...Do Bing & Ella belong on Radio Three?

[Freddie Campbell]

...In one way I'd rather have Fatts Waller on R3 as this would provide more than a soft option
contrast...

[Norfolk Born]

Would you care to suggest a time of day before - or indeed after - which Bing, Ella and the like are not deemed suitable for broadcast on Radio 3? Are they OK, say, after 10.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m? Should they be banned, say, after 9.00 p.m. or 11.00 p.m? To me, their artistry shines through at any time of the day or night. (If I thought they were going to be broadcast more regularly on 'Breakfast', I might actually consider listening to it again.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

They should be on Radio2, which in turn should stop trying to emulate Radio 1.

[french frank]

(If I thought they were going to be broadcast more regularly on 'Breakfast', I might actually consider listening to it again.)

Isn't this just another way of turning the discussion into a matter of personal preference? It isn't a matter of the 'time of day' but what people switch on the radio expecting to hear. It seems that it's becoming less and less possible to tune into a 'classical' programme and not hear - to use a verbal shortcut - 'Bing and Ella'.

As far as understanding other people's preferences, no one can quite understand the sheer wrong-headed, cloth-eared stupidity of those who 'don't like the things I like, and do like the things I don't like'. And the mere fact that I speak for the majority also shows how wrong they are

But either the thread title asks the wrong question, or it gets the irrelevant answers.

[kernelbogey]

I imagine that the thinking about including Ella, Bing et al is related to the reach of the programme and the profile of potential listeners' morning lifestyle: the management want to broaden the reach and as most people will hear only parts of the programme - as they shower, dress, eat, walk to the car, drive to work - and they may hear a snippet of Mozart, Django Reinhardt (just now) or Eric Coates and think 'Oh I could listen to more of this than I do - it's all quite light, really'. I've resigned myself to the limitations of Breakfast and just turn it off when there are aspects I don't like - whether that's choice of music, text requests or charts.

[John Wright]

Does it help if I say that Ella was a great love of classical music?

Don't think so, and not helpful if I said Johnny Rotten likes Rameau

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

..well if it comes to personal preferences of the sort that makes one switch off or over, i have a few i could air ...[opera, organ music at length, wagner, britten, and oh yes opera] ..... [and on Saturdays opera is always on at the WRONG time!]

and yep i have been listening to jazz on the Third Programme and its successor since i was a teenager .... and a lot else besides...

there are three streams of mixed programming Breakfast, In Tune, and Late Junction and none please all of the people all of the time [personally i find that the laid back uber cool of LJ can be as noisome as the latest Phone In on B, or the kind of questioning about Bach that Sean R engaged in yesterday evening on IT]

isn't it about the quality of what is played in these streams and the integrity of its presentation ... not really a genre issue at all ...

[Norfolk Born]

Surely Radio 3 programmes that do not claim to be purely, or even largely, 'classical' are entitled to include the occasional track by Ella, Bing and Ol' Blue Eyes? Or is the presumption that the latter aren't good enough for Radio 3? (There doesn't appear to be an emoticon for 'pulling up the drawbridge').

[Paul Sherratt]

Good grief if I was to start a list of things the BBC broadcasts that makes me zap 'em, well I'd be here for a very long time.
We've wrecked the mute button on the kitchen receiver's remote!

[french frank]

Surely Radio 3 programmes that do not claim to be purely, or even largely, 'classical' are entitled to include the occasional track by Ella, Bing and Ol' Blue Eyes? Or is the presumption that the latter aren't good enough for Radio 3? (There doesn't appear to be an emoticon for 'pulling up the drawbridge').

But isn't this a bit circular? An early morning programme is exclusively 'classical' and listened to by those who like 'classical' music

Gradually, the Great American Songbook, lounge jazz, Latin American dance music &c. creep in.

Complaints from the early morning listeners that they don't want their 'classical' programme 'invaded' by other genres.

Response: But it isn't a 'classical' programme - look at the playlists: it plays GAS, jazz, cha cha cha ...

Response from early morning listeners: Erm, yes, that was what the complaint was about. Fait accompli as evidence.

As for genre v. quality, I'd say there's much more common agreement as to what constitutes a genre, that what constitutes 'quality'.

[Norfolk Born]

An early morning programme is exclusively 'classical' and listened to by those who like 'classical' music
.

Is there any reason to presume that a programme that is exclusively 'classical' is necessarily listened to exclusively by people who like exclusively 'classical' music? I stopped listening to 'Breakfast' because it became increasingly 'interactive', contained an ever-increasing proportion of extracts from longer works and increasingly invited its listeners to help compile the programme. The choice of music was never a problem for me. It was the manner in which it was presented that became a major concern and ultimately led me to 'Today' on Radio 4.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Breakfast is not Morning on 3 or whatever, it is a trailer park of leads, snags and hooks to catch and 'reach' the new audience.... ... it is also mixed content .... sometimes it is truly wonderful [Borges, Bach ...] at other times truly dire .... the R3 of yore is no more, it is, as King Kennytone has it £3 .....

[french frank]

Is there any reason to presume that a programme that is exclusively 'classical' is necessarily listened to exclusively by people who like exclusively 'classical' music?

Some extra 'exclusivelys' introduced there to the point where I think it would be illogical to answer 'Yes'. Some people listening to such a programme will only want 'classical' music, others will like a wider range of music. But on a station where 92% of the audience listens to classical music, there is statistically a greater certainty of a programme of classical music pleasing than of a mixed genre programme (unless there is no one who only likes classical).

However, we have deviated from the question originally asked, to which I would answer, Yes. I would prefer Radio 3 to have a wider range of music thoroughly and expertly covered, than an 'exclusively classical' station which filled the airwaves with pleasant, if unadventurous, background music, little contextualisation and naff commercialised presentation in order to introduce new listeners to classical music. That's what CFM is for.

[Freddie Campbell]

...I guess I err in suggesting CFM is at least consistent-they do have Adverts!
(Some entertaining-some EXTREMELY irritating)

[Mr Pee]

...I guess I err in suggesting CFM is at least consistent-they do have Adverts!
(Some entertaining-some EXTREMELY irritating)

I don't think I've ever found a CFM advert anything other than extremely irritating. On the rare occasions when I decide to give them a try, if Radio3 have temporarily lost the plot, the first ad sends me hurrying to the CD collection instead.