The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Bax-of-Delights
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 745

    I’ve been listening to the Saturday Breakfast offering for just half an hour and I feel as if I am listening to a broadcast of Blue Peter at best or Playschool at worst. Elizabeth Alker’s style would be perfect to either programme. It’s the little girl voice combined with the smacking of the lips that makes it unlistenable.
    O Wort, du Wort, das mir Fehlt!

    Comment

    • DaisyDog
      Full Member
      • Jun 2016
      • 54

      I agree with Caliban and Paul T, Elizabeth Alker is not a good Radio 3 presenter. Her voice is annoying, her manner condescending, her selection of music irritating. John Shea and Martin Handley are all far better weekend presenters. As is Jonathan Swain on Through the Night. And the less said about Katie Derham the better.

      O Wort, du Wort, das mir Fehlt indeed. Weniger ist mehr. . .
      Last edited by DaisyDog; 22-12-18, 10:17.

      Comment

      • LMcD
        Full Member
        • Sep 2017
        • 8472

        Originally posted by DaisyDog View Post
        I agree with Caliban and Paul T, Elizabeth Alker is not a good Radio 3 presenter. Her voice is annoying, her manner condescending, her selection of music irritating. John Shea and Martin Handley are all far better weekend presenters. As is Jonathan Swain on Through the Night. And the less said about Katie Derham the better.

        O Wort, du Wort, das mir Fehlt indeed. Weniger ist mehr. . .
        At the risk of sounding unchivalrous, I agree with the recent posts on this matter.

        Comment

        • french frank
          Administrator/Moderator
          • Feb 2007
          • 30301

          It confirms, over and over again, that Radio 3's chief concern is to appeal to new listeners. EA is (I understand) very popular with 6 Music listeners (an R3 target audience). She is also already a BBC presenter and, I'll guess, lives closer to the (weekend) Salford studios than any of the regular R3 presenters. Three pluses to an increasingly less important minus.
          It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

          Comment

          • Bax-of-Delights
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 745

            Originally posted by french frank View Post
            It confirms, over and over again, that Radio 3's chief concern is to appeal to new listeners. EA is (I understand) very popular with 6 Music listeners (an R3 target audience). She is also already a BBC presenter and, I'll guess, lives closer to the (weekend) Salford studios than any of the regular R3 presenters. Three pluses to an increasingly less important minus.
            I’ve never understood the Salford/London studio split. EA was in Salford but Ms Walker is in London for Essential Classics while Martin Handley, resident in Sussex/Kent is dragged up to Salford for the weekend. With technology these days the presenters surely have no need to travel across the length and breadth of the country and could quite easily co-ordinate from a local radio station - or even their own lounges.
            I trust everyone enjoyed the yodelling “Skater’s Waltz” this morning. Another low point. With “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” promised for EC I see no point in continuing to listen. Radio 6 listeners are welcome to it.
            O Wort, du Wort, das mir Fehlt!

            Comment

            • kernelbogey
              Full Member
              • Nov 2010
              • 5748

              Originally posted by DaisyDog View Post
              ...[EA] is not a good Radio 3 presenter. Her voice is annoying, her manner condescending, her selection of music irritating. John Shea and Martin Handley are all far better weekend presenters. As is Jonathan Swain on Through the Night. And the less said about Katie Derham the better.


              Originally posted by Bax-of-Delights View Post
              I’ve been listening to the Saturday Breakfast offering for just half an hour and I feel as if I am listening to a broadcast of Blue Peter at best or Playschool at worst. Elizabeth Alker’s style would be perfect to either programme. It’s the little girl voice combined with the smacking of the lips that makes it unlistenable.

              Comment

              • kernelbogey
                Full Member
                • Nov 2010
                • 5748

                I've been impressed by the voice and microphone technique of Debbie Russ, who sometimes reads the news. She'd make a good presenter, and perhaps is being prepared for that (I hope). The wonderful Catriona Young is a precedent.

