Sportscall
Contents |
Host
Danny Baker (original host)
Jamie Theakston (regular stand-in)
Broadcast
BBC Radio 5, 2 September 1990 to 25 March 1994
BBC Radio Five Live, 2 April 1994 to 2000 (independent production in final years)
Synopsis
Sportscall was originally created as a cheap piece of radio to fill the gap between Radio 5's Saturday morning children's programes and the afternoon's sports commentaries. Items included the phone-in quiz, alphabet quiz, archive quiz and sudden death quiz. It soon emerged that listeners weren't tuning in for the games - no, people were tuning in because the presenter, Danny Baker, was making the show entertainment, even for people who didn't really like sport.
In 1991, Baker was given an after-match phone-in show, 606, and became Radio 5's breakfast presenter in 1992. He moved to Radio 1 in late 1993, creating a vacancy for the lunchtime sports quiz. Dominik Diamond turned out to be the presenter to continue in Baker's footsteps. Already a familiar voice from Gamesmaster, Diamond expanded the programme's range, making it as much a commentary on the week's sports news as a phone-in quiz.
Diamond hosted a spin-off show, Newscall, which was not renewed after a four-week broadcast pilot in 1994. He remained with the original programme until it came to a natural end in 2000.
