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Clare Balding may quit C4
Clare Balding may quit C4
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Replies: 123
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Gok Wan as a main presenter?? It's not April 1st,is it? Perhaps that Rylan bloke from Essex could provide a supporting role?
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Why not Terry Christian and Janet Street-Porter?
Should appeal to the yoof surely and perfectly fit C4's agenda of dumbing down racing in their slavish pursuit of increased ratings? |
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Janet Street-Porter is an Oldie now. At least she does say it as it is.
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Makybe_Diva 25 Aug 14 13:02
'If Matt Chapman took over, Channel 4 Racing ratings would soar!' ------------- WHY? The over-excitable - and, then - even more egotistical 'Motor-Mouth' - - would turn OFF as many people as you, incorrectly, assume he would excite. |
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Removing balding would have to be a positive move. Where the TV bosses get the idea that she is competent or professional or even liked by more than handful of viewers ive no idea.
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@Dotchinite -- Where the TV bosses get the idea that she is competent or professional or even liked by more than handful of viewers ive no idea.
Maybe they got that idea from the string of awards she has won for writing and broadcasting. She might not be your cup of tea, but she does at least know something about racing and can string a sentence together, which is more than can be said for some racing broadcasters. |
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ATRs won awards mate........
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She might know something about racing but it isnt a lot.
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Doesn't stop her condescending to every last person watching as if they not only know nothing about racing, but also have the mental age of about 30 seconds, imo...
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Agree with millhouse. Part of the problem with Clare Balding is she has carried over the exact same condescending presentation style that is a staple at the BBC. Also, C4 are too caught up in constantly selling horse racing to the viewer. There is also a real greyness about the presentation that doesn't help. I think Matt Chapman would be ideal and be a real breathe of fresh air.
Fitz, McGrath, Cunningham, Tanya - dull, dull, dull, pointless. |
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not a fan of chapman as all but must admit he would add a lot to that team like be a true racing fan
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Only in this sport could people be employed as 'experts' who have been shown to be conclusively incapable of achieving the task at hand, imo.
A bit like hiring a plumber that's guaranteed to flood your kitchen... |
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at least she,s won awards,
ant and dec x factor g norton etc,etc, the bars not set very high,were not talking olympic records to walk of with a gong,  |
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that swimmers father think he was s african and his off the cuff interview with balding and foster besides the pool at the olympics made balding a superstar,as the father was the star of the interview maybe its him who should be fronted our sports coverage,
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Does anybody watch horseracing any more?
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yep, he was the star - on the basis of being fat and saying 'unbelievable' over and over again.
that's all it takes to appeal to the masses these days... |
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@jonnyrant and to an extent @millhouse are right about the "selling" and to an extent the condescension but that is down to the producers not Clare Balding. It is not as if C4 Racing's style changes markedly when Nick Luck fronts it.
Write down a list of all the Channel 4 Racing presenters, then add the previous lot. Rank them on knowledge of racing, competence, condescension or anything else and I doubt you'd have Clare as worst on any single measure. The problem is the production. IMG and the producers are chasing the wrong audience and they are doing it badly. Carl Hicks has brought all the faults of BBC's staid, static and studio-bound racing programmes which are added to IMG's "human interest" angles for the non-racing audience. |
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lets hope so .. vile
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Ramruna she is a self promoting dreadfull woman she is even on to her 2nd condescending book for fek sake,she was
Abused as a child you Know (bork) my family didn't treat me like my brother (Bork) my fkin heart bleeds and as for knowing a lot about racing I just don't see it! |
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Claires got Lydia, Tanya and Emma licked.
Well she would like to have....... |
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She's a taker not a giver
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@tonkability -- I do not know Clare's life story so I'll take your word for it. I've not read her first book and have no desire to read the next one. Does she know about racing? Well, she's not applying to be chief handicapper at Timeform but she grew up in a racing stables and was an amateur rider. She must have learnt something along the way even if only which end the Polos go in. Does she know more than, say, Rishi or Alice, or from the old days, Tommo, Big Mac or Lesley Graham?
