THE BBC and the Boat Race have been inextricably linked, like bacon and eggs or Oxford and Cambridge. Not any more. After losing the contract to ITV to televise the annual event, the BBC has now been beaten to the radio rights, which it has held since 1927, the year when the corporation was first given permission to give running commentaries on sport.

One wonders how the late John Snagge, the most celebrated of BBC Boat Race commentators, would have reacted to yesterday’s announcement of the five-year deal. He could scarcely have believed that the upstart station, LBC, would have taken the contract instead of a national institution such as the BBC.

The radio audience will now be confined to people living within the M25, preventing the rest of the country, including the two university cities, from hearing the commentary, unless they choose to listen on the internet or Sky Digital, the satellite service.

It is a completely different era from when the director- general of the BBC told Snagge, also a famous war-time newsreader, not to make any broadcasts without his permission. Snagge explained: “He feared that as soon as my voice came on, everyone would assume that Churchill had died.”

The BBC has become increasingly unhappy that the event has become “too commercial”. Julia Lindsay, a former executive of Saatchi and Saatchi, was brought in to help the race to increase its profile.

It is understood that negotiations with a new sponsor for the 2005 race, scheduled for March 27, have included the issue of more prominent use of the company’s name, which the BBC, under its charter, cannot accept for either television or radio. ITV obtained the TV rights for £1.75 million and the agreement that it will allow a sponsor a promotional trail wrapped round advertising breaks and credits. LBC will also be able to give greater flexibility than the corporation can offer.

Christopher Rodrigues, the chairman of The Boat Race Company, said yesterday: “This is an exciting move. LBC’s plans will mean that the radio coverage of the event will be entertaining, informative and interactive. Moreover, for the first time in its illustrious history, the Boat Race has a meaningful opportunity to build on its excellent relationship with London.”

The Boat Race organisers have been keen to develop the event beyond its core national audience. Last March, the BBC, in its final year of televising the race, attracted 8.9 million viewers, a larger audience than any match during the 2003 rugby union World Cup except the final. Precise figures for radio listeners are not available.

Mark Flanagan, managing director of LBC, said: “We want to make the Boat Race accessible, interesting and even more connected to London. Through some exciting, new approaches we will create a family occasion in which our listeners can participate and enjoy.”

Boat Race organisers have always been against having the sponsors’ names on the vests of the crews — something that the BBC would have allowed, as it permits in other sports — and have tried to ensure that the high cost of preparing crews can be met through acceptable commercial activities, such as sponsorship and television rights.

However, one can imagine the reaction of Snagge, whose broadcasting style was once described as, “All stiff upper lip — but with a tremble of emotion in all the allowable places.” The emotion would certainly have been trembling this morning.