Post
by Hadrian » Mon Nov 28, 2022 5:14 pm
Cumbria remains as a ceremonial county with a Lord Lieutenant, even though the new unitary authorities will run local government. Neither has 'county' in their title - Westmorland & Furness Council and Cumberland Council.
This choice of names is unfortunate as neither council's area equates to the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (even with the addition of not only Furness but also Cartmel - which jointly form historic Lancashire North of the Sands - and a tiny portion of the West Riding).
This is similar to Lancashire remaining a historic county although Lancashire County Council covers a relatively small part of it - naming has muddied the waters. Still, those of a mischievous bent may be planning to erect a sign on the A6 seven miles from the centre of Carlisle in April saying 'Welcome to Barrow' and to remind residents of Penrith and Alston that BAFC is their council area's only Football League team.
Once BBC Radio Carlisle became BBC Radio Cumbria, there was expansion of coverage with studios at Barrow, Kendal and, er, Brockhole joining those at Whitehaven and Carlisle, which gained a prestigious, new, purpose-built studio complex but, over the years, all have closed and opt-outs on both AM and FM in the south of the county have been lost, leaving Carlisle as the sole centre of output.
With a largely Carlisle-orientated staff, (note, though that the news editor and a senior news journalist are from the Barrow area) this has caused issues of various sorts at times. Typical examples would be references to 'Roose Road - in Barrow', 'Mirehouse - in Whitehaven', 'Nether Bridge - in Kendal' whereas the likes of 'Botchergate', 'Lowry Hill' and 'Eden Bridge' tended to pass muster without qualification. This situation has improved in recent years, given the promotion of awareness of what might be termed (probably only by me) of 'casual townism'. Sometimes even the late morning/lunchtime presenter remembers the memo.
As for football, we have had good service from BBCRC over the years at our varying levels of non-league. It was a pity that, following Ron Duxbury's time in the commentator's seat, we tended to have commentary from people not from Furness. Like Ron, some of these, were very good - I would pick out James Phillips and Matt Newsum, the former being perhaps the first person to suggest that promotion under Daz and Dave could happen, despite Barrow only just fighting their way out of the bottom third of NLN at the time while the latter's short stint culminated in our second Wembley win.
We are now in the position of having a Barrow voice in the commentary box with Adam Johnson who maintains a quality service with enthusiasm and clearly good knowledge and preparation. Naturally, I tend not to hear home commentaries too often with John Goodwin in the co-commentator seat but when I do, or when JG ventures to away games, I enjoy his interpretation of the game and his amusing, throw-away remarks. Someone should be collecting them.
So, why is there a split between those who plough the 'Little Barrow' furrow (We should be grateful for our coverage or We wouldn't do as well with Radio Lancs) and those who perceive our imbalance, as a League side, with the country cousins beyond the hills?
I think we are grateful for our coverage; I certainly am. Is it better than Gillingham get from BBC Radio Kent, Exeter from BBC Radio Devon or Swindon from BBC Radio Wiltshire? Probably not.
What about perceived imbalance with coverage of Carlisle? Harder to be sure. When both teams are playing, the pre-match and post-match segments appear to favour Carlisle. Perhaps I am an over-sensitive Barrow fan? (OK, no 'perhaps'...)
If there is, then why so? It likely comes down to the Saturday programme being
presented from Carlisle, sometimes from Brunton Park itself with Carlisle-based presenter, commentator and summariser able to chip in. On a Tuesday evening with both teams playing, the programme tends be presented by the Carlisle commentator (a full-time member of staff) from whichever ground he is commentating in. In such circumstances, complete balance of coverage may be difficult to achieve.
Anyone really bothered and wanting to establish the 'facts' could select, say, a few recent post-match segments from BBC Sounds, note which, if either, of the sides is being discussed each time the minute on the screen ticks over and let us all know their findings. The results will surely be interesting.
Hmmm by sticking to facts and not fiction it’s bound to ultimately cause more friction.
