The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

[aeolium]

And I know. Because I was there. Unable to switch it off.

But how did you come to turn it on, ff? You know what Breakfast provides. More research in the call of duty? Surely the jury returned its verdict long ago about this programme. I don't quite understand why people set themselves up to suffer in this way.

[french frank]

But how did you come to turn it on, ff? You know what Breakfast provides. More research in the call of duty? Surely the jury returned its verdict long ago about this programme. I don't quite understand why people set themselves up to suffer in this way.

The gym owners like there to be music in the background, but they don't mind what it is. So I turn it on to R3 (703) to avoid Rickie, Melvin and Charlie (713). Most people bring their iPods, so it kills several birds with one stone to keep up with latest numptiness.

[alycidon]

But how did you come to turn it on, ff? You know what Breakfast provides. More research in the call of duty? Surely the jury returned its verdict long ago about this programme. I don't quite understand why people set themselves up to suffer in this way.

Yes. Why do we, aeolium? I turn on R3 as soon as I come down each morning, in the certain knowledge that I shall be yelling an anguished shout - stop talking you moron, and play some music - before many minutes have passed. My wife will tell you that I do this every morning without fail.

Why I don't just start with a CD I don't know. I seem to have this compulsion to suffer R3 that drives me to do it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes. Why do we, aeolium? I turn on R3 as soon as I come down each morning, in the certain knowledge that I shall be yelling an anguished shout - stop talking you moron, and play some music - before many minutes have passed. My wife will tell you that I do this every morning without fail.

Why I don't just start with a CD I don't know. I seem to have this compulsion to suffer R3 that drives me to do it.

The triumph of hope over recent experience in my case. I'll dip in with the attitude "It can't really have been that bad!" and in loving memory of the R3 of the 70s & 80s tune in to hope for the best. Very occasionally there may be two or even three pieces in a row that make me think "Oh! Perhaps they've got the message" - and then it invariably - inevitably - slumps, and I remember yet again why I play a Bach Cantata to accompany my breakfast.

[Blotto]

Have any of you considered using the iPlayer to play 'Through the Night' or some of the very extensive and varied content like the old talks, Composer of the Week downloads which can just be streamed on the iP and of which there must be two or three hundred.

There's so much current music and speech broadcast that there isn't time to listen to, interesting programmes/concerts to re-listen and so much archive material available online - there's no need to endure objectionable presentation and content. We know the presenters who rub us up the wrong way and they're not about to change. I gave up on the Today programme many years ago because John Humphries' abrasive style was obnoxious in itself and counter-productive as information gathering. His yapping made me angry and an equivalent is being described re Breakfast on this thread.

Most of us here I would imagine are in middle-age and beyond and it doesn't become easier to change habits as we age. But it is a feature of culture that it changes continuously and if we don't change with it, it can be alienating to older people; familiar worlds disappear and we either grieve and move on or grieve and get stuck grieving, stuck in anger or depression.

Most of us are reluctant to change our habits - for example, to use the iPlayer or other resources to entertain ourselves at breakfast - but the alternative is to be banging our heads against a brick wall. "Who can turn skies back and begin again?" For better and worse, life goes on. A tremendous part of the better is the iPlayer with the immense volume and range of music it puts at our disposal at any time of day.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Certainly not! I was here, but on the leg extension machine, remotely situated from the remote . It was the original cast of Guys and Dolls but the singing was painful. In My Humble Opinion, of course.

I can understand people having very wide tastes in music (sort of). But I can't understand how they could hop about from one extreme to another every five minutes, including classical, other than just to have any old thing pumping into their brains.

i thought that singing was from Citizen Kane

the version of If I were A Bell that is an undoubted masterpiece is by the Miles Davis Quintet on the Relaxin' LP

[alycidon]

Actually, using the I-player is not such a bad idea, blotto. I've just tried it but my main problem would be the fact that I only have a 10gb broadband allowance, and I don't really want to pay any more.

But so perverse am I that I put R3 on when I get up and let it wind me up. The feeling of euphoria when I turn off is worth the discomfort of listening in the first place.

[aeolium]

Actually, using the I-player is not such a bad idea, blotto. I've just tried it but my main problem would be the fact that I only have a 10gb broadband allowance, and I don't really want to pay any more.

Does radio i-player consume that much of the broadband allowance? I thought the really heavy consumption was incurred by watching video streams. I don't know though - perhaps some knowledgeable techie could help.

