The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

it was dire

it is not just that all the other radio stations are full of the personalised programming , chats, guets and interviews it is also that they are just so much better at it ... not only entirly wrong for the context but so poorly done ... it makes me wince

[french frank]

I used to think you had to be an experienced broadcaster to present on Radio 3: now it seems to be where newbies cut their teeth and make all their mistakes (no one listening, geddit? he he)

[Thropplenoggin]

Unless there was a last-minute change, it was Tom McKinney, a classical guitarist who has done a bit of presenting for Radio 3 before:

"Tom lives in the Peak District with his wife Sarah and daughter Nancy. He plays a 1999 Paul Fischer and a Gibson SG. He enjoys spending time in Ladbrokes and writing biographical entries about himself in a third-person voice."

A bit too egocentric to be a presenter?

http://www.skills-bills.co.uk/biog.htm

http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/festiv.../events/9.html (second item - is this he?

Easter is sometimes end of/new contract time at the BBC. Next weekend's presenter is Radio Merseyside drivetime presenter Simon Hoban (he did study music).

"He also once taught a naked actress how to play a Fisher Price toy guitar whilst sitting in a bath for a short BBC 2 film directed by Danny Boyle, a career highlight which he will never surpass."



(The idiots are winning.)

[EdgeleyRob]

There's no hope,going to hell in a handcart.

[JanH]

it was dire

it is not just that all the other radio stations are full of the personalised programming , chats, guets and interviews it is also that they are just so much better at it ... not only entirly wrong for the context but so poorly done ... it makes me wince

Yes, Breakfast was dire this morning, that's why I switched to CFM. It sounded civilised, really bright and cheerful after all the R3 drivel and they are professional at what they do. Nontheless the old favorties will pall after a little and I shall be back with all the CDs again. I am saddened by the loss of R3.

[JanH]

SP!!sorry......... favourites,

[french frank]

Mmmmm. As he is reported to enjoy visiting Ladbrokes (as well as writing articles about himself) maybe he has been engaged just for Grand National weekend - it certainly got enough mentions. I wonder if the phoner-in 'from Northern Ireland' was the Jane Hardy who's a columnist on the Belfast Telegraph? She sounded very confident on the phone.

They've completely lost the plot, haven't they? Can things be going so badly behind the scenes?

The last letter I had from the BBC Trust ended:

"I hope I have reassured you that we understand and are sympathetic to the points you raise and that you can have faith in my fellow Trustees and the Trust Unit to work to ensure that Radio 3 maintains its public value."

Answer: No, you don't reassure me that anyone on the Trust ever listens to Radio 3 or understands what we're saying. I suspect Lord Patten - having been famously named and shamed as a Radio 3 listener when he was first appointed - is now too nervous about appearing to be serving his own ends by criticising the station. He who declared that 'intellectual challenge' was in the BBC's DNA and that it shouldn't be afraid to be criticised as 'too serious'.

Declaration of Interest (for the benefit of Zucchini/Osborn &c): I am the co founder of Friends of Radio 3 which has been banging on at the BBC about Radio 3 for ages.

[Wallace]

"I hope I have reassured you that we understand and are sympathetic to the points you raise and that you can have faith in my fellow Trustees and the Trust Unit to work to ensure that Radio 3 maintains its public value."

I stopped listening to Radio 3 in the mornings over a year ago. Having read about this morning's offering on Breakfast I sampled via the iplayer. It was indeed bad.

I think there was an error in the letter from the BBC Trust. Surely instead of "maintains" the writer must have intended "re-establishes". If not, I am unable to grasp what the writer was intending to convey.

