The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

[hmvman]

I don't know if I'm imagining it but I feel that the number of non-classical items on Breakfast is increasing. No doubt Suffolkcoastal's annual survey will reveal if this is actually the case.

[cloughie]

I'm sure so. I suppose it's a matter of the morning routine being ruptured. Otherwise, Sundays aren't a lot different from any other day: I get up, I get on with whatever I plan to do. The radio doesn't get switched on.

I can't see much on yesteday's programme that I would be pleased to be introduced to - just a lot of pieces which, as far as I already know what they are, I wouldn't want to be listening to. Having a presenter like Elizabeth Alker just excuses a lot of stuff I would welcome not be on there. This isn't a judgement on their excellence; it's just that the entire programme is punctuated by works I don't want to have to listen to. And I have no confidence that I would hear anything insightful about Zavateri's Violin Concerto.

That’s the real world 21st Century Radio 3 before Lunch day in day out ff - there is always that punctuation there whoever the presenter is. No doubt the Suits at the top of Radio 3 I say they are catering for all tastes - I’d say they are just annoying their listenerate ( and before you say that isn’t a word - when I see some the new words that are troubling the dictionary readership in the recent years it certainly should be) !

[french frank]

That’s the real world 21st Century Radio 3 before Lunch day in day out ff - there is always that punctuation there whoever the presenter is. No doubt the Suits at the top of Radio 3 I say they are catering for all tastes - I’d say they are just annoying their listenerate ...!

I was just glancing throught the Blessed Petroc's programmes. I cannot understand why they tag the programme as the 'classical breakfast show', and play Billie Holiday and Leroy Anderson between CPE Bach and H. Purcell; or Colman Hawkins & Ben Webster between Beethoven and Corelli. Why Flotsam and Jetsam singing Little Betty Bouncer between Quilter and Haydn? I bet they don't have clashes like those on the Playlister slot

[oddoneout]

I don't know if I'm imagining it but I feel that the number of non-classical items on Breakfast is increasing. No doubt Suffolkcoastal's annual survey will reveal if this is actually the case.

I get that feeling too but as it seems the definition of "classical" is being well and truly rewritten by teh Beeb https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fprh perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. It seems that use of a BBC orchestra makes it "classical"?

[cloughie]

I was just glancing throught the Blessed Petroc's programmes. I cannot understand why they tag the programme as the 'classical breakfast show', and play Billie Holiday and Leroy Anderson between CPE Bach and H. Purcell; or Colman Hawkins & Ben Webster between Beethoven and Corelli. Why Flotsam and Jetsam singing Little Betty Bouncer between Quilter and Haydn? I bet they don't have clashes like those on the Playlister slot

I just wonder ‘do they ever’ - ‘all the time’

[hmvman]

I get that feeling too but as it seems the definition of "classical" is being well and truly rewritten by teh Beeb https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fprh perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. It seems that use of a BBC orchestra makes it "classical"?

Actually, it isn't just Breakfast it's R3 in general.

[Serial_Apologist]

I just wonder ‘do they ever’ - ‘all the time’

This morning I caught a switch from the middle of a classical piece to a pop tune. I was half-awake, in bed, and hadn't realised it had got to this; I switched over to Radio 4 instantly.

[Hitch]

The Guardian has no truck with such dilution but takes things a little too far. Its Arts section offers a rather unfortunate choice: "Music" or "Classical".

[smittims]

As I never tire of saying (well, hardly ever) : the day Radio1 plays Webern between pop songs, or Radio2 plays a Hindemith viola concerto between Andy Williams and Diana Ross, will be the time for the BBC to talk about diversity, barriers and inclusiveness.

I don't want them to do that, so I don't want Radio 1 & 2 music on Radio 3. I think that's the whole point about having several simultaneous channels. Radios 1,2 & 4 have clearly-audible identities. Radio 3 is losing that.

[oddoneout]

As I never tire of saying (well, hardly ever) : the day Radio1 plays Webern between pop songs, or Radio2 plays a Hindemith viola concerto between Andy Williams and Diana Ross, will be the time for the BBC to talk about diversity, barriers and inclusiveness.

I don't want them to do that, so I don't want Radio 1 & 2 music on Radio 3. I think that's the whole point about having several simultaneous channels. Radios 1,2 & 4 have clearly-audible identities. Radio 3 is losing that.

I do wonder if the R3 identity (if it still has one) isn't viewed in the same light as the other stations; it's a barrier, non-inclusive, elitist, non-diverse, and as such has to be removed?

[french frank]

I do wonder if the R3 identity (if it still has one) isn't viewed in the same light as the other stations; it's a barrier, non-inclusive, elitist, non-diverse, and as such has to be removed?

I think that has long been the perception from the outside, and nothing the station did to alter that perception made any difference. Obviously. People didn't listen so they didn't recognise that changes had taken place. (This is certainly true as reader comments below R3 news stories frequently illustrated). There is surely the same flaw in the entrenched view that, if a new audience of younger listeners is needed to ensure the station's survival, you change the station to suit the target audience - who by the way aren't listening. Illegitimi non carborundum was a rallying cry eventually replaced by Vae victis.

[kernelbogey]

If only the BBC could be persuaded to set up a 24 hour Radio 3 Extra, broadcasting archive material, I'd happily give R3 itself even more of a miss (or less of a listen) than now.

But here we are (I am) again.

[smittims]

I should welcome that. But sadly they're going the other way, playing less archive material than they used to 30-40 years ago. The pity is that they must (unless they've wiped it like the black-and-white TV proegrammes ) have a wealth of wonderful performances by artists no longer around , and all sitting there , waiting.

[Hitch]

I would like to see Radio 3 plant its flag in the audio landscape so that people could see it instead of it feebly waving a handkerchief at the horizon. "Radio 3: a thousand years of music." It might even call itself Radio Millennium...

[Pulcinella]

Foolishly switched on (and left playing) as I woke earlyish:

Dawn and Sunday morning from Peter Grimes
An extract from Appalachian Spring

Nothing too challenging there, then.