Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
Steve Ryder to host ITV F1
-
06-03-2006 2:29pm#1
Comments
-
-
-
-
I'm delighted Steve Rider is the new presenter and I think most of the hardcore F1 fans who watch ITV's coverage will be to. In actual fact, back in late 1996 when ITV were putting together the team for the start of their F1 coverage the following year, Steve Rider was offered very big bucks to leave the BBC and join ITV as the host of their F1 coverage. Having been the host of a lot of the BBC's F1 and motorsport coverage in the past, ITV figured it would be a good idea to keep the same familar figures that the F1 fans had grown accustomed to. Hence why a lot of the BBC team at the time (Murray Walker, Tony Jardine and Simon Taylor from BBC Radio 5 Live) were asked to jump ship and join up with ITV's new F1 line-up. However, despite the big bucks offer and a lot of requests from F1 fans to Steve to join ITV (at one presentation at the Autosport show in 1997 where he was the host, for example, he got a severe questioning about the issue and a lot of encouragement by fans to also jump ship to ITV), he decided to remain loyal to the BBC and stayed with them.
So, finally, almost 10 years on from when it originally should have happened, it finally has happened and Steve Rider is once again at the helm of the F1 show. And I for one am very happy at that news. Unlike Jim "The Count" Rosenthal, who's real interest lies in football and boxing, Steve Rider is a huge motorsport fan and, in fact, was also responsible behind the scenes in encouraging the BBC to increase it's coverage of both Formula 1 and other motorsports as a whole over the years. He was one of the people who pushed very strongly for the BBC to cover some of the British Touring Car races live, for example.
I will give credit where it's due, though. At the beginning, Jim Rosenthal was pretty dire as an F1 presenter, it must be said. He didn't know his arse from his elbow, it always seemed as if he would rather have been somewhere else and always seemed to be sitting there just waiting to get a plug in for some upcoming football match. But, towards the end, he did improve a hell of a lot as a presenter and he wasn't half bad by the end. However, as soon as ITV got the rights back for some of the big-time boxing matches, it was inevitable he was going to want to go back to that at some point, and this was demonstrated at last year's Belgian Grand Prix when Angus Scott had to stand in for him because he was covering a boxing match the previous evening. But the timing has all seemed to work out fine because, with Jim returning to boxing and football and Steve Rider becoming increasingly despondant at the BBC and finally leaving, we now have a frontman who really is an F1 fan at heart. And that can only be an improvement. Plus, hopefully Rider will be an influence behind the scenes at ITV, just as he was at the Beeb, and bring a lot of fresh ideas to the table in developing ITV's F1 coverage further.
By the way, what did everyone make of ITV's new F1 title sequence? Saw it during the preview show over the weekend. I thought I was watching the start of a Bond film or something!
What with all those shots of girls in tight, silver catsuits dancing around with chequered flags, F1 cars racing around roulette wheels and even David Coulthard dressed in a tuxedo! I suppose they did that bit to try and give it that extra bit of a Bond-esque feel about it, I guess. Though, they should have at least gotten him to shave if they were going to dress him up, don't you think? What's the point of sticking him in a tux if he's going to have tramp-like stubble all over his face? 0 -
-
Advertisement
-
Have to admit, this whole Button thing of ITV's is a bit annoying alright. But, then again, they've been pushing Button as the saviour of British hopes in F1 ever since he came into it in 2000. Even when David Coulthard was at McLaren and was still competitive and winning races for them, ITV seemed to almost ignore that and continued to push Button as the big British hope. As they have continued to do over the past six years, even though he has yet to win a race! Certainly can get on your nerves at times. :mad:
By the way, for those of you who missed the preview show over the weekend (or for those of you who don't have ITV but are just curious!
), here's the new opening title sequence. When you watch it you'll see what I was talking about when I said it looks like the start of a James Bond film!
http://www.f1archives.co.uk/Intro-2006-ITV.avi0 -
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
dinjo wrote:I was not aware that Steve Ryder had done so much work with the BBC promoting motorsport, i like the sound of a fella who really loves the sport presenting the program, compared to Jim Rosenthal who always looked like he was only there for the money....
