[LM24] Radio Le Mans 2007 - How Was it For You?

[johngee]

Originally Posted by Trussers

Anyone remember Jean-Charles Laurens, who used to do it in the seventies / eighties? A little easier to listen to, but just as enthusiastic.

Paul Truswell

Paul. Yes - I remember him well and, like you, didn't he keep going for the entire 24 hours? .

Thanks for all you efforts on RLM - they really are appreciated by so many people

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by johngee

Thanks for all you efforts on RLM - they really are appreciated by so many people

I agree ...I mean...Martin Short was reduced to tears because RLM asked all those listening to them talking to him in the pits to give him a cheer...and suddenly the whole (or majority) of the Total stand which we were in and those in the pouring rain in front of those stands gave him a standing ovation...proves we are listening ...proves it works...proves its needed ....keep up the good work...can I be a female reporter from the pits next year??

Claire x

[hindy]

First let me say a big thanks to all the team for their efforts.

It seem that many of the points raised have been covered by other posters so here's just a quick summary of the main ones;

Updates - we took a huge amount of flak last year for the length and amount of info they contained. This year we had the Update voiced from London by our broadcast partners to the format that was suggested to us by the majority of listeners who expressed a preference. The information was as up-to-date as the ACO's internet timing screens. Please remember that up until recent times (2 or three years ago) we used to have the positions from the previous completed hour read out on the half hour - so they were all at least 30 mins old. Retirements were done every 4 hours, with major drop outs covered in commentary and in interim updates. Latest positions and retirements were available on the RLM text service which was promoted at the end of every update. As a general rule of thumb, commentators mentioned the top overall and class positions, including gaps, every 15 mins.

Adverts - We aired only two spot ads this year - during race coverage they were on alternate hour rotation one was 30 seconds one was 50 seconds. That's an average of 40 secs per race hour - in the previous administration we used every second of the 3 mins 30 sec that French Radio regulations allow. We are constantly looking for ways to fund the station by other means other than spot ads. Hence feature programmes which are supported by our sponsors. Incidently the Nurburgring 24 hour coverage was an essential part of the RLM output this year for editorial and commercial reasons. I'm pleased that it was so well received, we hope to expand on it next year.

Commercial - Remember RLM is now NOT underwritten by anyone except ourselves. This is only our second year of running and financing the station. To raise the rights fees, pay the technical, transport, accomodation and other costs (including having to supply "neutral coloured" firesuits for our pit team for the first time) is a significant burden. One that the previous rightsholders, (a very large publishing house) felt they could not take on when they decided not to renew their contract with the ACO after the 2005 race.

Once again this year we have attracted new sponsors. Please look at the website www.radiolemans.com - support our sponsors and let them know you appreciate their investment in RLM.

Support Races - We only have a small team on site and on Saturday morning they are all either busy or preparing for a 30+ hour broadcast. We feel that to do the event justice we would need to employ extra talent. We tried very hard to find a sponsor for the Legends Race. Sadly no-one wanted to support any coverage of that great event. However we have identified several strong prospects for future years and I will be working hard to convert that for 2008.

News - Due to a techical issue with one of our partners we did not have news last year and it was criticised - rightly so I believe. Given that many of the onsite audience (including the teams) have been away from home for quite some time it is right that we should reflect what is happening in the rest of the world. As posters have pointed out this is not for the Internet but is a public service we provide for the listeners at the track. The 'clipping' of the first word or two at the start of the news that we experienced in the early part of the week was beyond our control as the news service was automated to us from London. Long story regarding delays on transmission, suffice to say the issue was addressed by our technical team.

Car Bits - we simply don't get the reqeusts for items like we used to - in fact it had been in decline since before we took over. Peopel don;t seem to lose things so often now either. Odd!

General - Last year all of the race was made available, free, for download from www.radiolemans.com. This year we have added the N24 coverage, more of the qualifying sessions and more of the interviews are broken out as stand alone download on demand items. There's a VERY evocative track (in stereo for the first time by the way) of the build up to the start of the race. Sound FX only.... play it - you are instantly back on the pit straight at five to the hour!!

