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On This Day

In 1996,The Daggers beat Oxford City 4-3 at Home in the ICIS League Premier  In 2002,The Daggers drew 3-3 with Doncaster Rovers at Home in the Nationwide Conference  Report In 2013,The Daggers lost 1-2 to Oxford United Away in the Sky Bet League Two

On the radio? Glenn Speller Interview by Hardy on 10/04/2002 Glenn Speller is the Sports Producer at BBC Essex. He took over in October 2001 and is responsible for the live and news coverage of all sport in Essex for BBC Radio Essex. Hardy talks to him about their coverage of the Daggers. Hardy talks to Glenn Speller Glenn Speller (right) is the Sports Producer at BBC Essex. He took over in October 2001 and is responsible for the live and news coverage of all sport in Essex for BBC Radio Essex. We got in touch after Glenn responded to a rather caustic comment of mine on the Confguide message board about the lack of coverage of the Daggers from BBC Essex and he agreed to answer a few questions for DiggerDagger.com.. Where to look Hardy: If people are looking for BBC Radio Essex on their radios, what should they be tuning to? Glenn: BBC Essex broadcasts on a number of frequencies. These are 103.5fm/95.3fm and 729mw/765mw/1530mw. 103.5fm & 729mw are predominantly for the north of the county and Chelmsford although I have had 103.5fm loud and clear outside Victoria Road! 95.3fm & 1530mw are for the south of the county and mainly Southend but the fm does also work in Dagenham. 765mw is county wide and goes straight into London as well. I have happily listened to it in Lincoln and Dover! Who are you? Hardy: How many people work for BBC Essex's sport department and what are their backgrounds? Glenn: Full-time during the week we have myself as the Producer and Roger Buxton (right). Roger reads the Sports Bulletins on our Breakfast show and then normally leaves to do other things at ten o'clock. That leaves me to take control for the day, producing bulletins plus any midweek programmes we might have and Essex Saturday Sport. In between that I eat and sleep! Roger is well known around the area having worked in Independent Radio and Newspapers in Essex. I have worked for the BBC in Suffolk, Norfolk and London as well as for Independent Radio. Hardy: And what about the reporters that we hear from the various games? Glenn: One thing I don't think people realise is on a Saturday I am the only person who is actually employed by BBC Essex full-time on Sport. All our reporters and back room staff have day jobs during the week, for example we have a Teacher and an Estate Agent giving up their free time to work for us. Where a local newspaper would have a single reporter whose only job five days a week is to report on one football club I am responsible for coverage of ALL the sport in Essex. That is a massive area including not just Football but first class Cricket, Basketball, Snooker, Speedway and many others plus we also have to sprinkle in the best of the national news to give a balanced output. One thing I have found is we can't please all the people all the time, if we did we'd be doing fifteen commentaries on a Saturday!! Our output is always evolving and I am eager to offer the best service we can, which, (even though I'm biased) given the staffing and financial constraints I think we do. BBC Essex and the Daggers Hardy: It seems to the casual observer that BBC Essex never turns up at Victoria Road until the big FA Cup games arrive. Does BBC Essex really consider Dagenham and Redbridge FC to be one of their clubs? Glenn: BBC Essex definitely considers Dagenham and Redbridge to be in Essex. This season we have commentated on both the Exeter games, the Ipswich match and the Conference games at home to Boston and away at Farnborough. We have a reporter at EVERY match who, if it isn't the commentary match will do updates for us as well as after match interviews. Believe me we are at every match. Hardy: Do you have one your own correspondents at every Daggers game? Glenn: Our Dagenham and Redbridge correspondent is Stuart Smith. Occasionally he won't be able to make a match so we may send one of our other non-league reporters or use someone from the local radio station where the Daggers are playing. Plans for next season? Hardy: Are there any plans to broaden the service you offer on sport and football in particular? Different games on the different frequencies for instance. Glenn: At the moment we offer Southend United home and away games on our southern frequencies and Colchester home and away on our northern transmitters. Earlier this season when Canvey Island were playing at Wigan we did three different commentaries at the same time so it is possible. However, staffing wise this can be a difficult exercise. The current arrangement is one I inherited when I took over the job in October. During the Summer I intend to take a close look at what we do and see whether it can be improved. Hardy: The BBC Radio Lincolnshire now has a page on the website dedicated to Boston United including audio files of reports, commentary on the goals in games and interviews. Does BBC Essex have any similar plans? Glenn: At present we have sports pages on our website which are kept up to date by our web staff. As a Sports Producer my main job is to work towards radio and fitting in some online/ceefax work if I can. It isn't actually possible for us to put goal commentaries on our website as it is against regulations and we have no rights for it. Our Sports Bulletins are captured and available on the BBC Essex site along with the rest of our Sports stories. Essex's website hasn't been in place as long as Lincolnshire's and so is always developing. Hardy: Do you think the Daggers will make it up now this season? Glenn: I hope so - after the win over Boston it looked so good. I don't think we've seen the last twist of the season and there will be a few more slips before the season is out. Hardy: If they do, will we expect to see similar radio coverage of our games in 2002/03 as Southend and Colchester get now? Glenn: Radio Solent offer three commentaries on a Saturday - Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth. I'm hoping if the Daggers do go up we will be given more facilities and I will have more at my disposal to improve our coverage right across the board. Many Thanks Thanks to Glenn for talking to us. If anyone has any further questions about BBC Essex sports coverage he can be contacted via the BBC Essex website or alternately let me know here and I'll pass them on.