Radio 3 schedule changes (‘edging away from speech')

[Pulcinella]

Appreciation Index as applied to R3 will give a completely different sort of answer to that when applied to almost any other radio or TV programme. "Did you enjoy the concert?" "Well, I thought the performance of the concerto was excellent but I much prefer X's interpretation of the symphony" is not in any way comparable to "fascinating documentary/discussion/drama". Even when a new work is being premiered, that piece is often only a part of the programme as a whole, and in any case it won't have gone through the same sort of commissioning process that a new TV drama (for example) goes through.

Is the enjoyment being measured the music itself (in which case, as has been said already, the audience will generally be self-selecting) or the performance, in which case it is irrelevant? Or, perhaps the presentation? If you enjoy watching the televised proms but hate the chat around the music how do you give an honest answer that will not mean that one's partial negativity might jeopardize the MUSIC being televised in the future?

It's a bit like asking whether you enjoyed a football match if your team has been massively defeated. "No, terrible game." "In that case we won't show any more football."

Thanks!
I've been wondering what Artificial Intelligence had to do with all this!

[AuntDaisy]

Talking of figures & schedule changes, this 2011 Feedback play-let made me laugh.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0151xsm (~24:55 in the download-able MP3.)

Feedback 30/09/2011
...
And a listener has sent in a play-let. It's set in a dark basement, features fingernail extraction, and stars a character called Roger Wright, apparently the controller of Radio 3...

[french frank]

in Radio 3 there was a pronounced correlation between the type of music played and AI’s particularly on programmes where people hadn't made a conscious listening decision ie sequence Programmes that played a piece of Boulez out of the blue for example.

I fear the Radio 3 audience has changed beyond all recognition (and Radio 3 beyond redemption) if a listener gives a poor score to a CD programme which included in 6-minute snatch of Boulez (and a high score if it includes that lovely Lark Ascending again?). The "Public Purposes" for Radio 3 are not concerned to discover what 'most people like' and give it to them. If they don't like that bit of Boulez, make him Composer of the Week so that they can investigate further.

The guidelines for the Pulse panel which provides the source for the AI scores are clear. Members report what programmes they have listened to (no pressure) and whether they enjoyed them. If they choose to listen, probably regularly, to Breakfast because that's the kind of listening they enjoy at that time in the morning, they are not going to give the programme a bad score because it played a piece of modern music one day. The BBC puts together a programme with some care (according to its own lights) and they want to know, in a general way, how did we do? If half the group didn't like the Boulez, that doesn't make it a bad quality programme from the BBC's perspective

Radio and TV are completely different, firstly because people tend to stick with one radio station, possibly two, whereas TV viewers look for a programme that sounds interesting; also, most of the radio schedules are unvarying, week in week out with the same stripped daily programmes. People are already 'trained' to steer towards the ones they enjoy and avoid the ones they can't stand. The programme is targeted on a certain type of listener: does that type of listener enjoy what's being provided?

The sample sizes are small for R3, but as with RAJAR, the numbers build up over the weeks. Even if there are only 10 listeners each day, if in each panel 8/10 people unvaryingly enjoy the programme that is statistically significant. If the scores vary between 1/10 and 9/10, an AI of the average will be pretty useless.

[french frank]

Things not going too well on R3's Facebook either:

BBC Radio 3 · A new programme for Sundays at 1.30pm. Sara Mohr Pietsch presents Music Map, exploring the most fascinating stories in classical music, starting with a playlist to map Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.

Give it a chance, but I can recommend Radio France Musique. I have heard lots of wonderful music, some of which with I was not familiar performed by the best performers in history. The best part though, is no patronising presenters who consider themselves more important than the music itself.

if it’s music without Petroc Trelawny, I’ll definitely give it a listen! Thank you

another vote for France Musique. Some great experiences of driving through the French countryside with this station for company. Even a seemingly interminable queue at UK passports at Calais was made bearable by Brahms first piano concerto. Yes! - the whole of it.

Delighted to see some alternatives being advised instead of BBC Radio 3 - for many reasons, I am not a fan of the new programming and have just done something I rarely do: reached for the off-switch. Thank goodness then for recommendations from France and Switzerland; anything is now better than R3, and as for the dross that 'Classic'FM serve-up....

What's missing from the new weekday schedule? Lunchtime recitals and chamber music concerts, replaced by a mish-mash of snippets. Even the likeable Tom McKinney can't save the mess R3 have made of the afternoon schedules

Thank goodness for music streaming apps now. That's where the money I used to give BBC now goes.
Thing is… did anyone ask for these annoying changes? Looks like change for change’s sake. And yet more excuses for jibber-jabber instead of pure music. The last thing anyone needs is more Service and Mohr-Pietsch!
Friday Night is ....Turn Radio 3 OFF for the night! Did anyone consult the R3 audience?

