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Whateley leaves ABC for SEN
- Thread starter Cole Dammett
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American events have an advantage over European ones for radio broadcast here - they’re played during our daytime, hence many events occur while we’re at work.
That’s the attraction for SEN - they can gain a casual listener base who can’t watch the game. Nobody is getting up at 3am on Sunday to listen to the Champions League Final - if they’re awake, they’re watching it.
Champion's League Final is just one event. If other events are not given reasonable coverage. Then down the track, even the Super bowl coverage will be diminished.
peternorth
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- May 6, 2005
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- #554
yaco55
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Whateley has commitments with Fox Sports so its unlikely he will take a week off for the Champions League final or similar.
Look. I really don't care whether or not he does it. But is anyone saying Sen couldn't get a feed from a station broadcasting the game, and other events, anyway?
Those commitments didn't stop him heading overseas to cover Olympic games, Commonwealth games and Black Caviar at Royal Escot for ABC Radio while he would usually be fronting AFL 360. I guess it'll depend on how his SEN contract is worded. Major commitments ABC wanted him at during the footy season took priority from an ABC grandstand vs AFL 360 viewpoint, maybe the same thing will happen at SEN.
- Banned
- #558
I like Gerard Whateley generally but I'm struggling to listen to his new show for more than a few minutes at a time. On occasion, it's as though Whateley has written some slightly long-winded ruminations down in essay form before simply reading them out on air. That's unlikely to work, I'm afraid. I think he's going for something too lyrical, too verbose and that's a lot to ask if you've got one guy there, holding down the whole show. Hearing him do it solo makes me realise that he does actually need Robbo as his meat and potatoes offsider to provide the occasional grunt by way of punctuation. It can't just be "Gerard's Journal" every morning. It's like Doogie Howser writing something introspective on his computer at the end of every episode.
Will be interesting to see what more live coverage overseas they get into.
Hutchy would impress me if he had someone cover the cricket in South Africa live considering it will be in our night time and ideal for that slot on radio.
Ha ha, that sounded a bit fake.I heard the promo many times yesterday
The thought crossed my mind of Hutchy getting an American mate to sidekick Whateley to set that up like that to fake the hype up. Nothing would surprise. He does want to promote his station and a bit of marketing like that would sucker many in. Like, you , I keep hearing it replayed on SEN in last 24 hours. That is when I was getting over it quickly sensing a bit of staging.
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I don’t get why people are bringing up the champions league final? That’s usually on at 3am-6am on a Sunday, there simply isn’t the radio audience at that time to send Gerard over there.
I’m sure Hutchy would try and get a feed for it.
It’s not like he’s only doing it for American sports? I’ve heard no plans for nba finals. People need to stop saying “if Hutchy was fair dinkum he’d do this” and just appreciate that the two first major calls he’s made (covering the super bowl and making Gerard the chief caller) have been smashes. And he’s only just started his work.
I’m sure Hutchy would try and get a feed for it.
It’s not like he’s only doing it for American sports? I’ve heard no plans for nba finals. People need to stop saying “if Hutchy was fair dinkum he’d do this” and just appreciate that the two first major calls he’s made (covering the super bowl and making Gerard the chief caller) have been smashes. And he’s only just started his work.
Father Jack
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You're criticising Whateley for being too verbose?
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- #563
While running a one-man radio show. Yes. It has obvious drawbacks. The written word is not the same medium as broadcast.
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- #564
TBH, his verbosity is even less tolerable in a written format, which is why he is a damned sight more economical when he pens articles. Sadly not enough though.
It's like he has read Orwell's 6 rules for writing and thought no, I will do the opposite.
- Banned
- #565
Be that as it may, you can get away with being lyrical in 1,000-word essay or comment piece. The medium allows for it. But if you want to go on air and just read that s**t out, it's not going to work.
Radio relies on a back-and-forth. He needs someone sitting alongside him to interject.
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Perhaps he is following rule 6.
