What a repository of joy is Radio 5 Live. Only last week, one of its many talking heads was heard offering up a “many-headed hydra”. As opposed to the bog-standard nine-headed variety that Hercules strove so valiantly to dispatch in his second labour?
And in one of those typically harrowing reports so beloved of the channel, the presenter declared that “an actor had voiced her words”. While, in a further aural offence, another presenter said of an earlier item that it had been “a fascinating listen”. Yes, I know the clue to the station is in the word “live”, but “voiced” and “listen”?
But it is in its sports coverage that Radio 5 Live truly comes into its own. I have written before about podium and medal being turned into verbs and its coverage of the Winter Olympics didn’t disappoint on that front. Yet there are other tics that still jar. “Ahead of their game against Juventus, Spurs…” ‘Before” used to be good enough. “Any time soon” – where to start? “Of course”, as in: “It was, of course, Kanu who scored Portsmouth’s winner in the 2008 FA Cup final.” (Of course it was! Sorry, I think I may have declared an allegiance there.)
Yet I still remain a faithful listener, if only in the expectation of hearing the conjunction of “upskilling” and “hub”. I was only surprised not to see “hub” in the following local newspaper report last week: “The venture is underpinned by a principle of building on social capital - with users of the co-working community asked to support each other by ‘paying it forward’, offering their experience and a little bit of time to other small companies. This might involve brainstorming marketing ideas, product testing or introducing contacts.”
Come on, if this doesn’t deserve a hub, nothing does.