I don't particularly care if she stays or not, because nothing will improve until the producers admit there is a problem. CB is not the problem. That's why there are threads each week saying the Morning Line is pants or that C4 Racing is. They do not alternate with threads saying how brilliant each programme is when Clare is off doing the rugby or whatever. |
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Even if you accept that she is on a par with the names mentioned (in my opinion she might rival Lesley Graham and Alice Plunkett but that isn't really saying much) do you really believe she is on the same money? She has represented dire value from the moment the contract was signed.
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Just play some Julian Wilson recordings. That will do for me!
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There's so many reasons C4 racing is/has been going downhill fast.
They need to work out that 99% of viewers watch for one reason only - to have a bet - yet where are the pundits that actually gamble on the show? Julian Wilson and Peter O'Sullevan both loved a punt, and so could connect with the viewer by talking through a race from the perspective of the punter. Alistair Down and McCririck had the same qualities... I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine Clare Balding and Emma Spencer wouldn't be seen dead placing a bet on their fancy in the Wokingham. And Nick Luck hardly comes across as a hardened punter either. For me, Big Mac's input in the betting ring was the most important part of the show - I'd much rather hear the facts of how the market is shaping than a hundred opinions of various ex jockeys and bookies' PR men... yet who do they replace McCririck with? A woman with no communication skills whatsoever, even after all these years, she still stumbles over every sentence - the Irish guy at Royal Ascot was head and shoulders better than her, why do they persist with her? Lastly, the BHA have made every meeting bar chelt revolve around Saturdays, so theyre competing with every other sport going. What was wrong with the Craven meeting on tues-thurs? or RA on tues-fri? or god forbid, the Derby on a wednesday? That Wednesday in June was a massive public event that millions got involved in - now the average joe wouldnt know it was Derby Day from any other Saturday. Rant over.  |
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"......problem with Clare Balding is she has carried over the exact same condescending presentation style that is a staple at the BBC."
another problem, it just doesn't work having a part-time presenter, she is popping up on nearly every other damn programme, also supposed to be doing a Radio 2 Sunday morning show, but not doing it AGAIN this week or next week.... too much other stuff I imagine, she'll soon hold the record for least appearances on HER OWN SHOW ! She needs to focus on 1 or 2 things, I don't dis-like her but too much over-exposure ! |
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i just cannot stand the new ch4 prog . balding.. cunningham .. spencer .. fe mail ... fitzgerald and Luck are just tiresome .
THE DREAMTEAM ??? BOLOX  I only ever watch ruk or atr .... i find Jim Mc Grath the only one with any decent insight but more and more blockhead cunningham keeps butting in with his motormouth which is starting to annoy Jim |
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i find Jim Mc Grath the only one with any decent insight but more and more blockhead cunningham keeps butting in with his motormouth which is starting to annoy Jim... I totally agree with that Zealot
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C4 should have moved heaven and earth to keep John Francome onboard, great character, brilliant jockey and more proper insight into the world of horse racing, stewards strange thought processes etc. than most of us mere mortals and punters will ever have.
Also I think C4 pandered to public opinion and binned Big Mac far to quickly. He may have been a mysogynistic, snot-eating, ego-centric plastic black and white bastard ( I'm a mackem ) but at least the bloke was f*ckin interesting and genuinely knew what he was on about and had the punters interests at heart. Clares ok and a decent Doris but C4 racing is dull beyond belief nowadays, not her fault. One cant polish a turd..... |
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matt chapman..show him the money..
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Clare's ok ffsk give over she's a liability everybody I know who isn't even into racing can't stand the condescending
rug muncher she's everywhere , she even spoils the cycling through Britain programme which in my view would be a very good show without inane chatter . |
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The last time I watched C4 racing was the first race of the first day of the Cheltenham Festival. I gave up on it when it "introduced" the first race LESS than 2 mins to the off.
