Radio Commentary Today

The generation who have grown up listening to radio often nostalgically talk of radio commentators of the past.Having listened to commentary of matches on crackling short wave radio in their childhood or youth, they recall the commentators like Brian Johnston, John Arlott, Allan McGillivray, Omar Qureshi,Devraj Puri and Vizzy. However the serendipitous find one made twiddling with the short wave radio has come to us in a new avatar.On the internet and more easily through the smart phone one can access numerous Medium and FM stations.The commentary is smoother and even  with perils like buffering, normally of good quality.

This medium has introduced me to whole lot of commentators. Jonathan Agnew and Simon Mann of the BBC, Jim Maxwell of ABC,Brian Waddle from New Zealand, Fazeer Mohammed and Andrew Mason from the West Indies and Natalie Germanos and Aslam Khota from SABC’s Radio 2000 are all my new finds discovered after having discarded my last Short wave radio.Extra pleasure comes from the radio jingles and advertising spots, especially on the Caribbean stations and Radio Sport New Zealand. These help in knowing the preference of people from different cultures.

The fact that I can check on scores and match details on Cricinfo actually enhances the pleasure.I followed several of last year’s t20 world Cup matches from Russia via internet on SABC Radio as BBC TMS feed was available in the UK only.While PBC commentary feeds are available on the net All India Radio is still to surface.However, being based in Delhi means the smartphone can also double up as an fm radio and live coverage of India games are available.