[Roger Webb]

Things not going too well on R3's Facebook either:


Delighted to see some alternatives being advised instead of BBC Radio 3 - for many reasons, I am not a fan of the new programming and have just done something I rarely do: reached for the off-switch. Thank goodness then for recommendations from France and Switzerland; anything is now better than R3, and as for the dross that 'Classic'FM serve-up....

My present favourites are France Musique, WDR3, BR (Munich), NPO Klassiek (a great one this!) and for morning listening with Finnish minimalist presenterless presentation, YLE.

[AuntDaisy]

Things not going too well on R3's Facebook either:

I see what you mean French Frank - some of the Tom Service / Lang Lang comments had me in stitches. I found one positive comment, the rest were very angry.
I have to admit, I had no idea who Lang Lang was - he'd passed me by.

Colin O'neil
Lang Lang is the classical music equivalent of Liberace. Listen to Paul Lewis, Steven Osbourne,etc.

Philip Chadwick
Colin O'neil Harpo Marx was a better pianist

David Lang
Who thought replacing Record Review with 3 hours of Tom Service would be a good idea?! Unbelievable!! For the first time in many years I’m switching off Radio 3 after TTN on Saturday mornings and dipping into my own music library!

Philip Chadwick
I came back to radio 3 last year after my cd player packed up. I had to check my tuner!
I remember radio 3 as a quality channel for classical music, not a channel for world music, folk, ambient, improvised and the ultimate horror…. Jazz!
I replaced my cd player.
Normal service resumed
It would now appear that the deterioration proceeds at pace

Philip Chadwick
Bang bang lesson 1 - play with feet while wearing waders
Lesson 2 - play with hands while wearing boxing gloves
Rinse and repeat

Mark Pringle
Thanks for ruining my Saturday mornings, Radio 3

Sean Anthony
Mark Pringle 3 hours of Tom Service can only be a good thing surely?

Mark Pringle
Not if it’s replacing the excellent Record Review. And don’t get me started on Jools Holland replacing Music Matters.

Susan Riley
Brilliant! Really enjoyed the new Saturday Morning show with Tom Service. Just the right mix of music, interviews and information, and it made me listen to stuff I wouldn't normally try which is always good news. Well done Tom and ignore the old fusties who don't ever want change on R3! xx

[Ein Heldenleben]

I see what you mean French Frank - some of the Tom Service / Lang Lang comments had me in stitches. I found one positive comment, the rest were very angry.
I have to admit, I had no idea who Lang Lang was - he'd passed me by.

On a factual note Zeppo Marx was the pianist with a particularly idiosyncratic use of the pointed index finger at the end of a glissando scale.
Harpo played the harp

[french frank]

I see what you mean French Frank - some of the Tom Service / Lang Lang comments had me in stitches. I found one positive comment, the rest were very angry.
I have to admit

One routine comment about "the old fusties" not wanting change.

On the FNIMN discussion there were quite a few positive comments - from people who listened to it on R2, rather than R3 listeners chancing across it and being delighted at their new programme. The positives were heavily outnumbered by "the old fusties" who preferred what was there before.

It's not surprising that people who'd never listened to R3 are so clueless, but the cluelessness is now seeping into R3 itself.

[Roger Webb]

On a factual note Zeppo Marx was the pianist with a particularly idiosyncratic use of the pointed index finger at the end of a glissando scale.
Harpo played the harp

On a factual note it was Chico!

[Ein Heldenleben]

On a factual note it was Chico!

Of course it was ! oh dear…
. Was Zeppo the good looking normal one who wore a suit and could sing?
Chico wore the funny hat . Had the comedy Italian accent as in Hack ina bush?
“But there ain’t no sanity Claus.”,
To be fair Lang Lang is a very good pianist . He’s just tremendously annoying.

[Russ]

A lukewarm verdict from the Guardian.

[AuntDaisy]

A lukewarm verdict from the Guardian.

Thanks Russ.

I love the "... and Saturday Morning, hosted by the sprightly Tom Service... " - clearly he's already in to his dotage for the newly revamped R3.

[Ein Heldenleben]

A lukewarm verdict from the Guardian.

The analysis of the Land Without Music doc is absolutely spot on .

[Nick Armstrong]

The analysis of the Land Without Music doc is absolutely spot on .

And the phrases which ring true with me:

Who is this new Radio 3 for? Not eager listeners who want to broaden their horizons, I reckon, but box tickers behind the scenes, keen to poach the Classic FM or Scala crowds who are already well served.

&

It’s maddening. Controllers should treat music as a skyrocket to new places, not a sedative.

[french frank]

A lukewarm verdict from the Guardian.

"Radio 3’s spring rebrand, by new controller Sam Jackson, is oddly backwards-looking, its tone mollifying, wallpapery, posh; a kind of mood music for perusing private school prospectuses in one’s second home."

That's several kicks in the teeth for the new forward-looking Radio 3!