The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

[french frank]

Well if it was a concert of music I didn't like then I wouldn't have it on, but as I don't know it will all be things I don't want to hear then I consider it worth having on. Even if I'm not actively enjoying what I'm hearing it is preferable to listening to the noises in my head when they are being particularly negative - no I'm not talking "hearing voices" just the sometimes relentless and depressing cycle of negativity, depression and anxiety. Combined with pottering in the garden it serves to remind me that there are good, easy to access things in the world, even if I struggle to see them sometimes.

I respect all that as your individual reason (which in some respects amounts to a reliance on radio as a 'comforting sound'). But listening 'in case there might be something on … '? For me, there are other things to think about, be they depressing, negative or worrying. They may not reward thought, but I believe they merit it.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well if it was a concert of music I didn't like then I wouldn't have it on, but as I don't know it will all be things I don't want to hear then I consider it worth having on. Even if I'm not actively enjoying what I'm hearing it is preferable to listening to the noises in my head when they are being particularly negative - no I'm not talking "hearing voices" just the sometimes relentless and depressing cycle of negativity, depression and anxiety. Combined with pottering in the garden it serves to remind me that there are good, easy to access things in the world, even if I struggle to see them sometimes.

My heart is with you odd-one.....

I know this feeling all too well. One reason streaming works for me (Qobuz) is to have music playing, often Baroque instrumental or Plainchant, to soothe and salve the troubled mind.
As do all those birds on the feeders and in the trees....the foraging Squirrels, the Stray Cats at the back door...

[oddoneout]

I respect all that as your individual reason (which in some respects amounts to a reliance on radio as a 'comforting sound'). But listening 'in case there might be something on … '? For me, there are other things to think about, be they depressing, negative or worrying. They may not reward thought, but I believe they merit it.

Not so much "in case there's something on" ff but knowing that there will be something, indeed probably several somethings, which will be worth hearing/give me pleasure/make me think, and that I won't have to wait long for them. And yes it is comforting in some respects, but fortunately we haven't yet got to the stage of that being a bar to listening to R3.

[cloughie]

One thing that I slightly marvel at is the general(?) assumption that the radio must be on at all, even when the programme isn't greatly to one's taste.

Well, in general it is a gentle start to the today with a cup of tea and the on line ‘i’ at a mot too high volume - turn up for something I particularly like and down or off for the ‘dreadful’ bits - strangely I find more of these from MH than EA! - and at the moment I’m finding R3 abetter start to the day than R Cornwall or R4! That may change with mood or season!

[antongould]

Not so much "in case there's something on" ff but knowing that there will be something, indeed probably several somethings, which will be worth hearing/give me pleasure/make me think, and that I won't have to wait long for them. And yes it is comforting in some respects, but fortunately we haven't yet got to the stage of that being a bar to listening to R3.

I agree OOO …….

[Ein Heldenleben]

Well if it was a concert of music I didn't like then I wouldn't have it on, but as I don't know it will all be things I don't want to hear then I consider it worth having on. Even if I'm not actively enjoying what I'm hearing it is preferable to listening to the noises in my head when they are being particularly negative - no I'm not talking "hearing voices" just the sometimes relentless and depressing cycle of negativity, depression and anxiety. Combined with pottering in the garden it serves to remind me that there are good, easy to access things in the world, even if I struggle to see them sometimes.

The therapeutic use of music to allay anxiety goes back to at least turn of the century Alexandria .Turn of the 0th century that is . It’s partly explains why Elgar wrote his first music for a wind band at Powicke mental hospital and there was a Minstrel’s Gallery at the (now closed ) City of London Hospital near Dartford. There’s experimental evidence that music can slow heartbeat. I really recommend mindfulness exercises as well.

[french frank]

The therapeutic use of music to allay anxiety goes back to at least turn of the century Alexandria .Turn of the 0th century that is . It’s partly explains why Elgar wrote his first music for a wind band at Powicke mental hospital and there was a Minstrel’s Gallery at the (now closed ) City of London Hospital near Dartford. There’s experimental evidence that music can slow heartbeat. I really recommend mindfulness exercises as well.

