Comment: I understood the magic of the radio as a child – last spring I got a startling reminder of it | Sport

Radio never dies. It may change its shape, its distribution channels change and modernize, but radio, the sound, does not die, writes Jussi Paasi.

Volcanic rubber. End on the side of Raumantie. End facing the city.

Those and many other personal expressions took root in my consciousness in a beautiful way in the spring of 2006. The words flooded the radio waves narrator Group of Färdin (1944–2019) from the mouth.

The hockey pride of my hometown Pori Ässät played a sensational season. The team, which was driven to the lowest hell before the season, made up of tough players, raged with Pori madness all the way to the finals.

At the time, I was working as a music editor for Yleisradio. The evening shift was extended many times during that spring, when the Radio Suomen Jääkiekkokierros filled my small office. Making the music programs that were in the works was postponed until the late night hours.

As a child, I had listened to all Ässie’s away games on Radio Pori and was mesmerized Jari-Tapani Koskinen from hake-like narratives. I would have watched the matches on TV for sure if it was possible. Luckily it wasn’t.

The radio offered a child – later a teenager and an adult – a world where imagination made hockey even better. On the wings of the narrators, I got to spend my evenings in Finnish ice rinks and experience emotions from joy to deep disappointments.

I also listened to the 1992 World Cup mainly on the radio. But it wasn’t until 2006 that I properly discovered the Ice Hockey Tour. The magic grew even more.

In a few minutes I got to experience five or six different games, different environments, different atmospheres. Each hall has, as those who follow hockey know, its own voice. It fascinated and still fascinates a lot. The sound is made up of many factors: among other things, the audience, the acoustics of the hall, the music played there – and on the radio, of course, the narrator.

“You can’t do this!”

April 27, 2023.

The final series between Tappara and Pelicans has progressed to the fifth match. The championship is on hold for the people of Tampere.

After the dramatic stages, the game progresses to the overtime. I’m watching the final next to the side of the Tampere arena, right next to the players’ fence.

I have headphones on, a transmission backpack on my shoulder, a microphone in my hand. The final tour of the Ice Hockey Tour is underway. Commentator Jari Haapala and expert Top Nättinen roasting in the ether at full blast. My role includes conducting interviews and planning and implementing the content of the broadcast.

In the Tampere Arena and on the radio waves, the roar is wild. The atmosphere is ecstatic. If Tappara scores the next goal, the championship will be decided.

I glance at my phone. An unimaginable amount of messages have come in almost the same second. There are dozens of them. What the hell happened?

The reason for the flood of messages becomes clear immediately. The broadcast of the ice hockey round on Puhee’s frequency and Areena has been interrupted.

Feedback is pouring in from all directions. The message is the same in all of them.

NOW THAT GAME IS BACK! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! WHAT HAPPENED?

Fortunately, a human error can be corrected fairly quickly in ‘s switching center. Tappara scores the winning goal only when the transmission works again.

When the climax of the finals is over and the last interviews are done in the middle of the rain of sequins, I am left thinking about the power of the radio. It is startlingly large. Lots of people who I didn’t know were listening to the radio sent messages.

At the same time, I remember my own strong experiences as a radio listener. I can only imagine how nerve-wracking it must have been when the broadcast went down.

The radio comes to the skin

An acquaintance of mine recently claimed that radio is a dying medium. According to him, young people won’t be able to dig like that in the future.

How wrong my friend is!

Radio never dies. It may change its form, its distribution channels will naturally modernize, but radio, sound, will not die.

It’s all about the sound. Voice is something much more than written text. The sound expands the expression, offers unlimited possibilities for interpretations. On television, the image determines everything. The sound is mostly a side event on the screen. And the time to delve into things on visual radio is only a fraction of what radio tends to do.

And most importantly, the radio gets close, on the skin, even inside the skin. Closer than any other media. A person longs and needs another person’s voice.

Radio is still the most agile, fastest and most flexible medium when it comes to broadcasting sports events. Some people may think that I’m too old to say that as a radio worker, but I’ll say it anyway.

And I sincerely hope that lightning will not strike the same place a second time, and that the broadcast will not be interrupted this spring during the Ice Hockey round. At least during the final series.

The ice hockey round is heard on Wednesdays on Radio Finland and on Fridays and Saturdays in Areena. You can find the live broadcasts at this link.