Test Match Special

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Test Match Special (oftenabbreviatedas TMS ) is a sports broadcast on the BBC radiobroadcasting live cricket test matches and one-day internationals of the English team.

transmission

Jonathan Agnew

The games, including the breaks, have been broadcast live in full since 1956. The broadcast therefore takes around 7.5 hours a day, or five days for test matches. Away matches are broadcast according to local time, not time-shifted. The transmission was originally on the medium wave frequencies of BBC Radio 3 . When these had to be given up on February 29, 1992 because they were to be auctioned off to private radio operators, the program was shortened, which since then has only been transmitted via VHF in addition to the other programs on Radio 3. However, due to protests, including British Prime Minister John Major , the BBC finally decided to split the program in two: Test Match Special was broadcast on Radio 3 in the morning and broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live in the afternoon . Today TMS is broadcast digitally and on the Internet on the long wave frequencies of BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra .

In early 2012, the BBC extended its exclusive cricket broadcast rights for six years to 2019.

Many visitors to the game hear the broadcast through headphones. Even during television broadcasts, TMS is often heard instead of the sound of the television program.

The title melody , which is played at the beginning and end of each program, is an excerpt from "Soul Limbo" by the American soul band Booker T. & the MG's . She is known to most of the cricket fans in the world.

During the lunch break on the Saturdays of the Test Matches in England, an interview is always conducted with a person from various areas of public life ( view from the boundary ). In the summer of 2007, the German soccer player Dietmar Hamann was even a guest to "come out" as a cricket fan.

team

Christopher Martin-Jenkins

On the one hand, the team consists of several, usually three, reporters who take turns as commentators every 20 minutes. One of the reporters usually comes from the opposing team's country. Well-known reporters are Jonathan Agnew , who himself played in three test matches for England, Christopher Martin-Jenkins and Henry Blofeld .

There are also several co-commentators, mostly former cricketers from both countries involved. From 1966 to 2008, the scorer was Bill Frindall, who has since died . He was nicknamed "the Bearded Wonder" because he was able to keep perfect scorecards and at the same time to determine completely obscure statistics and data within a very short time, which he then repeatedly uses introduced the current radio report. The show was produced from 1973 to 2007 by Peter Baxter , who also occasionally works as a reporter.

style

The broadcast has a distinctive style known to cricket fans around the world. Many reporters and commentators have nicknames like Frindall, e. B. Aggers (Jonathan Agnew), Blowers (Henry Blofeld) or CMJ (Christopher Martin-Jenkins). You have developed a special ability to bridge long breaks due to rain or poor light through discussions, reviews and reports on peripheral issues.

For many years, the reporters have regularly received various cakes from the audience, which are then eaten and rated during the report. Even Queen Elizabeth II is said to have had a fruit cake baked for the TMS team.

Web links

Notes and sources

  1. Anniversaries: Radio 3 ends transmissions on Medium Wave February 29, 1992 ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bbc.co.uk archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: The BBC Story. Anniversaries. BBC website. Without a date. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  2. Mark Sweney: Test Match Special secure on BBC radio until 2019 . In: Guardian.co.uk. January 26, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  3. ^ Adam Mountford: Football star gripped by cricket . In: BBC Test Match Special website. August 31, 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  4. ^ Test Match Special producer named . In: BBC Sport. June 1, 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2012.