Friday 23 May 2008

Last week, this week

So our time on the airwaves is almost over. Two shows down and one to go. Last week went really well, everything worked well (except the phones, natch) and Dave sounded good, and the banter was better than in the first week.

Hal was a good guest, and the music game was tighter after we cut it down to 3 goes each. And I won, so that was good. Yay.

This week we'll have Dave in again to talk about the European Cup final and the Monaco GP, and we'll also be taking a quick look ahead to the Olympics, as well as hopefully having another uni sports star in the studio with us, although this is as yet unconfirmed. The speedway package we did a few weeks ago should finally be aired too, after we've not had time for it the last two weeks!

The FM transmitter has been turned off now so you can only get us on utopiafm.net, at the same time, 7-9 on Sunday night.

I'm sure we'll have something special planned for the end of the show too because we're the penultimate show of the broadcast.

PS Make sure you text in for your five seconds of fame! Text FM followed by your message to 07766 40 41 42.

Friday 16 May 2008

This Week...

On this show this Sunday...

- We'll reflect on the 127th FA Cup final, as Portsmouth or Cardiff go all out to win the trophy for a second time.

- It's been a week since the end of the Premier League season, so we'll take a considered look at Sunderland's first season back in the top flight and look at what Roy Keane needs to do in the summer. Sunderland fan David Allison will be with us in the studio to talk all things SAFC.

- Was Kevin Keegan right when he said no amount of money could help Newcastle break into the top four? We'll speak to Ryan McKnight, editor of FC Business magazine, the trade magazine for the football industry in the UK, about football finance as clubs prepare to splash the cash this summer. Check FC Business magazine out online at www.fcbusiness.co.uk

- After 8pm, we're joined live in the studio by Sunderland University student Hal Ridge who's our Uni Sports Star this week. Hal's a rising star in the motor sport rally cross and hopes to race in the European Championships later this year. Find
out more about Hal online at www.halridge.com.

- We'll bring you the report from our recent visit to the Speedway at Newcastle.

- There's also another round of the hugely popular Music Game - the quiz that combines music with sport.

- And some great songs as well, including a cracker from Simon Webbe!

That's Sporting Heads, live on 87.7 Utopia FM in Sunderland and across the world on the web at utopiafm.net.

Join us this Sunday from 7pm!

Matt

Wednesday 14 May 2008

1 down, 2 to go!

Well we were on air on Sunday night from 7-9 on 87.7 Utopia FM and utopiafm.net, and despite humongous technical problems, we think it went quite well.

The phones wouldn't work so we couldn't do the interviews we'd lined up, and a couple of times we had to play back-to-back songs because we were trying to sort out the computer.

We also ran out of time because we didn't keep to our schedule. It's funny really, we originally planned to be a discussion show and because we came up with so many great feature ideas the discussion kind of got put on the back-burner. But some of our features weren't ready or we couldn't do them for whatever reason, so we ended up back as a discussion show!

Which worked quite well. Matt did his prompting well and Shaun managed to sound almost knowledgable. Of course, I was the shining light, 'funny and engaging', reviewed a friend, but that was always going to be the case.

Maybe next week I'll let the other two have some of the spotlight!

Vish was fantastic, told some great stories and it was a good half-hour of the show. To be honest, we could have gone on all night. This week we have my old flatmate Hal, who will be just as good no doubt.

Jamie.

PS Remember to tune in on Sunday night from 7-9 on 87.7 Utopia FM and Utopiafm.net.

Tuesday 6 May 2008

New news!

Last night we took a trip to Newcastle Stadium to watch some speedway. What is speedway, I hear you cry? It's a motor sport. On bikes. To find out any more you'll have to listen to the show on Sunday night at 7 on 87.7 Utopia FM and utopiafm.net. But it's a really good evening out, the riders were friendly, the people at the track were great to us and we got some fantastic material for the show.

The whole point of the out-and-about feature is that we can present to you sporting activities that are available within half an hour of Sunderland, and speedway fitted into that criteria well. It was a real family-run affair, and it was noticable how amicable the atmosphere was, even with some pantomime booing of a former Newcastle rider that was riding for the visitors from Glasgow (or Edinburgh as Shaun kept referring to them all night). It's all Greek to him. Or Scottish.

