FNiMN

[LMcD]

[QUOTE=Ian Thumwood;n1330683]Easy listening is an anathema /QUOTE]

To whom, precisely?
(I 'migrated' from Radio 2 to Radio 3 when I was in my mid-20s, by the way).

[french frank]

It is a station predominantly listened to by the over 55’s but then so is BBC One .
PS 55 isn’t old..

But why should it be assumed that 'most people' of 55 and over will enjoy FNiMN? That is a logical fallacy on the lines of 'Schoolboys wear caps. My uncle wears a cap. Therefore my uncle is a schoolboy.'

[Ein Heldenleben]

[QUOTE=french frank;n1330699]

But why should it be assumed that 'most people' of 55 and over will enjoy FNiMN? That is a logical fallacy on the lines of 'Schoolboys wear caps. My uncle wears aTherefore my uncle is a schoolboy.'[/QUOTE

It’s not assumed . “Most “ people over 55 don’t listen to Radio 3 at all . Only a small proportion do. However looking at the R3 audience the over 55’s will be the largest single group by age demographic and I wouldn’t mind betting that they are now the majority of the total audience. I also suspect that FNIMN is the most popular of all the weekday concerts in the 19,30 slot.

[french frank]

“Most “ people over 55 don’t listen to Radio 3 at all . Only a small proportion do. However looking at the R3 audience the over 55’s will be the largest single group by age demographic and I wouldn’t mind betting that they are now the majority of the total audience. I also suspect that FNIMN is the most popular of all the weekday concerts in the 19,30 slot.

That still falls foul of the logical fallacy point.

1. The majority of R3 listeners are over 55

2. The majority of listeners to FNiMN are over 55.

3. Therefore the majority of R3 listeners will enjoy FNiMN.

The argument only falls down if, in considerable numbers, R2 listeners move over to R3 in order to hear FNiMN. That is cynical and manipulative management policy, and given that both the controller and the DG have come to the BBC from commercial backgrounds shouldn't surprise - even if it depresses.

[Ein Heldenleben]

That still falls foul of the logical fallacy point.

1. The majority of R3 listeners are over 55

2. The majority of listeners to FNiMN are over 55.

3. Therefore the majority of R3 listeners will enjoy FNiMN.

The argument only falls down if, in considerable numbers, R2 listeners move over to R3 in order to hear FNiMN. That is cynical and manipulative management policy, and given that both the controller and the DG have come to the BBC from commercial backgrounds shouldn't surprise - even if it depresses.

I don’t think FNIMN on Radio 3 has anything to do with attracting an R2 audience simply because there’s been relatively little music like that (everything from Broadway to less demanding classics ) on Radio 2 for many years now.
I think you’re right about the commercial side though. Most FNIMN’s now sell audience tickets - and part of that will go back to the BBC. The in-house band is a fixed cost. They won’t make a profit but it brings in more revenue than doing a studio recording.

I see they are doing an RAF VE DAY concert (top price £40 - a bargain) later in the year.

I’m hoping for a Submarine Spitfire fly past obvs

[LMcD]

I don’t think FNIMN on Radio 3 has anything to do with attracting an R2 audience simply because there’s been relatively little music like that (everything from Broadway to less demanding classics ) on Radio 2 for many years now.
I think you’re right about the commercial side though. Most FNIMN’s now sell audience tickets - and part of that will go back to the BBC. The in-house band is a fixed cost. They won’t make a profit but it brings in more revenue than doing a studio recording.

I see they are doing an RAF VE DAY concert (top price £40 - a bargain) later in the year.

I’m hoping for a Submarine Spitfire fly past obvs

Some weeks I give FNiMN a miss, but enjoy evening concerts earlier in the week, and at other times the reverse is true, and I always do my very best to 'properly listen '. I guess I'm just one of those awkward people who don't like being pigeon-holed! One might almost describe us as discriminatory (in the positive sense)

Perhaps the Submarine Spitfire fly-past could be followed (or accompanied, Ives-style) by a stirring arrangement of a few of the greatest hits of Johnny and the Hurricanes.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Some weeks I give FNiMN a miss, but enjoy evening concerts earlier in the week, and at other times the reverse is true, and I always do my very best to 'properly listen '. I guess I'm just one of those awkward people who don't like being pigeon-holed! One might almost describe us as discriminatory (in the positive sense)

Perhaps the Submarine Spitfire fly-past could be followed (or accompanied, Ives-style) by a stirring arrangement of a few of the greatest hits of Johnny and the Hurricanes.

Yes indeed . It can’t all be Bruckner can it ?

[LMcD]

Yes indeed . It can’t all be Bruckner can it ?

I sincerely hope not!

[french frank]

I don’t think FNIMN on Radio 3 has anything to do with attracting an R2 audience simply because there’s been relatively little music like that (everything from Broadway to less demanding classics ) on Radio 2 for many years now.