By that time I had had a gut full of totally inept production and I do not think the presenter in question is the problem. Very little is being done from a punter's perspective - and C4 that is your core viewer. Visits to the ring are all about - this horse/ that horse coming in for support whilst any idiot can see it is bookmakers tightening up odds. McCririck would be tamping at everything "coming in" [for alleged support and nothing "going out"] and the real controllers of the programme would have hated him for that. Tanya (nor Gleeson) are prepared to take this on (I doubt it has changed) Balding, or any other presenter, has no chance of making the current format a success. A set up "studio" does nothing for any atmosphere either - but having purchased the toy at the table they have to play with it (I bet they are still doing the same). One contributor's voice really irritated me too - guess who!!! The worst thing is - I don't think the show is interested in the views of the average punter. Has any average punter on here ever been asked by the show what they think? So we get to denigrate on a forum that "they" will not read but, worse, do not care. |
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The problem is the production. IMG and the producers are chasing the wrong audience and they are doing it badly. Carl Hicks has brought all the faults of BBC's staid, static and studio-bound racing programmes which are added to IMG's "human interest" angles for the non-racing audience.
That's it, in a nutshell. IMG/C4 have gone down the wrong path, but they're still not willing to admit it or do anything about it. Whether it is intentional or not, IMG have done a poor job of putting the horses and the betting of the day at the forefront of the programme, which is where it needs to be. The presentation of the segments about the betting are utterly woeful. I wasn't the biggest fan of McCririck in recent years, but he would actually be a vast improvement on what it has descended to of late. |
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Too excellent posts.
Why chase an audience that has no interest in this great sport whatsoever and no amount of Gok Wans etc are ever going to change that, they will never switch on. Personally I would rather lick my grannys minge than sit through the utter tedium that is Formula 1 and no amount of slick production would ever tempt me and it's the same with non-racing types, they simply dont care. So why alienate your core audience? |
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Drive. IMG are looking for a bigger audience by using the usual marketing techniques of aiming for a younger and female segment of the viewing public.
Unfortunately, since making the pitch to Channel 4, nobody is prepared to admit mistakes were made. Racing, as we all know on here, is a specialised market - a mix of punting minded individuals and genuine equine enthusiasts. What we see on screen at present appeals to neither of these groups - hence the rapid decline in viewing figures over the pass year. Whether C4 will take any remedial steps to put things right is a fascinating question. |
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The paradox is that even non-betting viewers need the same sort of information as punters (except perhaps the actual odds).
In order to watch racing, you need to have an opinion about what is likely to happen or what you want to happen -- based on form, pedigree, connections or Shergar Cup team. You need that opinion even if you are not betting, otherwise you are just watching brown quadrupeds run round a field. |
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Ramruna. Agreed. Whatever the motivation of watching horse racing, everyone has to have an opinion of the likely outcome, otherwise the sport becomes a pointless exercise.
So why does Channel 4 have such a massive line up of so-called experts ramming their subjective views down the viewer's throat? The production company has no understanding of this type of audience. The people at the top at IMG appear to see things in terms that racing-minded people are more or less the same sort of individuals who tune in to watch programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing or the X-Factor. Surely they must realise by now that horse racing is a specialised viewing subject in the extreme? Maybe not. |
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I think it's abundantly clear that they don't The Pinhooker.
Quite why they can't see the bleeding obvious is beyond me. |
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Isn't the problem that televised racing is in decline (along with many other sports). There are not enough devotees to justify the cost of good quality free-to-air coverage. Therefore the producers have no choice but to try to attract a new market. I fear that if/when Dubai pull the plug, we will be reduced to the classics and the main festivals. Personally, I can't stand CB and repeated exposure to GC and MF both grate, but I do recall McCririck, Lesley Graham, Thommo and co. and I don't see the current bunch as any worse.
C4/IMG should be spending on Market Research covering both the core market and occasional viewers, to arrive at a mix which will maximise audience. I assume that they are doing this. |
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This was a typical non-story of Lee Mottershead, a formerly solid journalist.
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