Radio 3 spinoff station

[OtherwiseSatis]

I wonder where they'll get the bandwidth from? New multiplex? (I doubt it.) Rent space on a commercial multiplex? Reduce the existing BBC DAB bit rates on the BBC multiplex to accommodate the new stations?

Surely the only way this can be done is by moving everything to DAB+? Everyone complaining that their old radios don't work any more gets the answer "but look, there are all these extra new stations now".

The problem for Radio 3 is that budgets are already squeezed and this is a whole new (albeit relatively cheap) network from the same pot of money. It seems odd that, as listening slowly moves away from linear radio, Charlotte Moore and Lorna Clarke seem to think all the archive material needs to be packaged up and played out on a new station rather than put online for listeners to pick and choose. All being well Ofcom will scupper it, but they seem completely toothless now.

[Nick Armstrong]

Don’t know why people are getting so worked up about this . If it leads to the removal of certain late night chill out / relax / de-stress mixtapes on R3 so much the better.

Yes, my first thought (being a ‘glass half-full’ sort of cove) was that this should mean that the “ear-quenching” [sic] b*ll*cks infesting the R3 schedules of late can be hived off to the new station, freeing up time on R3 for more decent music (or at least a full-length TTN on Friday nights…)

Time, I suppose, will tell…

[smittims]

I'll wait and hear what is broadcast before deciding if it's for me. At present it sounds like the old propaganda for dumbing-down. If indeed,the dumbtime,easy-listening and chat are shifted to this new station and the old Radio 3 is allowed to fill up the gap with the serious stuff we've asked for, then good, but if the old R3 is allow to atrophy, then bad. Time will tell. It could mean a series of Havergal Brian operas and Arnold Cooke Symphonies, or it could mean Debbie Wiseman chatting to Elizabeth Alker.

I'm suspicious about the repeated emphasis on calm and peace. Have they been told to do this in preparation for something the government are planning?

[Russ]

I think there's more to this than just a dumbing-down augmentation. The BBC has a history of doing the opposite of what one might expect. When there were serious discussions going on as to why the BBC should continue with R1 and R2 instead of losing them and being hived off to the commercial sector, the BBC's response was to have more stations (R1-Dance, R1-Relax, R1-Extra). Look at the history of BBC3 - launched in 2002, went internet-only in 2016 after the BBC decided that all its viewers were young and internet-connected, and then reverting to linear in 2022 when the BBC decided the output was so good that it could 'reach a wider audience'. (No, I could never work that one out either.) The proposed closure of 6Music was opposed by the (then) BBC Board, who found it was "well-liked by its listeners, was highly distinctive and made an important contribution". 6Music then put on a few hundred thousand more listeners as a result!

[cat]

Can we have another spin-off focusing on rousing and passionate classical music, aimed at helping listeners "energise, rise-up and face the pressures of daily life with joyful abandon?".

[Russ]

I'm wondering whether R3-Ext might be just an AI-driven jukebox of the 8000 library items. There's nothing in the BBC blurb about more humans being involved.

[Andrew Slater]

Surely the only way this can be done is by moving everything to DAB+? Everyone complaining that their old radios don't work any more gets the answer "but look, there are all these extra new stations now".

You could be right. My thinking was that these new spinoffs would be the BBC's way of dipping its (and its listeners') toes in the DAB+ water, with the main stations following later.

[oddoneout]

Surely the only way this can be done is by moving everything to DAB+? Everyone complaining that their old radios don't work any more gets the answer "but look, there are all these extra new stations now".

The problem for Radio 3 is that budgets are already squeezed and this is a whole new (albeit relatively cheap) network from the same pot of money. It seems odd that, as listening slowly moves away from linear radio, Charlotte Moore and Lorna Clarke seem to think all the archive material needs to be packaged up and played out on a new station rather than put online for listeners to pick and choose. All being well Ofcom will scupper it, but they seem completely toothless now.

All the regulators are toothless, by design I think. The matter will be decided by the commercial interests and their lobbyists.

[LMcD]

All the regulators are toothless, by design I think. The matter will be decided by the commercial interests and their lobbyists.

Perhaps listeners will be invited to suggest an appropriate name for the new station - something snappy, such as 'Radio I Can't Believe It's Not Classic FM'.

[gradus]

I had to check the calendar, surely not April 1 yet. This is straight out of W1A.
I am uneasy for the future of R3.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Not only bandwidth. The commercial sector is getting worked up about the plans, and in addition asks:

"“We would like to know where the money is coming from to fund these new services. The BBC often say that they need more funding to sustain current services and that they have already cut costs to the bone – including recently cutting back news and local radio funding. What are the BBC cutting to fund these new unnecessary services?"

There was a discussion with the "Head of Music" at the BBC (Radio? - I think I've got the job title correct but no time to check) on the Radio 4 "Media Show" yesterday. She explained that the BBC has a budget for music, and decides the disposition of that budget in the various broadcast channels it is applied - and it has been, and likely will, be changed - in this instance to accommodate the new channels. (Even more impoverished quality on Radio 3, then?). The issue was discussed in the latter third of the programme:

Also on the "World Tonight" (Radio 4, 10pm - at about 10.25 or so) a discussion about it including a presenter from "Boom Radio" making a point familiar to us - that the BBC had ignored the preferences of its audience - in his genre, for 1960s and 70's popular music (Radio 2) and now finds services such as his are building an audience. They also discuss the need to convince OFCOM - its not a good reason for the BBC just to want to compete with a private sector provider.

[cloughie]

Perhaps listeners will be invited to suggest an appropriate name for the new station - something snappy, such as 'Radio I Can't Believe It's Not Classic FM'.

My thoughts too, but probably tinctured with the chill out smooth pop that invaded ‘Through the night’.

[french frank]

There was a discussion with the "Head of Music" at the BBC (Radio? - I think I've got the job title correct but no time to check) on the Radio 4 "Media Show" yesterday. She explained that the BBC has a budget for music, and decides the disposition of that budget in the various broadcast channels it is applied - and it has been, and likely will, be changed - in this instance to accommodate the new channels. (Even more impoverished quality on Radio 3, then?). The issue was discussed in the latter third of the programme:

Was that Lorna Clarke, "Director of Music"? According to the BBC website she only has responsibility for Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music, Radio 1Xtra and the Asian Network, so perhaps the budgets of the "non-music" stations like R3, R4 and R5 Live won't be impacted by the spawning of multiple new stations? On the other hand ...

[Russ]

Was that Lorna Clarke, "Director of Music"?

Yes. The programme focused tightly on the battleground of the R2 demographic space.

R3 wasn't mentioned. As usual...

[french frank]

Yes. The programme focused tightly on the battleground of the R2 demographic space.

R3 wasn't mentioned. As usual...

It does appear that R3 is less and less considered a 'music station' by the BBC. I can't help feeling that a station which includes 'classical music' from The Early Music Show to Unclassified and all stops in between, before and after, plus jazz and world music, plus drama, documentaries and arts features, does need an overflow 'extension' station. But an Easy Listening/chill extension isn't really what's needed.