Radio Le Mans

[Radar]

Is it just me, or is Radio LM becoming increasingly pointless? Lots of anoraky chat about how wonderful the Deltawing was or how many laps of fuel the Pointless Entry in GT AM took on board at its last pitstop, but very few race updates. Time and time again I turned it on wanting to know what was actually happening in the race, only to turn it off again 20 minutes later none the wiser. It's a shame, because they're great for all the buildup before the event, but during the race they fell short.

[Steve TTTD]

The signal seemed quite weak this year....
It was constantly dropping out and was  swamped at times by what appeared to be a radio rebroadcast of what the announcer was saying over the tannoy system.
This was on Bleu Nord, down by the Start/Finish line I was getting no signal for most of the day.

[termietermite]

a radio rebroadcast of what the announcer was saying over the tannoy system.

That sounds like the French version, Steve, the UK version is on a different frequency.  IMHO, it's a great deal more informative, except when Bruno is up on the podium at the end when he completely loses it and behaves like a prat who has no idea how loud the system is when  the cars stop competing with it.  The more my French has improved over the years, the more respect I have for him and his colleagues.  It's a constant update of who is where, who is in which car and what is happening on track in all the classes.  The best bit about RLM this year was the feed from the race director which was excellent.  I don't know if this carried on after quali' as I only listened for half an hour or so while I was sitting in my car behind the grandstand.

[Steve TTTD]

Must admit Termie, even though I can only understand about 5% of what Bruno is saying, his level of enthusiasm does 'Shine through'...

[slash]

Myself and another member of The Murvi Crew used to work on RLM during the 90's, and we have discussed the decline of this once great service at length. In short we have decided that it is now an American language sevice, targeted at internet listeners in the States, not an English language station for those wanting to know what is happening at the track.

The hourly updates are so confused, as to be no use, in fact we took to listening to the English language update on the French station, a situation RLM was set up to prevent.

Too much air time was given to sponsors thoughts and whims, gone are the Mad Friday campsite tours, no music you would care to listen to, no news bulletins from home, and precious little information about activity on the track because it is assumed that it is being listened to along with the TV feed.

Graham Tyler's absense was very noticable, let's hope he is back next year and offers some respite from the corperate musings that replaced him.

Trussers as always did a sterling job, he simply doesn't have the people around him to allow his knowledge and insight to come out.

Don't misunderstand me, I appreciate that money must be made, sponsors sought and satisfied, and professional staff paid. Unfortunately they have lost sight of the reason they are there in the first place, to keep us at the circuit informed.

End of rant!

[Nordic]

Agree 100% with Slash.

Why are there 2 yanks on the station? (Lancia LC5 ffs) and the girl reporting from the pit lane seemed clueless to the point of comedy.

The station used to serve the people there, but the focus has shifted to those at home imho. Its still good and useful, but not to the same degree as it used to be if your actully onsite.

[ukcobra]

The signal seemed quite weak this year....
It was constantly dropping out and was  swamped at times by what appeared to be a radio rebroadcast of what the announcer was saying over the tannoy system.
This was on Bleu Nord, down by the Start/Finish line I was getting no signal for most of the day.

Agreed, my usual Radio that has served me well for a number of years almost got chucked in the bin, there appeared to be a lot of crossover from a French channel at the back of the pits, and  a lower quality signal in the MB campsite. I will try a BlackBerry with FM built in next year.

[geoffd]

The signal seemed quite weak this year....
It was constantly dropping out and was  swamped at times by what appeared to be a radio rebroadcast of what the announcer was saying over the tannoy system.
This was on Bleu Nord, down by the Start/Finish line I was getting no signal for most of the day.

Agreed, my usual Radio that has served me well for a number of years almost got chucked in the bin, there appeared to be a lot of crossover from a French channel at the back of the pits, and  a lower quality signal in the MB campsite. I will try a BlackBerry with FM built in next year.

Yup I pretty much gave up trying to listen at the track, but it was fine in the car, and, maybe because of the arial, it still worked at our hotel which must be a good ten miles from the track, whereas my little radio I've been using for years was pretty much useless most of the time.

[monkey]

This subject pops up every year the week after the race. One year RLM actually got sort of involved and said they would improve the relevance of the coverage for those of us fortunate enough to be trackside. They didn't - I don't even carry a radio now and haven’t for the last three/four years - though do listen to RLM in the car while moving round the various viewing areas during the race (its traditional). The diamond vision screens made it possible to no longer need to try to get any meaningful information from the RLM ramblings - thank goodness.

