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You Bet…They Die

Greyhound racing is a popular sport amongst many…But very few people know what actually goes on behind the scenes…

I set out on an adventure to discover the truth – some of which is unbelievable shocking.

Click below for some interesting listening.

*Amy Shead investigates – You bet…they die

The quality shouldn’t be too bad but if you would like me to email a top quality version then leave a comment with your email address.

A front row seat in the living room

Most people love watching some sort of sport on the television. I imagine that most people will most certainly have done this at some point within their lives, even if they were dragged into doing so by a friend…

Watching our favourite sport on television is a compensation for the absence of the sensory experience of moving with the crowd and soaking up the live atmosphere. If you think about it ‘TV’ literally means seeing at a distance. After considering what actually constructs our sports packages that we see on screen, I have realised that more goes into it that what you might initially imagine.

The events are tailored for entertainment purposes. It clearly seeks to entertain and thrill the audience in as strong a way as possible. We see the use of split screen, bottom screen, slow motion replay, animation and much more whilst allowing our wonderful technological items to produce HD images and play out the sound from the best quality speakers.

We need to appreciate the fact that live is captivating even if it is on screen, and I personally think that it can be a more pleasant way to experience a sporting game. I have to admit that I do love to be at a live match also however…

There is also no doubt that sport has become a commodity- it touches us individually. Not only does an individual gain a great entertainment value out of it but it also aids in interpreting the world that we live in and is actually extremely informative.

Trashy television?

Watching sport on television rises above watching many other trashy television programmes. Yes we still often see a story, and a connection between the sportsperson and the viewer can be made, but this story is something so much better than many other programmes.

There is also the thrill gained that what is being watched is reality – anything really can happen, and the viewer is shown how an ‘ordinary human’ can suddenly shoot to pure stardom. Idealism also links in showing true purity, honour and Olympism in its finest.

Escapism I feel is also a key factor that comes into what we watch on sports broadcasts. A time of brilliance can raise an audiences’ spirit and this can unite people as one.

A sense of patriotism is surely one of the best feelings one can experience. National honour is one of the greatest prides and watching sport allows us to have this. In other words sport can really affect the state of the human mind – what somebody may feel about the state of their mind may tie in with what they feel about the state of their nation.

Those off the pitch are just as important

The people themselves that are involved ‘off the pitch’ in relation to our television sporting coverage is also something that is very interesting to note. During television sporting events we generally see an accompanying running commentary. These media personnel really do engage and hold the audience in an almost hypnotic way.

We also see a cosy network of ex players and current managers contributing to the broadcast, as well as the typical hero and villain types. Punditry I do feel is a great part of our sports broadcasts as these people generally tend to be well respected and have expert knowledge about the game. Proliferating media outlets have helped to feed the development of a real celebrity sporting culture.

Much sports broadcasting generally remains a form of journalism, but it is also informed by a mix of values drawn from television entertainment conventions. Personally however I feel that over the last few years, sports broadcasting has been slightly less journalistically driven and increasingly populated the sporting stars. Football especially tends to be driven by soft opinion rather that hard analysis. It sometimes seems that they are promoting the sport rather reporting, investigating and analysing.

Sport as whole to me is fascinating. Live sport on television is turned into drama; there is tension, thrills, and a general real spectacle to be had when watching.  I agree much with what  Rupert Murdoch once expressed – that “sport overpowers film and everything else in the entertainment industry“

Business prospects…

After a morning spent in a team being set the task of creating a TV/Radio station idea I have realised that the idea of creating a business is actually more realistic than one may think .

To talk amongst a small group discussing, debating and analysing different business ideas and opinions actually enables some pretty inventive things to be created. This can literally be done within a matter of minutes. I was extremely pleased with the idea that we created.

Of course the depth to creating an actual business is going to be somewhat intense and have many avenues that need to be considered. However once an idea has been developed, with the right knowledge and financial support (which I admit may well be tough in this economic situation) something may well actually be able to be materialised.

My team and I are now contemplating how we will take our idea to the next level. I am not going to let onto what the idea is because you readers may think it is that good that you may steal it…

I just wanted to write a small blog expressing that if you take a basic idea i.e. a radio station and you get your creative juices flowing then you may well surprise yourself with what you come up with! Voila!

Radio – A blind medium? I think not.

I have been getting increasingly frustrated with hearing assumptions and negative comments spoken about on the subject of radio.

It is not boring, it has not had its day and it certainly is not ‘undoubtedly better’ than television. The opinions that I hear on radio itself seem to come from that of little consideration about what the medium actually is.

It seems to be a somewhat stereotyped opinion from those who clearly lack any substantial knowledge about the media world that we are embedded in. What I cannot seem to understand is how so many seem oblivious to the fact that radio has the gift to affect an audience in such a way that no other media form can, especially when it comes the the genre of radio drama; which clearly is one of the most unappreciated literary forms of the last twenty five years.

CSR FM

Compared with that of television, one would assume that due to the obvious fact that radio lacks visual stimulus there is no way that it can be as ‘compelling’ and varied as what is broadcast on the television.With a never ending source of images that seek to shock, influence, entertain and teach constantly on our screens, to think that radio could do exactly the same is sure to be seen as plain stupidity by the majority.

My opinion however is quite the opposite. Radio offers a very different theatrical effect, an effect which I feel is one of the most interesting, as well as being one of the most influential. It most assuredly is not a blind medium.

Seeing with the eye… and seeing with the ear…

Thinking philosophically, what difference is there between seeing with the eye and seeing with the ear? Blind people can still see, they still have the ability to imagine what is going on around them, and create their own visual sense as it were. Other human senses allow them to interpret their surroundings. Sight is a minute part of the human experience.

Feeling and emotion are surely as important to true life fulfillment; without them what would we as human beings be?

This is where my theory comes in to play – radio (especially radio drama) has the ultimate ability to delve deeply into human feelings and emotions, so much more so than television or film. The entire imaginative spectacle can be influenced – there are no limitations; by which I am suggesting that taste, sound, smell and visual can all be created just from hearing even a simple sound.

What is so fantastic about radio is that because we are only using our ears to consume the source, each individuals interpretation will differ in a variety of ways.

The sound that we as an audience hear from our speakers is entering into the subliminal mind of the human being, creating an almost dream like experience, a visual show ground that goes on for eternity.

Therefore when considered further it would make sense to say that radio encourages us to have far more active involvement with the source being listened to deep within our ever so complicated minds, especially when comparing it to that of television, where an often passive trance appears to take over the viewer.

Experimenting on the airwaves

Sound experimenting

I do not want to bore you with lists of sounds that are used within radio and the ones that I particularly feel from experience have an incredible dramatic effect, especially again in the case of radio drama, but I do want to stress that the list really is never ending.

There is always the opportunity to experiment with sound to create a new emotional adventure.

All sounds that we hear have a hue, they have a spectrum of nature just as fine art does, therefore each individual encounters something that no other person will. How fantastic is that? We are allowed to let our minds run wild and create as insane or normal vision as we wish. We see no barrier as is experienced when watching a screen.

So there we have it, radio is extraordinarily far from being a blind medium. Instead of waking up in the morning and glueing your eyes to GMTV or BBC Breakfast, try switching to a radio station and think about what you have read in this blog – you may be surprised. Your imagination may even thank you for it.