I’m not normally one to blog about things happening outside of Formula 1, but I thought I should let you know the reason for no blogs since Monday. Over the weekend, from Sunday in fact I was struck down with a horrible virus (norovirus probably) which has left me with little energy to combine University work and blogging.

Thankfully, University for the term ended yesterday, and the Doctor said that the virus should go in the next day or so. So, touch wood, I hope for the ‘2012 Verdict’ pieces to resume next week.

Thanks for reading the blog pieces,
Dave
Owner of The F1 Broadcasting Blog

On Thursday, The F1 Broadcasting Blog passed 200 posts, which is for me a fantastic achievement. Arguably the latter one hundred is more difficult than the first hundred because you risk regurgitating yourself which is something I have tried not to do so far, although that in itself can be difficult!

In any case, I am thankful for those that are continuing to read, as of writing the blog has recorded over 34,000 views, which has simply staggered me – it seems strange writing that when back in July at post 100 it was just over 5,000 views. Okay, it may not be as high as some Formula 1 sites out there, but to my knowledge there is not another Formula 1 and motor sport broadcasting site out there, so it is in many different ways unknown territory.

It has, for the most part though been successful, I still enjoy writing about it which is the main thing alongside juggling my University commitments. Inevitably though, there will always be room for improvement, whether it is what the blog covers, or, to be more succinct, what the blog does not cover that it probably should or could. Whether I spread my wings in terms of content in 2013, time will tell depending on what happens with other commitments and time.

As I did back in July, for those just starting to read, I shall link below to the ten posts that have received the most views since I started the blog:

– 10. The BBC F1 Team: The Verdict so Far, August 16th
– 9. Predicting the 2013 calendar pick order, September 21st*
– 8. Ecclestone suggests the end is near for BBC F1… or is it?, June 7th [8th when I reached 100 posts]
– 7. McLaren launch animation unit with new animation series ‘Tooned’ on Sky Sports F1, July 6th [2nd when I reached 100 posts]
– 6. The Sky Sports F1 Team: The Verdict so Far, August 14th
– 5. Live Blog: The 2012 Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying session, September 22nd
– 4. Eddie Jordan’s credibility, September 5th
– 3. Tom Clarkson doing Lee McKenzie’s job this weekend, June 9th [1st when I reached 100 posts]
– 2. A few thoughts on Jake Humphrey leaving the BBC, September 18th
– 1. Italian Grand Prix records highest rating since 1998, September 10th**

* may still be modified depending on calendar changes
** thanks to this share by Jake Humphrey

I’ll end this post by saying thank you to everyone who has read the site so far, and I hope you enjoy the site more as we head towards and into 2013.

Cheers,
Dave
Owner of The F1 Broadcasting Blog

As you may or may not be aware, there are two F1 broadcasting book releases coming out, one that has already come out. They are:

– “My Chequered Career: Thirty-five years of televising motorsport” by Steve Rider – released on October 4th, 2012
– “The Inside Track: Paddocks, Pit Stops and Tales of My Life in the Fast Lane” by Jake Humphrey – releases on November 8th, 2012

Whilst I am more than likely going to buying both of their books, or probably having them as Christmas presents, I’ve made the decision not to review them. The reason being is that I don’t want to rush through the book for the sake of reviewing it. Instead, what I think I will end up doing is creating blogs on discussion points in the book, say if I see something in Rider’s book that raises an interesting point, then I will create a blog on it and ask for your opinions, as I have done with other blogs on this site.

Although I do have a lot of Formula 1 books, I don’t tend to finish them in a short time period and tend to spend a few months reading that book rather than rushing it to a deadline. I would also consider myself a writer rather than a reader (probably why I’m typing this right now!). The thing with reviewing books as well is that I am basically telling the reader whether to buy it or not. I would prefer the people reading the blog to make their mind up for themselves by buying the books rather than me blogging whether I like or dislike the book. It’s not often we get F1 broadcasting books out, so it would be counter-productive of me to slate both books in a blog, when it would be more useful to create a series of blog posts and viewpoints.

The thing about book reviews is that they don’t affect “the future”. I could say I dislike it, but it has no meaning, no bearing on the future. It is not like me reviewing a television product and saying my thoughts on that which, in theory although unlikely could be read, taken on board and have a bearing on the future. Humphrey is moving onto pastures new and Rider is coming to the end of his motor sport broadcasting tenure in the next five to ten years probably so my thoughts on either books will not be relevant in any way.

So for those wondering, the above is why I will not be reviewing either book, but instead I probably will be creating specific discussion point blogs on each book to better convey a particular point if there is anything I disagree or agree on.

This past April, after spotting that the F1 Broadcasting WordPress URL was free, I decided to press ahead and create an F1 Broadcasting website. When creating it, to be brutally honest, I had no idea whether people would be interested, let alone choose to read it. There were two ways the blog could have gone, it could have turned into a desert with no one reading, or it could climb up to bigger heights. Thankfully, the latter has happened. As of today, 500 people follow this blog on Twitter, and over 26,000 hits have been recorded since the end of April. For what is essentially a broadcasting site that, for me, is a big achievement.

The main reason for creating it also, was because I was about to have a lot of spare time given that back in April I was close to finishing my first year at University. As of tomorrow, that spare time will decrease, because tomorrow I begin my second year at University. Some people may have thought that I have worked in broadcasting before, that is untrue. Like you guys reading this, I am a fan with an interest in broadcasting, hence why I pressed ahead with the site. Starting my second year at University means though, that inevitably the time I will be able to dedicate to this website will be less than what it has been for the past few months.

I don’t plan to close the blog down, this blog is staying, given how far it has come in such a short space of time, it would be nothing short of madness for me to close it down. The timetable that I have is favourable though in that only Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are very busy, meaning that I should still be able to blog occasionally. The regular pieces (Scheduling, Ratings and Twitter) should stay, but the opinion pieces may decrease depending on how much University work I have!

In any case, I thought I should let you guys know in case the blog activity declines in the forthcoming weeks.

Thanks,
Dave
Owner of The F1 Broadcasting Blog

Just a few bits of housekeeping worth letting you know about:

– You can now contact me via e-mail, the e-mail address is thef1broadcastingblog AT gmail DOT com, replacing the AT and DOT with the suitable symbols.
– I have adjusted the categories, specifically “‘The Verdict so Far’ series” category now has two sub-categories, one for April 2012 and one for August 2012. That is because, from next Tuesday, I will start pushing my mid-season F1 Broadcasting review online. Most of the content in the blogs will be taken from the April blogs, but will be updated and adapted where necessary.
– The Twitter outlook and the weekly Sky Sports F1 ratings posts will continue through the Summer break as usual. The Twitter counters for the past few weeks have been taken on Tuesday’s due to being on holiday, but I expect that to revert to Monday as of next week.
– The News Articles posts after each race are no longer, mainly because it was link farming, and in my opinion did not really add much to the blog, so I have ditched it.

Those of you that read my Twitter will know that the blog has broken 7,000 hits, which I think is fantastic for a relatively niche topic. I was unsure in April whether the blog would take off or slide into oblivion, and I am glad to see that it has taken off, slowly, but surely. Thank you to all of you that have read the blog, and I hope the blog continues to be a sucess.