                Comment

                • french frank
                  Administrator/Moderator
                  • Feb 2007
                  • 30301

                  Originally posted by Bax-of-Delights View Post
                  I’ve never understood the Salford/London studio split.
                  I don't know exactly how much comes from Salford Quays at the moment. But the move was a 'policy decision' to decentralise. I don't know if MH travels up to Salford or whether a few programmes now and then are R3's 'contribution' to decentralisation. There was also a time when they kept getting Radio Merseyside, Radio York &c presenters to do the Breakfast stint. From the point of of view of presenter input it was even more dire. I think Victoria Forgotten-Her-Surname worked for 5 Live which is also based in Salford, I believe (but things change).

                  Originally posted by Bax-of-Delights View Post
                  I trust everyone enjoyed the yodelling “Skater’s Waltz” this morning. Another low point. With “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” promised for EC I see no point in continuing to listen. Radio 6 listeners are welcome to it.
                  When Radio 3 fits seamlessly into the BBC's entertainment offer, with no accusations of 'elitism'/snobbery/stuffiness, the mission will have been successful.
                  It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                  Comment

                  • cloughie
                    Full Member
                    • Dec 2011
                    • 22126

                    Originally posted by kernelbogey View Post
                    I've been impressed by the voice and microphone technique of Debbie Russ, who sometimes reads the news. She'd make a good presenter, and perhaps is being prepared for that (I hope). The wonderful Catriona Young is a precedent.
                    I agree about Catriona Young - when she was on Radio 4 she was second only to Harriet Cass!

                    Comment

                    • french frank
                      Administrator/Moderator
                      • Feb 2007
                      • 30301

                      Originally posted by cloughie View Post
                      I agree about Catriona Young - when she was on Radio 4 she was second only to Harriet Cass!
                      She used to be a regular presenter on On Air, predecessor to Morning on 3 (predecessor to Breakfast). And also on Morning Collection, predecessor to many programmes including Essential Classics.

                      Newsreading and continuity seem to be the regular duties for ex-programme presenters, presumably to make room for the less experienced and/or less qualified.
                      It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                      Comment

                      • teamsaint
                        Full Member
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 25210

                        Originally posted by kernelbogey View Post
                        I've been impressed by the voice and microphone technique of Debbie Russ, who sometimes reads the news. She'd make a good presenter, and perhaps is being prepared for that (I hope). The wonderful Catriona Young is a precedent.
                        Given her age, I would be surprised if anybody has big plans for Debbie Russ, though I’d love to be wrong. She was a friend at Uni, and listening to her reading passages or parts from works we were studying was an absolute joy.She was a star child actor , most famously on the Double Deckers.

                        I agree that reads the news exceptionally well.
                        I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.

                        I am not a number, I am a free man.

                        Comment

                        • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                          Gone fishin'
                          • Sep 2011
                          • 30163

                          Originally posted by teamsaint View Post
                          Given her age, I would be surprised if anybody has big plans for Debbie Russ, though I’d love to be wrong. She was a friend at Uni, and listening to her reading passages or parts from works we were studying was an absolute joy.She was a star child actor , most famously on the Double Deckers.

                          I agree that reads the news exceptionally well.
                          Yes, yes, yes ... but how's Tiger?
                          [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

                          Comment

                          • LMcD
                            Full Member
                            • Sep 2017
                            • 8472

                            One of the joys of 'Breakfast' is (or are) the informative snippets of musical history. Today, we've just been told, marks the bicentenary of the first performance of 'Silent Night', which was accompanied by a guitar because a mouse had damaged the church organ. Petroc also provided a timely reminder that 104 years ago the opposing armies on the Western Front each sang it in their respective language.

                            Comment

                            • french frank
                              Administrator/Moderator
                              • Feb 2007
                              • 30301

                              Originally posted by LMcD View Post
                              One of the joys of 'Breakfast' is (or are) the informative snippets of musical history. Today, we've just been told, marks the bicentenary of the first performance of 'Silent Night', which was accompanied by a guitar because a mouse had damaged the church organ. Petroc also provided a timely reminder that 104 years ago the opposing armies on the Western Front each sang it in their respective language.
                              Don't have to listen to Breakfast to learn all about it from the BBC today. Is this where Petroc got the info - or did he write the news story?

                              The story behind one of the world's favourite Christmas carols, first performed on this day in 1818.
                              It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                              Comment

                              • Richard Tarleton

                                There was a charming TV programme, I think on BBC, devoted to this subject which aired at Christmas 1978.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X