But, why must it be dumped on Radio 3? If it was no longer 'a fit' for Radio 2, why not just drop it? After all, "Listeners tune in to R3 for the music" so drop drama completely: no need to find somewhere else to put it.

As I've pointed out, the Director-General is on record as saying his "obsession" is the 'big number': "The big number in the BBC is 90% of people use it every week – that is our obsession . That’s what we focus on. The rest is secondary." (Like content?).

Content, after all, "... it’s not just here like um as a kind of, I don’t know, a a a kind of good thing that not many people use , but is kind of good for society. I’m not interested in building that, what I’m interested in, what I want to see for public service broadasting is we are loved and used by the vast, vast majority of people ."

Here he sees eye to eye with the controller who spins R3's latest reach figure - in reality slightly below what has been the benchmark average for a few years, but the hours spent half-listening are up!

You may disagree, but I think that FNiMN retained a high enough audience to save it from being ditched altogether when it might even give a boost to R3's concert audience figures. That seems to me to be an analysis which fits the known facts

[Roger Webb]

I’m hoping for a Submarine Spitfire fly past obvs

Yes I remember the brave Underwater Squadron....glug....glug.....glug!

[LMcD]

Yes I remember the brave Underwater Squadron....glug....glug.....glug!

Perhaps the whole thing's a deep fake.

[Ian Thumwood]

I stopped listening to Radio 2 when Humphrey Lyttelton finished the best of jazz however I did rely on it alot during my adolescence as it was where you went to to hear jazz. I was a regular listener of Humph but also enjoyed Alan Dell and the BBC radio big band . There was also Jazz Quiz which I found amusing. This was in the late 70s and 80s

Jazz on Radio 2 is limited to Jamie Cullum who I expect most jazz fans ignore.

I will throw this opinion out there. Radio 2s demographic is now too young to have any allegiance to big bands and I think many people under 40.will struggle with jazz...especially if you do back to its heyday in 1920s to late 60s. A digital station will not wish to play anything non digital which rules our a large proportion of jazz.

I feel that other lesser forms of music are also less well served and think they have gone the way if big bands. You could count country music, reggae, blues rock and funk in this category of belonging to an older generation.



Radio 2 is in a quandary as it needs to be relevant and cannot continue to cater for music no one listens to these days. The appeal of British dance bands used to be played by Alan Dell but it has mercifully lost it's audience.

I feel that FHiMN is an aural fossil but the rub for me is that Radio 3 should be the home of serious music. For me that limits it to Classical, jazz and Improv. I concur with Smittims that light music might be well played and expertly arranged yet it is not serious enough for Radio 3 and too old fashioned for Radio for whom old means Elton John.

I feel BBC Radio could cater for niche popular music on a podcast or an equivalent of the chill zone. Maybe there should be an easy listening podcast for this kind of music and the light music which falls between the stalls of pop, classical
and jazz. Alot of popular classics like the works of Grieg should be binned here too Putting FNIMN on Radio 3 is dumbing down. It is a tired vestige of the 1960s and would be better replaced by something like an updated big band special where serious arrangers and composers can be commissioned for new work as used to happen in the past . No point continuing to promote musical lollipops people were tired of many years ago.

[smittims]

If I 'ruled the world' Radio 2 would be the home of all the musics between Classical and pop:

Jazz, folk, traditional music from the third world, brass bands, fairground organs, bell-ringing, musical boxes, male-voice choirs, Broadway 'musicals', and popular film music. If this happened all these musics would get much more air time than they've ever had from the BBC.

I used to listen to quite a lot of jazz; for some unexplained reason I don't nowadays. But I do feel Jazz has been very poorly served by the BBC in recent decades. Anyone remember Jazz 625 on BBC2?

[LMcD]

A digital station will not wish to play anything non digital which rules our a large proportion of jazz.

An excellent example of the importance of the comma!

I like the sound of this new programme FHiMN (sic), which I presume stands for Friday Happily Is My Night.

There is already a regular 'Radio 2 Unwinds' programme, hosted by Angela Griffiths, but I dunno wot sorta stuff it plays.

If Radio 3 decides, or can be persuaded or instructed, to no longer cater for those of us with eclectic tastes, there are fortunately plenty of alternatives online and in my CD/DVD collection.

It would, IMHO, not be wise to describe Radio 3 as 'The Home Of Serious (or Classical) Music' until and unless we can come up with a widely acceptable and meaningful definition of what that means.

[cloughie]

Some weeks I give FNiMN a miss, but enjoy evening concerts earlier in the week, and at other times the reverse is true, and I always do my very best to 'properly listen '. I guess I'm just one of those awkward people who don't like being pigeon-holed! One might almost describe us as discriminatory (in the positive sense)

Perhaps the Submarine Spitfire fly-past could be followed (or accompanied, Ives-style) by a stirring arrangement of a few of the greatest hits of Johnny and the Hurricanes.

Or maybe a medley of the Tornados’ hits!