Yeah, Steve Rider is a very big motorsport fan and did a lot of pushing behind the scenes at the Beeb over the years for them to take motorsport more seriously and increase it's coverage of it. For example, as I said before, he was the one who wanted to see live coverage of BTCC races and pushed very hard for that. In fact, if you read Murray Walker's autobiography, he mentions that it was probably the one thing himself and Rider ever actually disagreed on. Murray felt that the heavily-edited, very fast-paced highlights the BBC were showing at the time were perfect for showcasing the best of the BTCC and he felt it was that type of coverage which had made it's popularity rise significantly over the years. He felt that the public loved the fast, frenetic, "crash-bang-wallop" racing the heavily-edited highlights showed and that showing the races live wouldn't be as exciting to watch for the fans as often there could be several laps with no incidents whatsoever which were usually edited out of the highlights. Steve Rider, however, felt that live coverage would make people take the BTCC more seriously and see it as a serious form of motorsport and not just an expensive, glorified form of banger racing! Also, he felt that the racing was good enough in itself and that it would still look exciting enough live without having to be heavily edited to artificially make it look exciting.
Therefore, when the Beeb lost the F1 contract at the end of 1996, Rider saw that as a perfect opportunity for the BBC to really start promoting and pushing the BTCC as the "exciting alternative to F1". So, from 1997 onwards, they started showed several of the races each season live but, to be honest, I think the general consensus has been that live coverage of the BTCC (on both the BBC to begin with and now on ITV and Motors TV) has been a bit hit-and-miss. There often seems to be a couple of laps where all hell is breaking loose and then things seems to quieten down and nothing happens for several laps. Then things might pick up again and there might be another few exciting incidents before it seems to quieten down again until maybe the last few laps of the race when drivers try a few last gasp passing moves towards the end. Compare that to the way the BTCC used to be shown in the heavily-edited highlights where it seemed to be action all the way and you can see how Murray may have had a point all along. Having said that, getting the opportunity to be able to sit back and watch live motor racing (other than the big events like F1 and MotoGP) is always something fans seem to enjoy so I guess you can say it has both it's pros and cons.
During his time at the Beeb, Steve Rider also pushed for increased coverage of F1 and from 1994 or so onwards often attended a lot of the European races as the live host. In fact, I'll never forget him coming on screen a couple of hours after Senna's crash at the San Marino Grand Prix and making the announcement to the world that Senna had died in hospital. That's probably the most significant memory I have of him as the F1 presenter during his time at the BBC. Let's hope the day never comes again where we see him coming on ITV to make a similar announcement.
It's ironic in a way that, after Rider spent several years lobbying for the BBC to give Formula 1 the serious treatment it deserved, they had actually planned to do so in 1997. They went ahead and built a multi-million pound mobile studio and outside broadcast unit that they were going to use at all the European races and the coverage itself was going to be significantly overhauled and increased. Then, of course, they lost the rights to ITV for the '97 season onwards so Rider's dream of proper F1 coverage on the Beeb went down the drain. And what of that expensive, shiny new mobile studio/OB unit they had spent so much money on building? Yes, believe it or not, it's actually the very same one ITV used up until a couple of years ago when they decided to relocate and do all the presenting in the paddock instead. Seems ITV either bought or hired it (I'm not sure which) from the BBC in the end for their own F1 coverage. Another little twist in the tale!
By the way, just wondering, does anyone else remember Steve Rider driving the Volvo (I think it was) touring car a few years ago and having a bit of an embarassing off and putting it into the gravel! Because I certainly do! 0 -
-
-
-
Ay Cee wrote:Aidan, I have reason to believe you may in fact be Steve Ryder
I'm afraid not, Ay Cee. Besides, I can't stand golf (Rider's other major passion)! So that blows your theory right out of the water!
Wish I was him, though. What a great job it must be, getting to travel around the world to all the Grand Prix's and having the opportunity to get up close and personal with all the teams and drivers and behind the scenes stuff. And all the while actually getting paid a handsome amount to do all this! I think most of us would probably do it for free! What a life, eh? Yeah, I wish I was him alright!
No, Ay Cee, I just happen to have a major interest in all things to do with motorsport, even down to what a lot of people would consider trivial or boring like television rights and things. Take a look at my sig for the reason why. I really do seem to fit that description as I definitely am one of those people who, when they take an interest in something (like, in my case, motorsport), really engrosses themselves in it and reads up on it and soaks up every little aspect of the subject in question, to the point where they end up knowing so much more than their mates that they often end up boring them to death when they get started!
Anyway, I could go on and on and continue to bore all of you to death with more stories regarding the development of TV coverage of F1 over the years but I think I've bored you all enough already so I'll shut up now! 0 -
-
Advertisement