The Sports Quiz on DD Podhigai on to Glory -- Celebrating the 700th Episode
They say time flies – How true is that ? Very true is my assessment .The BSNL Sports
Quiz – a dial in and answer a Sports Quiz Program that started in 2002 gets to it 700 the episode coming Sunday ( 18th October 2015 ) Originally telecast live on Saturday , the program has
now settled down to the Sunday 9-10 PM Slot.
Not an easy achievement at all to have this program
delivered every week for the past 699 weeks .
Kudos to DD Podhigai Channel for doing this along with Dr Sumanth
Raman , the encyclopedia of Sports of all types. I have travelled this journey
during the last 12 years or so week after week with great passion and trying to
dial in and answer a question. It does not matter where I am but this one hour
is a great way to complete the week end relaxation and enjoy and relish my
passion .
What ticks this
Program so well –
Several things :
The Anchor Dr Sumanth Raman
Dr Sumanth Raman – you should watch the program to see the pace that Sumanth sets in
the one hour – Agile , quick witted , nibble , extremely knowledgeable ,
passionate and I would say paranoid about Sports and this program. The pace enables to get in as many callers in
to the show—Sumanth is always on top of
the show and it is rare sight to
see him falter or take a deep breath or not be on his feet… Knows how to engage
the callers , give right facts and also being very decisive in his approach .If
not for Sumanth , this program would be a straggler . Sumanth has been on Air
every week ( except for a few weeks out of 699 ) and that shows his commitment to the program and his passion
for Sports and Quizzing .He may be doing other Quiz programs but this one is
top notch. He just blows you away.
The Channel and Technology :
A live Dial in program is not easy. I watch several live dial in programs where the anchor waits
for the caller or there is sufficient timing gap for the caller to call in. Not
in this program . The entire 60 minute ( san the small little breaks for advts
) sees frenzied activity with callers
trying to get in . Over time , the availability
of more lines has helped but at all times , the
guys trying to get in are more than the number of lines. The program is also webcast, which means you
can watch the program from anywhere in the globe if you have an internet connection.
And that helps people who are on the
move as well as those ones who really do not have to near a Television set
. There is clear understanding that if
the program has to be a success as it is today , up gradation and being more Techie
enabled is key and there is always effort on this front.
The Questions and the Research :
The questions that are framed up in the 20 panel box are
always interesting and current and they can tease you no end . Enough research
is done to ensure that the answers are factual and the right one. It is rare occasion to see Sumanth getting
corrected . Shows the amount of work involved in planning for the program. The back end support for the
program has to applauded . You can always mess up on this one but this program
never does
The Viewers :
From just being local Chennai callers , the program gets
callers from all over India and the world ( although the program is in a Tamil
Channel ). Shows how good the program is .. There are several of us , who call
in week after week -- They have become household names to me –
To name a few—there is Mr Rathinakumar from Trichy, Siva
from Chennai , Sankar from Kolathur, Brinda from Porur , Sivaraman from
Kunrathur , Mr Seetharaman from Annagar
, several Vivek s and Vignesh ’s , Rajamani from Muscat, there is another
viewer from Charlotte – and there is Ramakrishnan from Singapore ( he calls in
at midnight his time Sunday and he moved
from Hubli to Singapore ) and so on… And when these guys come on line , you
know for sure that they are going to answer and they will crack the tough ones
and make your jaw drop—There is one Mr. Hari krishna – looks like is a man on
the move – the last time , I heard him , he was calling in from Palani the
temple town and he gets most of the tough ones. ( read not Googalable )
You start liking these individuals although you never met
them and you get that healthy respect for their knowledge. There are several others including students , who
have made this program a great success – calling in , Sending in SMS and also
the weekly email response
There are also others – who are Google maniacs—they would
not know anything about the sport and the question but then the Power of Google
solves it for them . and you could easily pick that they have Googled by the
way they respond. Technology is a great
enabler but not on this one
I have not written on the format of the program – See it this Sunday for the special episode and you will like it .
Congrats to Dr Sumanth and his wonderful team who kindle every sports lover's passion in the Country and I
am no exception to that..
Comments
Though I am not a sports buff, I enjoyed this piece on the Sports Quiz in DD. I have watched the programme a couple of times- most of the questions went over my head-obviously! Anyway thanks for sharing your interesting review of the programme. Keep writing and sharing.
The beauty about Sumanth is keeping it live -- it is combination of questions that go back to history and those that happened last week. You have to keep track of all the sports and events upto the previous day. Something unique would have happened on a football or a cricket field during the previous week - and you will notice the question popping up. For e.g. an unique incident in Abu Dhabi test match on day 5 yesterday when Misbah was given out and upon referral, DRS confirmed it as LBW -- but he was still declared not out. I am sure Sumanth will flash this video and ask for the reason in the forthcoming episode. Hats off to this gentleman to keep the show live and alive, and also many passionate viewers like Sri who rarely miss it.
Radha V
Btw, Trichy Rathnakumar is a relative of mine (in my FB friends list)! He is an ultra-enthusiastic person like yourself when it comes to BSNL Sports Quiz.