I listen via i-player much more than I do live (though I don't listen all that much overall these days - and never to Breakfast or Essential Classics).

[french frank]

the version of If I were A Bell that is an undoubted masterpiece is by the Miles Davis Quintet on the Relaxin' LP

Btw, ackers, someone on Facebook asked whether Radio 3 ever played big band, brass band - or miltary music. I responded, 'Hardly ever' - and gave the link for Radio 2's Listen to the Band. Radio 3 stepped in and said, 'Sometimes! Start in the jazz category.' You have been warned. Better have a word with young Alyn and Geoffrey!

[Blotto]

I find speech much easier to concentrate on in the morning and like Donald MacLeod (I'm actually not offended by the Breakfast presenters generally although hyperbole and vocabulary can irk me - "hugely iconic back in the day"). The speech parts of several hundred Composer of the Weeks are stored in a CotW library page. Listening to a quietly spoken narrative of a composer's life is a very pleasant start to me, even where the prospect of their music may not be. However, I always find my interest is piqued by some piece referred to because of the history of its creation, reception, influence etc and I commonly follow it up later. Likewise, listening to the life without the distraction of the music which one may feel unsympathetic to, rather like reading an obituary, always exposes one to interesting stories. The narrative can create connections and generate sympathies which often positively affect subsequent musical listening. In my own case, Finzi is an example of a composer who I believed I was uninterested by. However, encountering his history disposed me to look for this sympathised with self in the music and to find pleasure there.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Most of us are reluctant to change our habits - for example, to use the iPlayer or other resources to entertain ourselves at breakfast - but the alternative is to be banging our heads against a brick wall. "Who can turn skies back and begin again?" For better and worse, life goes on. A tremendous part of the better is the iPlayer with the immense volume and range of music it puts at our disposal at any time of day.

That's just rolling over and accepting defeat. Remember:

we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender...”

The reason I listen to this dreadful programme so often is that I live in hope that it will improve, and also because if anyone ever asks me, I can tell them I listen to Radio 3.

[aeolium]

That's just rolling over and accepting defeat.

Not at all. Deliberately boycotting a programme that is rubbish is an active expression of protest. If you and others listen to the wretched thing grinding your teeth all the while, R3 executives can celebrate the fact that its audience figures remain stable, or at least do not significantly decline. By listening regularly you could be said to be endorsing the programme style, even though you (and presumably many others) hate it.

The reason I listen to this dreadful programme so often is that I live in hope that it will improve, and also because if anyone ever asks me, I can tell them I listen to Radio 3.

But in listening to R3 you don't have to listen all the time. Even the creators of the Third Programme wanted its listeners to be discriminating in what they listened to.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But in listening to R3 you don't have to listen all the time. Even the creators of the Third Programme wanted its listeners to be discriminating in what they listened to.

Trust me, I don't listen to Radio 3 all the time. But I do dip in to the crass programmes on a regular basis.

[Stanfordian]

That's just rolling over and accepting defeat. Remember:

we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender...”

The reason I listen to this dreadful programme so often is that I live in hope that it will improve, and also because if anyone ever asks me, I can tell them I listen to Radio 3.

Hiya Eine Alpensinfonie,

I don't know why Radio 3 for the Breakfast programme don't go straight to popular presenters such as Alan Titchmarsh and Aled Jones to save us the all pain of a slow death because that is the way it's heading.

[Blotto]

That's just rolling over and accepting defeat. Remember:

we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender...”


The reason I listen to this dreadful programme so often is that I live in hope that it will improve, and also because if anyone ever asks me, I can tell them I listen to Radio 3.

Not at all. Deliberately boycotting a programme that is rubbish is an active expression of protest. If you and others listen to the wretched thing grinding your teeth all the while, R3 executives can celebrate the fact that its audience figures remain stable, or at least do not significantly decline. By listening regularly you could be said to be endorsing the programme style, even though you (and presumably many others) hate it.

I do see your point, EA, and sympathise with its spirit. However, it is unlikely that a thing approached sourly will ever become sweet to you. Both parties are worse off; you don't enjoy, it's not enjoyed.

Aeolium's boycott won't be noticed (unless s/he's a part of the weekly audience research survey or the sudden boiling of his kettle during a particularly fatuous Tweet is noted at the National Grid). However, the sum total of human happiness is increased by one. That's a quantifiable improvement in the current state of affairs.

Mind you, there is also some harmless pleasure to be had in a good grumble, now and again. :)