I don't think there's any argument about the therapeutic value of music in general. It's when a particular programme also gives irritation that the therapeutic value is lessened/nullified. So the difference is only how tolerant people can be of ……… [here I provide no description as genuine differences of opinion can give offence]. In fact, there are also certain kinds of music that irritate me intensely: I find it hard to believe I'm the only person here/in the universe who finds this!

[cloughie]

I don't think there's any argument about the therapeutic value of music in general. It's when a particular programme also gives irritation that the therapeutic value is lessened/nullified. So the difference is only how tolerant people can be of ……… [here I provide no description as genuine differences of opinion can give offence]. In fact, there are also certain kinds of music that irritate me intensely: I find it hard to believe I'm the only person here/in the universe who finds this!

I must be on you ignore list ff - I’ve mentioned it a number of times on more than one thread!

[french frank]

I must be on you ignore list ff - I’ve mentioned it a number of times on more than one thread!

My intolerances are quite broad, though!

[oddoneout]

I don't think there's any argument about the therapeutic value of music in general. It's when a particular programme also gives irritation that the therapeutic value is lessened/nullified. So the difference is only how tolerant people can be of ……… [here I provide no description as genuine differences of opinion can give offence]. In fact, there are also certain kinds of music that irritate me intensely: I find it hard to believe I'm the only person here/in the universe who finds this!

If the irritation is more than passing the off switch is used, whether that's for presenter or music. It doesn't automatically undo whatever good has gone before. As far as irritating music goes there are some perennial offenders for me at which point avoidance is reflex. For the morning schedules that is simply a temporary blip; for a concert broadcast that is a "don't put it on in the first place". My morning cuppa sometimes doesn't taste as good as I would like - that's not a reason to do without altogether.

[french frank]

If the irritation is more than passing the off switch is used, whether that's for presenter or music. It doesn't automatically undo whatever good has gone before.

I disagree with that. Music can have, on different levels, a calming effect. If it's instantly followed by something irritating that destroys the calm. Utterly. The problem, as I said, is that some people don't find some things at all irritating. And in the case of music, they can actually like it very much.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I don't think there's any argument about the therapeutic value of music in general. It's when a particular programme also gives irritation that the therapeutic value is lessened/nullified. So the difference is only how tolerant people can be of ……… [here I provide no description as genuine differences of opinion can give offence]. In fact, there are also certain kinds of music that irritate me intensely: I find it hard to believe I'm the only person here/in the universe who finds this!

This is where it gets interesting - certain types of music will increase heart rate and , used in the psychological sense , arousal. That arousal can be welcome - say at the end of a Wagner opera. Others less so : for example , in my case a lot of contemporary pop music.

[cloughie]

This is where it gets interesting - certain types of music will increase heart rate and , used in the psychological sense , arousal. That arousal can be welcome - say at the end of a Wagner opera. Others less so : for example , in my case a lot of contemporary pop music.

…and therein lies one of the biggest problems of contemporary radio listening. Why oh why does so much of any radio programme which has a fair proportion of speech content such as Radio Cornwall’s morning programme (10am to 2pm) hosted by an excellent presesnter - great interviewer, humorous, engages listeners BUT I cannot stand the way every few minutes the programme is littered with the awful sounds of mostly 80s and beyond pop music. Whoever decided Local radio = A pop music station? Whoever decided that pop music more than 50 years old should not be part of mainstream daytime broadcasting? We are now in the fifth decade of mostly very bad pop music and I haven’t got the time left in my life for it to benpart of it. Intolerant moi - oui! and I haven’t even started on minimalist music and over indulget hipp!

[french frank]

Whoever decided Local radio = A pop music station? Whoever decided that pop music more than 50 years old should not be part of mainstream daytime broadcasting?

The marketing department? They think, rightly or wrongly, that that's going to attract a big audience. From that point of view, the older we get the less relevant our preferences . We have an aging population, so they may be wrong, but they're unlikely to lose any sleep over it.

[cloughie]

The marketing department? They think, rightly or wrongly, that that's going to attract a big audience. From that point of view, the older we get the less relevant our preferences . We have an aging population, so they may be wrong, but they're unlikely to lose any sleep over it.

I wonder if they’ll regret it in later life when radio content has left them behind?