Worse news still?

[amateur51]

CFM is gaining a fine broadcaster and musician with a top-notch broadcasting voice & personality too. I hope they give you your head Catherine and that you can show BBC what fools they've been.

[Frances_iom]

..This is just the beginning of BBC3 heading down the road to ramrod, wreckage and ruin to the tune of music from the movies, haiku, text messages, twitter.
...
Our loss, but Classic FM and Catherine's gain.

you obviously have more optimism in CFm then I do - they are financially locked into the mass market and to be honest I just can't see Early Music fitting in here other than repeated plays of about half a dozen items

[Catherine Bott]

Dear Friends of Radio 3,

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words: the very first thing I must say is that Lucie Skeaping and all the Early Music Show production team in Salford have been equally generous and supportive on hearing the news. It goes without saying that the programme continues (albeit halved in output) in good hands and good heart, that I shall miss them all very much, and that I shall go on listening to it, as I hope you will.

Over the last ten years at Radio 3 I have been given some wonderful opportunities in music broadcasting: as well as making more than 350 Early Music Shows, I've written and presented many editions of Performance on 3 and Live in Concert, lunchtime concerts and BBC Proms, Discovering Music (I think I was the first woman to get a crack at that quintessential programme), Cardiff Singer of the World, Choir of the Year, Voices, the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, A Bach Christmas, feature programmes and contributions to Building a Library/CD Review. I've interviewed some of the world's most interesting and distinguished musicians, heard some astonishing performances and learnt a lot of new repertoire, and I'm very thankful. There are people working for Radio 3 in London whom I'll miss, too (let's hear it for the Broadcast Assistants, Studio Managers, Sound Supervisors, riggers and drivers, those unsung heroes and heroines without whom all that music wouldn't get on air).

But Radio 3 has changed a lot over the decade, and it's time for me to set sail for pastures new (I do like a mixed metaphor, don't you?) so I'm thrilled that Classic FM has, out of the blue, invited me to join the station for such an ambitious project. It seems they've been taking careful note of my way of broadcasting for quite a while, and it's heartening that they're offering so warm a welcome to an RP-speaking woman of advancing years. My first programme goes out on Sunday October 27th at 9pm (I'm up against Downton Abbey, a challenge in itself).

The series is called "Everything you ever wanted to know about classical music": I don't claim to have all the answers myself, so I'm sure I'll continue to learn and discover along with Classic FM listeners. You're very welcome to join me, and send in your own queries for me to investigate. I've always appreciated the discernment and vigilance of the Friends of Radio 3, and I'd be sorry to lose touch.

As John Ebdon used to say on Radio 4: "If you have been, thanks for listening." And reading this.

Best wishes, Catherine

[Alison]

Lovely message, Catherine.

[mangerton]

Lovely message, Catherine.

Yes indeed. And well done Catherine.

Meanwhile I shall join Caliban, sobbing quietly in the corner.

[Nick Armstrong]

I agree, Alison - thanks for that thoughtful post, Catherine. There will certainly be another reason to switch to CFM, once you are there. By the same token, do please continue to 'look us up' - your contributions here are greatly appreciated.

Very best in your new rôle - enjoy sailing around those pastures

[Richard Tarleton]

Thank you Catherine. In the meantime, this seems appropriate.

[Bryn]

Oh dear, Catherine, I really do not relish the idea of you being dynamically compressed in the CFM manner.

Very best wishes for you and the project.

[gurnemanz]

I don't blame her and wish her all the best. Like others, I am sad and will miss her greatly.

There will certainly be another reason to switch to CFM,

I am allergic to CFM's style and approach and prefer playing a CD to tuning in to that station. I might give it a go but suspect that even Catherine's presence over there will probably not tempt me.

[Black Swan]

you obviously have more optimism in CFm then I do - they are financially locked into the mass market and to be honest I just can't see Early Music fitting in here other than repeated plays of about half a dozen items

I certainly maybe don't have more optimism, but feel R3 has become CRAP. I am now only listening to CD Review and the EMS on Sundays. In the morning, I'd rather listen to Grimmy than the inane prattle of Breakfast.

[Nick Armstrong]

I am allergic to CFM's style and approach

There certainly remain reasons NOT to switch to CFM - adverts, jingles and the soupy swooning style of some of the presenters being primary among them. But it's becoming a closer run thing

[jayne lee wilson]

I tune in to CFM for Smooth Classics-while-I-Cook sometimes, but find it unlistenably compressed on anything beyond a small portable... it's the lack of decent Orchestral Concerts and unadventurous rep on R3 (the Rite of Spring AGAIN...) that's most damaging for me. The BBCSSO recently played Pli selon PLi live and complete, but it's not going out till late Saturday night 2 November what a live relay it would have made...

[Barbirollians]

I wonder whether our new Director General with his background at the ROH is paying any attention to the butchering of Radio 3 ? Then again he approved Craig Revel Horwood directing Act 2 of La Boheme in the middle of a performance with only three days warning so perhaps he thinks it is a great idea ?

[salymap]

I've been meaning to catch up with Charlotte Green, now with CFM but somehow I never have.

I'm not even sure how to get it clearly on my various little radios.

[french frank]

Oh dear, Catherine, I really do not relish the idea of you being dynamically compressed in the CFM manner.

Very best wishes for you and the project.

I don't think the idea is just to play music. It's also to talk about various topics which people will find of interest.