Just a note to answer some of the points raised regarding Radio Le Mans 2006.
First I'm sorry that some of you here find so much to complain about. I have looked at all of the posts here and amongst the unhelpful 'slagging off' there are some fair points which I have noted and will rectify for next year. None of us do Radio Le Mans for personal gratification or for gain - and we certainly don't think we are perfect.
However I am quite taken aback by the vitriol of some of the comments - and whilst I understand that "you can't please all of the people...Blah blah" I feel that some of the comments are just plain unkind. The fact that the thread here is so unrepresentative of the rest of the posts on this and other fora/chatrooms leaves a sour taste and makes me wonder if some of the posters here have ulterior motives for their comments.
If you will allow I feel a certain amount of explanation is due.
After last year's race the then rightsholder for the service decided that it was no longer commercially viable and we were left with the prospect of not having a Radio Le Mans for 2006. Thanks to the hard work of all the regular RLM team we have managed to secure the rights from the ACO until 2010. This involved some real soul searching from us as, as one of the posters mentioned, putting RLM together is a) not the work of a moment and b) a considerable expense most of which needs to be paid upfront.
The opportunity was there for any other consortium (including anyone posting here) to take over the rights - the simple fact was there was no-one willing to accept the risk.
If the last few years less and less resources were given to the broadcast and to those who worked on it - for our first year we decided to re-assign priorities - move the studio back to France and re-instate some of the features that the fans were telling us they missed.
Now to answer some specific points - yes we did provide the Speed TV Channel with our Audio - that was for 3 hours from 8am Sunday - this provides Radio Le Mans a platform to reach an important audience. The ACO has asked us to try and broaden the reach of the race - and this year we reached 84 countries right across the globe. During the Speed show we did pay slightly more attention to the TV pictures but still included the pit interviews and reports that our listeners say they enjoy. As for the email about F1 cars which came for a Speed TV viewer new to sportscars - what the poster neglects to mention is how I answered it... funny that.
I hope that you will agree that it's important for us to grow our sport and dismissing new listeneres/viewers will not do that.
Interstingly - given the comments on our perceived bias to those away from the track - we do get one or two comments about how we are too British and trackside audience centric. - I accept that getting the balance right is difficult - and given that we broadcast over 36 hours of track action alone during the week, then not everyone is going find every moment relevant to them.
Technically we had our best ever year - I don't accept that a single small problem with a phone link to the Nurburgring should be held up as a reflection of what our hard-working tech team achieved. We never had a single piece of equipment fail us - and whilst it seems that it's not important to some here - the Internet stream was the best quality ever and never failed, despite the huge listener numbers.
And by the way - despite the vagaries of the French/German phone systems we did get Dr Bez linked up with David Richards who out of the blue, chose that moment on Radio Le Mans to announce AM's full season commitment to the ALMS. Top news, first and free.
We did do a top ten and top three class rundown on every half hour - of course in parts of the race the top three GT1s were inside the top ten - in addition to ad hoc position rundowns during the rest of the hour.
Mistakes - Oh yes we made some - mostly by me and my basic inability to get the weather report right is one of those - sorry about that - As I said before no-one is perfect.
I also apologise for taking up so much space here however I will draw to a close now with a couple of points.
First - I accept that there people out there who simply don't like my style of broadcasting - and for whatever reason don't like me much either - c'est la vie. I'm not here to argue that
What we we have with the Radio Le Mans team - and you can leave me out if you like - is a professional team of enthusisasts who are prepared to work their socks off to put a highly complicated, tiring broadcast together. Other than the guys and girls that were there this year there are probably only 2 or 3 other people who understand and care enough about RLM to be a part of the team. Sadly the previous management decided to dispense with Ian T some years ago - well before we were involved.
Perhaps some of the posters here feel they could do a better job - great! - we are always looking for new talent - get in touch at
info@radiolemans.com - don't just sit there and point fingers - the team deserve better than that.
Second there are harsh commercial realities to face - although posters here noticed every small mistake and error - no-one pointed out that we had fewer ads this year where under previous administrations we broke at 20 past and 20 to as well as before the news. That was partly in response to the marketplace but also due to a deliberate change in policy to find alternative funding methods that would not interrupt the race coverage so much.
This was the first year of a new Radio Le Mans - not perfect - of course not - however I do find it ever so disappointing that no-one who criticised us on this forum found the time to get in contact and pass on any constructive comments. Radio Le Mans doesn't belong to me or the team - it belongs to you and the rest of the listeners, wherever they are. Those people who long for the 'Jiffy Condom' days should remind themselves that there was no overnight coverage in the early years, a radio mic that took two to carry it, no proper coverage of qualifying sessions. Oh and the Jiffy ads very nearly were the end of RLM for as they contravened so many French Radio Authority regulations.
We also have to accept that the whole sportscar world has moved on so much since 1986 - diesel victory just being part of that... in order to survive Radio Le Mans has had to develop too. If this leaves some of you behind - I'm really sorry - The ACO expects, infact demands, that Radio Le Mans provides a service for as broad an audience as sportscar racing attracts. We are charged with increasing the interest in the race and the sport - that means new blood. Many listeners don't know - or care - what happened in 1956 - they want to hear Seb Loeb the moment he gets out of the car. Interestingly that remains a mainstay of the service - take the listener where they can't go. Into the pits, next to the driver, hear his/her voice.
By the way I think that Club Arnage on Radio Le Mans is an excellent idea. I'm happy to have a representative from the site (is Dave Davies still involved?) get in touch and let me know how it would work and how it would be funded.
In the meantime I reiterate my offer to any new on air talent -
info@radiolemans.comOn a personal note I do feel that I should point out that I have never referred to myself as 'The Voice of Le Mans' or similar - although it is a moniker that has been attached to me - including by the Dailysportscar forum master - Its very kind but a source of some embarrasment to me.
Fat northern bloke is fine - I don't even take offense at some of the expletives directed toward me on this forum - but please never NEVER call me a Geordie!
John Hindhaugh
On Behalf of Radio Le Mans 2006
This reply was in response to matters raised in this thread http://www.clubarnage.com/forum/index.php?topic=5654.0, which has been locked in favour of keeping this one running. smokie 