RLM was a life safer in the 1980's and 1990's and for that I thank them. But now it serves those not lucky enough to be at the circuit and I wish them well with that for the future.

Monkey.

[JPS Beemer]

There I was thinking I was just being grumpy.  But we all had the same discussion that RLM focused less on the actual race this year than ever before.

It really has turned into a back-slapping social for the team, talking incessantly about their passion for the race and how it is a part of their fabric.  But simultaneously failing to deliver any meaningful updates on the race itself.

I still found it necessary as the large TVs have taken to showing the positions in much smaller writing which I can't see!

I just wish Kangaroo TV would come back.

[Lazy B'stard]

I'm quite suprised by some of the comments here. Ok, I wasn't trackside this year and I see that most gripes were from folk who were, so I can't comment from that perspective.

I've followed the race either trackside or at home for the last ten years with RLM and have always found the broadcasts to be excellent. This year, for me it was just as good. Yes, I missed Graham Tyler too and thought the new presenter (Shea??) to be not so great but it was her first time. She certainly had enthusiasm though and genuinely appeared to be in love with the place. Let's see how she gets on next year before we slate her?

The Yanks, Chuck Dressing and Jim Roller are to me part and parcel of the LM experience. I listened to them when I was a green first timer and really enjoyed their output. They love that race and it really shows. Sure there were a few cock ups but it's tough getting everything right over such a length of time.

Hindy and Trussers were a great as ever and I'm an anorak too and like to know geeky facts about tyre wear and how much fuel goes in.

The hourly updates give just the right level of info on who is leading, and also consider that if at home you usually have the timing screens up on your laptop, or if at the track you have the big screens. It's not hard to know who is doing what.

Of course there now needs to be sponsors, just as in the race, it's all gone corporate and you can no longer broadcast from an old stinky Eldis caravan round the back of the tribunes- it all costs and has to be paid for somehow. I remember my first trip almost ten years ago with the constant adverts for some German Bank, so we should be used to it by now. Try listening to the commentary on Eurosport and the constant rotation of the same 6 adverts for 24 hours and you will soon find RLM as the lesser evil.

No doubt the ACO make things harder and harder or RLM, as mentioned in another thread before the race. I can also imagine getting the sponsors to pay for everything, and the spiralling costs of the technology involved makes me ever more grateful that RLM continues. It would be so easy for them to walk away!

Personally I think they did a great job again this year and should be getting credit, not grumblings. The whole experience would be poorer without them.

Si

[Lawnmower Man]

I found that I would get crossover from time to time.  But in general I found reception OK.  I use a pretty old Sony radio that is hand tuned rather than a digital turner once tuned in I put tape over the knobs to spot them moving. As for the quality of the commentary well I found that it came in handy to back up the Star Vision screens.

I rather have RML than nothing at all. 

Also it costs nothing and you don't get much for nothing these days.  :-)

t.

[monkey]

Personally I think they did a great job again this year and should be getting credit, not grumblings. The whole experience would be poorer without them.

Si
[/quote]




All fair points Si - and if I wasn't trackside I would tune in to RLM in an effort to get some of the feeling for what I would be missing. But to me anyway as a must have at trackside? NA - I am happier not listening to it - the incessant ramblings drove me nuts to be honest.

But that's fine - as I mentioned above by targeting their commentary toward those not at the race then RLM has moved on - and as a result, so have I.

[Fran]

I thought it was ok this year as a home listener (apart from a small glitch when I accidentally turned the sound off RLM and on for another feed that I had open (possibly the Audi website) and things all got a bit dry and technical!!).

There were a few times when they seems to miss their hourly updates (and commented as such) but by and large it gave me enough info for my needs - which are few!

One thing I did notice though was that they very quickly went off air after the end of the race... I know I usually am still listening to it whilst heading away from the track and they have a bit of a tired and emotional round up of the weekends events...

F

[Lawnmower Man]

One thing I did notice though was that they very quickly went off air after the end of the race... I know I usually am still listening to it whilst heading away from the track and they have a bit of a tired and emotional round up of the weekends events...

F

Yes it was off air as we left BN at 16:00 not even the music tape or what ever it's called.

t.