I am very proud of the team - for 2007, in difficult conditions, Radio Le Mans produced over 100 hours of very high quality live broadcasting. I am delighted at the scope and nature of the feedback we received during and post broadcast. I have just re-read the 2005 threads - that was the year before we took over - the contrast in the comments is marked. I accept that we can always be better - RLM will (under our stewardship at least) always be a work in progress, reflecting changing tastes and hopefully keeping pace with new developments in the Race and in broadcast technology.

John Hindhaugh.

[Adam43]

John and Paul, thanks (again) for your responses.

I hope you take the critisisms as constructive and realise that the overall feeling is that RLM is excellent and that we are indebted to your hard work.

Originally Posted by hindy

General - Last year all of the race was made available, free, for download from www.radiolemans.com. This year we have added the N24 coverage, more of the qualifying sessions and more of the interviews are broken out as stand alone download on demand items. There's a VERY evocative track (in stereo for the first time by the way) of the build up to the start of the race. Sound FX only.... play it - you are instantly back on the pit straight at five to the hour!!

This is brilliant and over time will listen to most of it again! Of course, be sure to point out to them, that this means I am exposed to your sponsors for a second time!

[hindy]

All comments ARE indeed taken in the spirit they are offered. It is precisely because people feel so strongly about RLM that makes the station so special to be a part of.

JH

[Austinspace75]

Originally Posted by hindy

All comments ARE indeed taken in the spirit they are offered. It is precisely because people feel so strongly about RLM that makes the station so special to be a part of.

JH

Good on you John. And Paul. Its great to hear back from both of you on the things discussed here. Keep up the great job you're both doing, its hugely appreciated. The majority of listeners will remain silent, but I'm confident they feel exactly the same way as everyone who has contributed here. I think everyone knows that you guys feel the same way about the race and RLM as we punters do..... and that's what makes it so special as you say.

All the best for the future, I'll be turning up the volume again next year of course.

If you can just find a way to turn the volume of the cars back up, that'd be even better still!

[racerkeke]

As a commissaire I find RLM invaluable (altho your little radios don't work very well when waterlogged, surprisingly ). Just a request for future years if possible... if you plan to stick to the "update every 15" format that's great. If the opportunity exists to make the update at 15 to the hour a bit more comprehensive that would be very helpful to those of us going on and off shift at the top of the hour.

keke

[porsche45]

Well, late to the party. We just got back to the States after an extra 2 weeks post Le Mans. Thanks to RLM for the usual great work. I know I'll miss them when I get around to watching the recorded SPEED coverage.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by hindy

I am very proud of the team.

Absolutely right.

I for one freely admit that I do not know what I would do without you.

Long may RLM continue. Thank you.

[Joe Taylor]

As someone who was listening via the webstream, as usual, I found rlm informative and the presenters and pitlane team conveyed the action well. The only way I can think of making rlm better is for them to put out a dvd review of the race or find a wayto get rlm commentary on to the official one.

[Adam43]

Round about the late '80s and early '90s the commentary on the video was RLM. It was great.

[Trussers]

Originally Posted by AdamAshmore

Round about the late '80s and early '90s the commentary on the video was RLM. It was great.

'Twas thanks to the efforts of David Winstanley who put it all together. Talking to him about it made me realise how difficult it was to match the pictures to the RLM output. He said it was around three months solid work. By the time the video was ready, a lot of the interest has passed. Although years later, of course, who cares that the video wasn't available until October.

Nowadays, I have to believe that technology would make it easier, however, the ACO (or whoever holds the rights to the pictures) charge an enormous sum of money for the rights and I think that the costs of buying the TV pictures would make it prohibitively expensive.

Of course, if it were for home use only, there is nothing to stop you buying the official review, load it onto your PC, then download all the RLM output, and then matching the words to the pictures yourself. Burn it all onto a DVD and Bob's your uncle!

PT

[TWRv12]

Think Hindy sounds a bit tired on the Gareth Jones on Speed podacst