BBC 5 Live at 30: An enduring sports broadcasting institution

Mark Chapman is a stalwart of BBC 5 Live's sports programmes. Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images

Radio 5 Live recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, giving sports fans three decades of sustained excellence. I think news buffs do too, but we'll stick to our guns here.

What are this station's strengths as a sports station? For this listener they are: there is a deep bench of speakers, quality and balanced journalism, a broad sports church and a pervasive sense of safety and security.

First, ethereal talent. Jane Garvey was the first voice heard on March 28, 1994; Adrian Chiles was among the other presenters and John Inverdale moved from Radio 5. It has become fashionable to criticize Inverdale in the last few years, but he was an excellent radio presenter and although Chiles had only some success in presenting football on television, he was excellent company on radio . Two of 5 Live's current top players — Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates — arguably fall into the same category as the nation's favorite West Brom fan (sorry Frank Skinner): they're really good on TV, and they're even better on radio . . The same could be said of another absolute contributor to the gold standard, Colin Murray. Departures and personnel changes seem to be swallowed up, like Liverpool in the seventies and eighties, rather than Manchester United today.

For example, the Saturday morning show once hosted by radio legend Danny Baker is currently hosted by Patrick Kielty. He, like Murray, seems to have an easy grasp of any topic he addresses. Some of the less stellar names such as Jackie Oatley, Eleanor Oldroyd or Alistair Bruce-Ball could also take their place anywhere and everywhere. This is a quality and deep team, and any number of these people come across as good eggs, people you enjoy spending time with. This seems important on radio, although it is not really relevant to sports on television: the personal connection and feeling of closeness or intimacy with these regular companions is perhaps parasocial, but for many of us, it is nonetheless real. You can take Chappers or Kielty into the bathroom or bedroom if you can forgive the nightmare image, which you probably wouldn't with Gary Neville. Well, certainly not with Gary Neville.

Some of the longtime correspondents and reporters, such as John Murray, are rightly approaching national treasure status, and the people who run things clearly have a knack for identifying promising newcomers. I really enjoyed the football work of Aaron Paul, who made his debut in the 2018-2019 season and has been covering the league ever since. I am confident that the pipeline of talent will continue to exist. The depth of experience, passion and rigor of their sporting experts has remained constant over the years: they are almost impossible to name, but for me Mike Costello, Steve Bunce, Cornelius Lysaght, Andrew Cotter, Conor McNamara and Gigi Salmon have been companions to some of sport's greatest moments over the past 30 years. Many of them are featured in this excellent clip show, which will only be available for a couple of days.

John Murray presents 5. Ability Live coverage of the wider sports church. Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Much has been said about the cancellation of the full secret football review carried out by Charlotte Green following the departure of James Alexander Gordon, and you can understand why some people have taken the loss of a cherished ritual hard. But in truth, that didn't diminish Sports Report, and it's not that they don't give you football scores.

Maybe it was a case of «if it ain't broke, don't break it» . fix it,” but the necessary restructuring of 6-0-6 took place. Now that we can all be yelled at by idiots 24/7 on the internet about football or anything else, it seems surprising that this is still going on. You can't help but have a grudging admiration for Chris Sutton and Robbie Savage, their willingness to anger an angry Derek from Nantwich and listen to his views on Erik ten Hag is at least a model of patience. Savage, once ubiquitous, now seems to be used less frequently on the BBC as a whole, which is a mercy.

If it's been the last 30 years, what about the next 30? The station continues to seek out younger listeners with varying degrees of success. I hope we can solve this mystery and the show will continue for a long time.