It has become as much a part of the match-day experience as the half-time pie and the full-time cheers or jeers.

Whatever your team's result and whether the final whistle has brought gloom or ecstasy the next five minutes bring just the same desperate search.

BBC radio's Sports Report's theme tune (12'')

The "de dum, de dum, de dum, de dum" of BBC radio's Sports Report's theme tune is undoubtedly one of the most cherished sounds in broadcasting.

Fifty years old on Saturday, the programme has starred the same man, James Alexander Gordon, for half of that time.

James Alexander Gordon

Mr Gordon, who works 40 weeks a year on the programme, says that this weekend could well be his 1,000th reading of the classified football results.

"As soon as the first notes start up at 5pm I [still] get excited," he said. "You know that people are turning their radios on all over the country -- and my job is to get it right."

An instant success

The first edition of Sports Report, advertised as a "new Saturday feature for sportsmen" went on the air on January 3, 1948.

The programme was presented by Raymond Glendenning and contained a discussion about amateurism and a match report from Portsmouth v Huddersfield Town by a young John Arlott.

With the public hungry for instant sports news, the programme was an immediate hit. Before the arrival of television, its audience touched a staggering 12 milllion and even today reaches 1.5 million, the largest anywhere on BBC radio on a Saturday.

Sports Report attracts around 1.5m listeners on a Saturday afternoon

Despite the programme's long history it has never lost sight of its original purpose -- to deliver information quickly and efficiently.

The present producer, Gill Pulsford, said: "It is to the credit of the programme's creators that it has changed so little over the years ... They got the formula correct from the start."

Fittingly, the anniversary has fallen on what is traditionally one of the busiest days in the footballing calendar, the FA Cup third round.

To mark the occasion Saturday's programme was scheduled for an hour earlier, at 4pm.

Cliff Morgan, veteran of the Sports Report, explains the success of the programme. (2'50")

Cliff Morgan, veteran of the Sports Report, explains the success of the programme. (2'50")

First up is a 60-minute retrospective, charting a history that has seen the show move from the Light programme to the Third Programme, to Radio 3, Radio 2 and now Radio 5 Live.

"It's a bit like carrying the Olympic torch," adds Mr Gordon.

"If people listen to Sports Report you want them to turn off knowing all they need to know. What more could you want from any programme?"
 

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