf break in Tahiti, exclusive access to the inner sanctum of the Athletes Village and news resources right across Australia.”
That leads me to believe that all TV commentators will be in France meaning Speed and Papalia will be away.
I reckon rhey’re being clever with words, “every Olympic venue” would be someone available with a Nine microphone to put under an Aussie competitor’s mouth. Would love to be proven wrong but that’s the most likely outcome.
Sunday Herald Sun’s Jon Anderson is speculating that 3AW could return to broadcast Thursday night AFL on a regular basis from 2025, although it could lead to Saturday night being dropped.
SEN will offer three commentary streams for Carlton v Hawthorn at the MCG next Sunday (August 11): an AFL Nation call, a Blues Radio call led by Andy Maher, and a new Hawks Radio call anchored - possibly - by Stephen Quartermain.
Comeback :thinking: :radio: @HawthornFC @AFL #AFLBluesHawks pic.twitter.com/N88LuanJtu
— Stephen Quartermain (@Quartermain10) August 4, 2024
In the last couple of days, Craig Hutchison has been asking fans on social media whom should be in the Hawks Radio commentary team.
Stephen Quartermain. Interesting. He disappeared from AFL Nation around the same time as Peter Donegan and Sandy Roberts around the start of COVID. I figured they decided that at their respective ages, dealing with all of the extra hassles that year just wasn’t worth it.
(Actually Donegan might have disappeared a tad earlier as the SEN and AFL Nation calls started to integrate and Whateley became chief commentator)
I miss hearing all of them, but of those three Quarters strikes me as the one with the most years left to keep working if he wants to.
Quartermain, Robert DiPierdomenico and Lehmo will form the Hawks Radio commentary team. Blues Radio will be led by Dave Hughes, alongside Ang Christou, Mark Maclure and SEN commentator Damian Watson.
I have to say Blues Radio makes for compelling listening, the sheer depression and constant complaining from them is great listening as a neutral - Hughsey attempting to do play by play commentary was almost as awful as Carlton are playing.
Thanks for all the feedback for Hawks radio today @HawthornFC @1116sen
— Stephen Quartermain (@Quartermain10) August 11, 2024
It was heaps of fun after 5 years out of the comm box.
Lehmo @lehmo23 and the Big Dipper @dipperinc were hilarious.
It was surprisingly quite hard to be biased. But I think I warmed into it 😂
Go Hawks!
Hope everyone enjoyed the 3 different calls this afternoon. Hawks Radio was wild fun. Blues Radio was fascinating ! Feedback welcome - hope everyone got to surf around the @SportsEntNet @1116sen options be it on app, venue (SEN Stadium) or home (SEN Sync)
— Craig Hutchison (@craighutchy) August 11, 2024
6PR has started taking Friday night footy again. They had 5 games this round, compared to about 3 previously.