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- #567
He isn't a good writer. There is a difference between being vivid and descriptive and throwing a thesaurus flavoured word salad at your sub editor. The only reason Whately gets away with it, is that he is a sports columnist in a local industry extremely thin on talent.
I agree that he is insufferable on air. Whately prattling his way to self induced wordgasm and Robbo emoting his views through wrist motions and grunts makes for difficult TV. On radio it is worse, at least in the visual medium, his body language and expressions can do some of the talking.
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- May 19, 2017
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How about getting talkback more involved?
Not everyone wants to hear extended broadcaster drivel. You know,it gets boring real quick.
Not everyone wants to hear extended broadcaster drivel. You know,it gets boring real quick.
- Banned
- #569
6 is pure trolling from the man who went to Spain to shoot the fash. I imagine 6 is both partly facetious, and leans on an unspoken political/ethical context.
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Loved Gerard's call of the Superbowl on Monday and I think ABC Footy and in particular cricket are much the poorer without him there.
Absolute professional caller of sport in general, my favourite radio caller.
Absolute professional caller of sport in general, my favourite radio caller.
- Banned
- #571
I'm not saying he is a good writer or a bad one. I'm saying that you can, in theory, get away with certain extended flourishes in print - you can spend 2-3 sentences on "colour" or on building up and characterising "the moment". But the effect is jarring if you try to translate it to broadcast. That is the nature of the two mediums. And that's what I observe in his show.
For the record, I'd say Whateley is probably the most complete package going around in Australian sports media in terms of combining the roles of commentator, journalist and broadcaster.
I actually like Whateley generally. He's thoughtful and considered and measures his opinions rather than exaggerating everything for effect. He's not preoccupied with trying to make a big statement for the sake of it. Nor do I think he's inarticulate. He's not offering a "word salad". But I'm not sure he can hold a one-man show, because of this tendency to lapse into these rather long-winded ruminations. There needs to be someone to offset that.
- Banned
- #572
Articulate does not equal insightful, also prevaricating and fence sitting is not the same as thoughtful. His opinions at their core are still often dismissive (in the negative) or lean heavily on orthodoxy. It's just that his language is expansive when he has something positive to expound or guarded as an aesthetic counterpoint to Robbo when disagreeing. Which makes me think his main talent is as a performer.
He absolutely does throw up rather pretty word salads on 360. Regularly, he creates a rambling patchwork of nice sounding phrases that are both completely insubstantial and just trail off into nothing. He is good at looking thoughtful though, likewise mimicking the tone of deep rumination.
He is s**t, it's a savage indictment on how poor the AFL aligned sports media is, that he plays the role of some kind of thoughtful wordsmith on cable. Within the context of other countries and their codes and genuinely talented writers, TV hosts or callers, Whately is well down the list. In fact even amongst the brain worm addled AFL commentariat there are better, if not so superficially kind on the ears.
- Banned
- #573
That's a weird non-criticism.
Are you saying he isn't insightful or thoughtful? Or merely pointing out that different words have different meanings?
I'm not sure what that means.
His language is expansive? Really? Because he can connect the dots a little more skillfully than the likes of Robbo? I find him to be reasonably controlled and reasonably measured - it's a welcome contrast.
Whatever you think of his style, he has some journalistic bona fides and is a pretty accomplished broadcaster.
I'd still regard him as one of the more articulate broadcasters covering AFL. That may be a low bar.
Suffice to say, I think your criticism of Whateley is over-the-top. Who do you prefer?
peternorth
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- #574
I think the rank and file arent used to GW, as a result are a bit afraid of what and how its presented. Kind of like when immigrants arrive, there's uncertainty and sometimes fear attached. People are creatures of habit.
Agree with sweet jesus, GW is the complete package, flexible and malleable to any need
Agree with sweet jesus, GW is the complete package, flexible and malleable to any need
- Banned
- #575
But can he carry a one-man show? I'm not convinced.