[meles]

Oh good. It's not just me being a grumpy old git (though I'm not going to risk a vote on that...) The new guy is awful. Simply awful

[Thropplenoggin]

Some non-For3 people complaining about the "brainless witter" of R3 Breakfast here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/forum/classical%20music/ref=cm_cd_tfp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2OIXGG1AOK3Z9&cdThread=Tx33KU3ZWHRHMGK

Sample quotes:

"I'm not being a culture snob, as I will no doubt be accused off, but I am fed up with gushing presenters (Petroc Trelawny, Rob Cowan & Sarah Walker being the worst culprets) telling me everything they're playing is 'stunning', 'amazing', 'the best recording ever made' and asking 'guests' what their first/best record has ever been."

"I still listen to R3 at some time each day but I agree with Geoffrey that they've ruined the morning programmes. I don't want 'guests', many of whom I've never heard of and I certainly don't want to know if another listener really enjoyed something while they were ironing."

I'm sure Suffolk Coastal would concur with this: "I do think R3 has become quite predictable and homogenous, particuarly in its 'Evening Concerts'."

And I didn't even know there was one of these programmes on R3: "I was very annoyed when they dropped the Listeners' Request programme without warning - it often had different and quirky choices."

[french frank]

Sample quotes:

"I'm not being a culture snob, ..."

Well, now that the new 'class divisions' in UK society make it clear that going to concerts, theatre, listening to classical music are not the kind of pastimes to lift you into the new 'elite' class (using Facebook and Twitter do), at least we can't be accused of 'elitism' - though I presume Nu-Radio 3 can...?

[Black Swan]

Some non-For3 people complaining about the "brainless witter" of R3 Breakfast here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/forum/classical%20music/ref=cm_cd_tfp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2OIXGG1AOK3Z9&cdThread=Tx33KU3ZWHRHMGK

Sample quotes:

"I'm not being a culture snob, as I will no doubt be accused off, but I am fed up with gushing presenters (Petroc Trelawny, Rob Cowan & Sarah Walker being the worst culprets) telling me everything they're playing is 'stunning', 'amazing', 'the best recording ever made' and asking 'guests' what their first/best record has ever been."

"I still listen to R3 at some time each day but I agree with Geoffrey that they've ruined the morning programmes. I don't want 'guests', many of whom I've never heard of and I certainly don't want to know if another listener really enjoyed something while they were ironing."

I'm sure Suffolk Coastal would concur with this: "I do think R3 has become quite predictable and homogenous, particuarly in its 'Evening Concerts'."

And I didn't even know there was one of these programmes on R3: "I was very annoyed when they dropped the Listeners' Request programme without warning - it often had different and quirky choices."

Thanks for your post, I couldn't agree more. I often feel a bit bad that I don't really care for the gushing presenters as you refer to them. But I don't. I liked yourself don't need to know this is the best, classic recording made.

J

[kernelbogey]

"He also once taught a naked actress how to play a Fisher Price toy guitar whilst sitting in a bath for a short BBC 2 film directed by Danny Boyle, a career highlight which he will never surpass." [...]

Presumably the Concierto de Aranjuez....

[kernelbogey]

I used to think you had to be an experienced broadcaster to present on Radio 3: now it seems to be where newbies cut their teeth and make all their mistakes (no one listening, geddit? he he)

I had previously assumed that TTN was a try-out place. Nicola Hall, Catriona Young and Nicola Christie have all presented it in the last few months. Any or all of them would be welcomed by me on Breakfast - though Christie can come over as a bit shrill - as they seem to embody the old, cooler and more respectful R3 presenter style. (Perhaps there is a sort of guerilla producer at TTN?)

[french frank]

I had previously assumed that TTN was a try-out place.

Only a try-out for TTN, then. For the first few years, from 1996 and to my amazement, not understanding the system, it was Donald MacLeod, every night for weeks on end. Susan Sharp, John Shea and Jonathan Swain were hardly beginners when they took over. But a new policy of some sort does seem to be afoot. Though I have an inkling Catriona Young was even on the CotW rota before Donald MacLeod took over permanently (?). Or am I confusing her with (?) Jill (??) ...

I suspect if I listened now as much as I used to I would be well aware of who had gone and who had been brought in.