What are we up to then? Early July is supposed to be one of our quieter periods but I don't think we have them anymore.

This week is all about a cricket series, a breakfast show from the Royal Show, Michael Jackson, a documentary about the persecution of gay people in Iraq and the German Grand Prix. It sums it all up really - a lot of different things going on and some of it getting quite lively reaction from those of you who are listening.

I will start with Michael Jackson. We nearly sent Richard Bacon out to Los Angeles this week knowing the memorial service was going to cause quite a stir. However, American determination to keep foreign media confined to the car park of the Staples Centre rather than inside it put pay to Richard's hopes of a Stateside trip.

We dipped into the service throughout the latter part of  Tuesday's Drive and early part of 5 live sport to try to capture some of the highlights live. Some of you gave us a bit of stick for doing so much. I think in particular, we upset a few cricket fans who didn't appreciate the interruptions into the Ashes preview show.

Please stop this Jackson coverage! It's not what we listeners listen to your station for and it's frankly only a foot note on the UK news today. Stephan E14.

That was just one of the messages we received. We can't please everybody with our judgements on how to cover these stories. I guess we took into account the big numbers of people who were checking out the story of the memorial on the BBC news website and tried to make sure we captured the big moments live on 5 live. It felt the right thing to do for us.

How big a news event will that prove to be when we look back not just at the end of the year but in future years? Not everyone will agree with me on this but in 30 years time, another generation will watch news clips of Stevie Wonder singing at that memorial service and ask us all about it. Anyway sorry to those of you who just didn't agree with our approach.

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I hope you like our Ashes coverage. It started with a lively preview show in a pub down the road from the ground in Cardiff, in which virtually all the Welshmen in the audience proudly declared they would be supporting England.  

Victoria's programme then came live from the ground for the opening morning, and we have ball-by-ball commentary on the whole series on 5 live sports extra.

Thanks to Andy Roddick and his brilliant serving, we had a few scheduling decisions to make last Sunday. Sadly they included us having to postpone the ' Gay life after Saddam' documentary which will now be broadcast this Sunday, 12 July at 9pm. I promise you it’s a powerful programme that tells a story you wont have heard before.

Nicky Campbell, not content with his outside broadcasts from Wimbledon, is heading up to Warwickshire this Friday to present the Breakfast show from the Royal Show. This weekend's sporting highlight, away from the Cardiff Test, is  Sunday's German Grand Prix with David Croft and the team.

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Next Week

On Wednesday 15 July we are taking the pulse of the UK on the state of the economy. Andy Verity will be at a truckers' café in Northampton for  Wake up to Money and Breakfast. Our  Breakfast Phone-in will ask you to tell us more about the economic situation where you are.

And then Peter Allen is in Pudsey, near Leeds for Drive. Pudsey has been really hard hit by the recession and the number of people out of work in the town has trebled over the last year.

On the same day, Chris Evans hosts a special  preview show for the Open golf championship in Turnberry. Coverage follows with John Inverdale, Iain Carter and the team from early on Thursday.

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What Else? 
Comedian Mark Watson hosts a 3 week comedy show called '100 million or bust' to coincide with the start of the FA Premier League season. It’s a game show based on the transfer window activity and starts on Saturday 15 August. Pat Nevin will join Colin Murray as a regular on the Friday night 5 live sport show with Colin getting to work on 14 August.

Robbie Savage will be a semi-regular pundit for us throughout the season joining the likes of Chris Waddle, Graham Taylor, and Steve Claridge on the team.

I have a meeting this week with the big chiefs from NFL Europe as 5 live Sports extra stands by to give you a regular Sunday night American football show.

Gabriele Marcotti has rung me from the Italian mountains to say he can't wait for the start of his Sunday night 606 co-presentation with Spoony. Their first show will be 23 August.

Christian O'Connell joined us for an afternoon earlier this week to help choose the best format for his new Sunday morning show on 5 live. It will be called "The Christian O'Connell Solution" and we really think you will like it. That starts on 6 September.

There's a lot happening here and if you keep reading the livewire you will find out lots of these bits of news before we officially announce it! I'm not even sure the 5 live boss Adrian knows about all of these titbits above so that's how fresh the latest news is!

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JONATHAN WALL
COMMISSIONING EDITOR
5 LIVE AND 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA