Radio 3 Unwind starts on the 4th of November

[vinteuil]

Rado 1 has a parent radio station and three streams.
Radio 1Xtra ("Amplifying black music & culture.")

... a possible home for J de Bologne chev S Georges, Florence Price, Coleridge-Taylor, Wm Grant Still, Scott Joplin....

[Hitch]

Rado 1 has a parent radio station and three streams. They are described on the BBC Sounds homepage as

• Radio 1 ("The biggest new pop & all day (sic) vibes.")
• Radio 1 Anthems ("All day (sic) anthems from the 00s to now.")
• Radio 1 Dance ("The biggest current, classic & future dance vibes.")
• Radio 1Xtra ("Amplifying black music & culture.")

R2's sole station is summarised like so: "Lift your day with the best tunes from your favourite DJs."

It might make sense to combine Anthems and Dance and allocate the saved budget to a new R2 stream ("R2 Stage & Screen"?) that could broadcast music that has disappeared from R2 proper and doesn't really belong on R3.

[french frank]

OK, let's do that. I've got more than enough Light Music on CD, but I thought - possibly mistakenly - that others might like the chance to discover some of its many delights.

So put it on R1 or 6 Music. It wouldn't fit on there either but why drop it from R2 in the first place? It's a circular argument to say that R3 isn't what it was so we''ll introduce a wider range of music. It's all just audience engineering.

[oddoneout]

How do you justify music that has no place on R2 having, on the other hand, a place on R3? Does the inclusion of Bobby Vinton and The Magnificent Seven not at least dilute the Radio 3 classical music provision? If traditionally R2 fare is no longer 'welcome' on R2, why not just drop it altogether? Why move it on to R3?

Because the R3 we have now is not the R3 that can justify excluding such repertoire?

[LMcD]

How do you justify music that has no place on R2 having, on the other hand, a place on R3? Does the inclusion of Bobby Vinton and The Magnificent Seven not at least dilute the Radio 3 classical music provision? If traditionally R2 fare is no longer 'welcome' on R2, why not just drop it altogether? Why move it on to R3?

OK, let's do that. I've got more than enough Light Music on CD, but I thought - possibly mistakenly - that others might like the chance to discover some of its many delights.

[french frank]

Sadly, very little of the music referred to in Marion Elder's letter would be welcome on Radio 2, which over the years has changed to a much greater extent than Radio 3 has changed, is changing or - let's hope - will continue to change.

How do you justify music that has no place on R2 having, on the other hand, a place on R3? Does the inclusion of Bobby Vinton and The Magnificent Seven not at least dilute the Radio 3 classical music provision? If traditionally R2 fare is no longer 'welcome' on R2, why not just drop it altogether? Why move it on to R3?

[gurnemanz]

Today's Times letter about the state of Radio 3:

Dispiriting to read "dumbing down" trotted out yet again by someone keen to publicise the superiority of their own taste and discernment. Inasmuch as this dreary, hackneyed phrase means anything, it certainly does not apply to Radio Three this afternoon - not to any item on Classical Live or to CotW on Imogen Holst.

[Serial_Apologist]

I find it hard to believe that someone who could make the changes he has made can ..

I thought you were going to finish that sentence with ".... be holding the position that he does".

[LMcD]

Today's Times letter about the state of Radio 3:

Sadly, very little of the music referred to in Marion Elder's letter would be welcome on Radio 2, which over the years has changed to a much greater extent than Radio 3 has changed, is changing or - let's hope - will continue to change.

[smittims]

I'm afraid Sam Jackson will be deaf to such appeals . From his point of view, dumbing-down has been a great success, bringing the bigger audience he wanted at all costs.. The cost, in broadcasting and artistic standards , does not concern him , if indeed he understands what artistic standards are. I find it hard to believe that someone who could make the changes he has made can have much understading of music or the other arts. .

[Pulcinella]

Today's Times letter about the state of Radio 3:

Radio silence

Sir, How I agree with Dr Paul Heaton (letter, Jan 22) about the sad state of Radio 3. I measure this by the number of times I turn off the radio because classical music has been replaced, in my opinion, by too many interviews and music that would be more at home on Radio 2. Is the BBC dumbing down Radio 3 so that it can merge with Radio 2, thereby saving money? Radio 3 Unwind is but a sop. Plans to change the school curriculum seem oddly similar.
Marion Elder
Aldershot, Hants

[Pulcinella]

The link now seems to have been fixed.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/5a495c34-3ae8-4bb1-a3b7-f1aba58d94be?shareToken=2900cf90038c9804b0b71c5aa102771d

[LMcD]

'Main' Radio 3 presumably means the original R3, 91 -95 Fm and on Digital . And of course there's a huge list* of British composers who are virtually banned from that network for no good reason. Nor does Sam offer any explanation. Thank goodness for CDs, YouTube and Spotify. But I'm getting poor value for my licence. Why can't he play just some of them occasionally? The only answer I can think of is that he doesn't like them. I think a Controler R3 should be more impartial than that.
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* Havergal Brian, Arnold Cooke, Priaulx Rainier, Alan Rawsthorne, Malcolm Singer, Elisabeth Lutyens, for starters.

Lloyd, Hoddinott, Alwyn, Rubbra, Simpson ......

[gurnemanz]

On R4's Start the Week this morning, Tom Sutcliffe and his guests discussed the topic: 'Music and movement; mind and body'. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00274s2. Tom made passing reference to the BBC's new unwinding initiative in terms that his employers might not have greatly appreciated, saying that it "drives me mad and is not the music I want to listen to".

[smittims]

'Main' Radio 3 presumably means the original R3, 91 -95 Fm and on Digital . And of course there's a huge list* of British composers who are virtually banned from that network for no good reason. Nor does Sam offer any explanation. Thank goodness for CDs, YouTube and Spotify. But I'm getting poor value for my licence. Why can't he play just some of them occasionally? The only answer I can think of is that he doesn't like them. I think a Controler R3 should be more impartial than that.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Havergal Brian, Arnold Cooke, Priaulx Rainier, Alan Rawsthorne, Malcolm Singer, Elisabeth Lutyens, for starters.