Newscall
Synopsis
Radio 5 Live re-launched as a "news and sport" station in spring 1994. What better way to demonstrate this than a news version of the familiar and popular Sportscall?
Many better ways, it turned out. Newscall went out on Wednesday evenings over summer 1994, but was often pre-empted for live sport such as the football World Cup. Rounds were predictable - name the year, guess the story from sound clues and clips. A write-in contest required research and/or creativity.
Before the re-launch, Radio 5 had made Popcall, a fun hour interspersed with music while they lined up callers for the next round. The new Radio 5 Live didn't play records, so Dominik Diamond had to fill with some chatter, and often ran so late he gabbled out the final few minutes.
Diamond's brash hosting style was familiar from Sportscall, but he never came across as comfortable, and the show never quite worked. This wasn't Diamond's finest series, especially when compared to Chris Morris's acerbic comedy on Radio 1 at the same hour.
Newscall wasn't recommissioned for 1995, discussions about sport fitted the 9pm hour better.
Trivia
Riffing off a recurring theme, one of the UKGS editors sent a competition entry postcard covered with fifteen one-penny stamps. It didn't win that week's contest, beaten by a foreign stamp worth ¼p.