Here's some pictures from the night, taken by our expert photographer Shaun (although he managed to not get any of the bikes in action!):

The crowd filing into Newcastle Stadium















Matt talking to the stadium announcer

















The riders walking onto the track















The bikes preparing for the first race

Monday 28 April 2008

Update

Sorry about the lack of action, we've had issues over the show times (don't ask - it's not our fault..) and had trouble getting together as a trio to work on the show.

Unfortunately there's been no podcast as yet, but we should hopefully get one up this week and one next in time for the show going on air.

We've got some really exciting things lined up, and we can't wait for you to get to hear them.

Here are the final, completely confirmed (we hope) show details.

Sunday May 11th - 7-9pm - First Sporting Heads show, live on 87.7 Utopia FM - featuring an interview with Lancashire cricket starlet and Sunderland student Vishal Tripathi.
Sunday May 18th - 7-9pm - Second Sporting Heads show, live on 87.7 Utopia FM - featuring Sunderland student rally driver Hal Ridge live in the studio.
Sunday May 25th - 7-9pm - Final Sporting Heads show, live on utopiafm.net ONLY.

This is really important. All shows will be live online, but only the first two will be broadcast through the FM transmitter. We've also lost a show, again, this is not our fault.

We're a bit pissed off to be honest about all the cock-ups, but there's not much we can do other than crack on and make the show the best we can.

That's all for now, we'll let you know when there's more news. Hopefully we'll have a podcast up for your aural pleasure.

Cheers,

Jamie.

Tuesday 18 March 2008

It's not just footy..

..I couldn't help but notice that Shaun's blog centred around football and pretty much ignored everything else!

But we do follow other sports and will be discussing them on the show.

Shaun's a mad keen rugby league fan and I take an interest in most sports, particularly snooker and tennis. Well, women's tennis at least...

As for Matt, well Matt knows about all sorts of random things! He might even fill you in on himself at some point. If you're lucky.

Anyway, we're hoping to get a podcast recorded and sorted soon, before the spring break (woop woop) with any luck.

Catch you later,

Jamie.

Friday 14 March 2008

The Issues....

Alright everyone. Sporting Heads is the newest show on Utopia FM. I think it's the first time there's ever been a dedicated sports show on the station so already we're breaking boundaries.

In this blog I just want to outline briefly what to expect from us. We'll start with Matt.

Matt is our resident Newcastle fan, he knows all the facts and figures about any Premiership game - he's just that kind of guy! Unfortunately, he doesn't believe in life outside the Big League, so he doesn't have the greatest knowledge on that front.

Next is Jamie. Jamie is sarcastic and opinionated. He is our resident Championship expert, although he does have a general knowledge of most other leagues. He has an opinion about most things, and he is usually very hard to budge from it!

And then theres me, I am the brains behind it all! I have knowledge on the Premiership (as do most football fans) but I also have knowledge on the Blue Square Premiership, where my home town team, York, currently find themselves.

We want to know what you think about anything to do with the show. Let us know, our email address is sportingheads@hotmail.co.uk, or leave a comment on here, or find us on facebook!

Monday 10 March 2008

Welcome to Sporting Heads!

This feels incredible. I'm almost a complete newcomer to radio, and I'm going to be live throughout May as part of the Sporting Heads team! Amazing.

This blog will document our exploits as we go about producing the show.

The show will go out Sunday nights from 7-9pm on Utopia 87.7 FM, and you will be able to listen online and via your wireless box if you are lucky enough to live in the Sunderland area.

Let's face it, we have to be more appealing than Heartbeat.

Soon we will be doing podcasts for the show which you will be able to get on iTunes - how exciting is that!

We're open to ideas you may have for the show. The basic premise is that it will be a sports discussion show rounding up the week's action and looking forward to the next week's action, as well as discussion of key issues in sport and some nice light features to break up the chitter-chatter. We might even be allowed to play some nice music, but we're not in charge of that, which is probably a good thing with Matt and Shaun involved...

I'll sign off for now, Matt, Shaun and I will all be using this blog regularly, happy reading, and happy listening!

Jamie.

PS - Please comment on the blog. It makes us feel loved.