Late-evening pleasures on Radio 3

[LMcD]

I've found myself tuning in regularly to Radio 3 between 10.00 p.m. and 12.30 a.m. during the week. Night Tracks offers a fascinating, loosely-themed mixture of the familiar and the unknown, and the informative introductions in Night Tracks add greatly to my enjoyment of the eclectic range of items played. These programmes more than compensate for my abandonment of Breakfast, the main purpose of which now seems to be the promotion of just about every other programme on Radio 3.

[Bella Kemp]

I enjoy this programme also. I also find that mornings on Radio 3 are not quite my thing, so simply tune in to Through the Night via BBC Sounds at that time. Despite my not liking some things on Radio 3, I don't quite know why others moan - surely now that we have BBC Sounds we can play what we want whenever we want. I'm sure we could even find the voices of Patricia Hughes and Cormac Rigby floating somewhere in a sound cloud if we truly felt their loss.

[gurnemanz]

I enjoy this programme also. I also find that mornings on Radio 3 are not quite my thing, so simply tune in to Through the Night via BBC Sounds at that time. Despite my not liking some things on Radio 3, I don't quite know why others moan - surely now that we have BBC Sounds we can play what we want whenever we want. I'm sure we could even find the voices of Patricia Hughes and Cormac Rigby floating somewhere in a sound cloud if we truly felt their loss.

A popular and irksomely oft-repeated moan is that R3 is turning into Classic FM, which it thankfully and manifestly isn't. I listened to CFM once for about 10 minutes and have never repeated the experience, whereas I still happily listen to R3 for many hours weekly, mostly from mid-day onwards.

The phrase "dumbing down" is also employed with tiresome frequency to disparage Radio 3 in its current state, compared to the halcyon days 50 years ago. Like you, a lot of recent changes don't suit me, but this does not necessarily mean things are becoming stupid. (I still use "dumb" to mean "incapable of speaking").

[LMcD]

A popular and irksomely oft-repeated moan is that R3 is turning into Classic FM, which it thankfully and manifestly isn't. I listened to CFM once for about 10 minutes and have never repeated the experience, whereas I still happily listen to R3 for many hours weekly, mostly from mid-day onwards.

The phrase "dumbing down" is also employed with tiresome frequency to disparage Radio 3 in its current state, compared to the halcyon days 50 years ago. Like you, a lot of recent changes don't suit me, but this does not necessarily mean things are becoming stupid. (I still use "dumb" to mean "incapable of speaking").

The only real difference is that, whereas in the past one could rely on Radio 3 to provide a satisfying listening experience almost whenever one tuned in, one now has to be more selective. Fortunately there are plenty of alternatives out there, and Sounds is very useful !

[french frank]

Despite my not liking some things on Radio 3, I don't quite know why others moan

Because what you want from R3 is different from what the "moaners" want (and, sorry, but that does suggest a belittling of other people's preferences).

- surely now that we have BBC Sounds we can play what we want whenever we want.

Well we could do that if there was much that wasn't now essentially background listening with or without a bit of chatter in between short pieces Why is it so hard to grasp that Radio 3 prided itself, even until quite recently, on being "distinctive" [BBC-speak] in playing "full length works"? Comparing R3 with CFM is like comparing raspberry-flavoured yoghurt with strawberry-flavoured, when what one wants is natural. I do at least understand and accept that some people prefer fruit-flavoured, I presume to take away the nasty natural taste.

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/11/16/ultra-prcessed-foods-are-causing-losses-of-10-of-uk-gdp-so-harmful-are-they/

[DracoM]

The only real difference is that, whereas in the past one could rely on Radio 3 to provide a satisfying listening experience almost whenever one tuned in, one now has to be more selective. Fortunately there are plenty of alternatives out there, and Sounds is very useful !

[oddoneout]

I enjoy this programme also. I also find that mornings on Radio 3 are not quite my thing, so simply tune in to Through the Night via BBC Sounds at that time. Despite my not liking some things on Radio 3, I don't quite know why others moan - surely now that we have BBC Sounds we can play what we want whenever we want. I'm sure we could even find the voices of Patricia Hughes and Cormac Rigby floating somewhere in a sound cloud if we truly felt their loss.

I moan for two reasons. One is personal, in that I can't use Sounds as, for whatever reason the sound doesn't emerge at anything above a mere whisper on my PC, even assuming I want to sit at my desk to listen. Why I don't know - I don't have a problem with the All of Bach offerings, many of the available Youtube items nor the practice tracks I sometimes access for choir. That also seems to rule out the other online alternatives although I have yet to fully investigate.
The other is more to do with my feeling that so long as R3 is a publicly funded radio station it should be making at least some attempt to remember what its remit is(or should be), rather than aping the likes of CFM. I don't consider it unreasonable to expect that at some point during the day there might be an opportunity to switch on and be able to access properly presented content, rather than wall to wall chat'n'bits, deconstructed and randomly re-assembled concert recordings, or superficial supposedly informative programmes.

[LMcD]

As with life in general, so it is with Radio 3: there comes a time when an acceptance, however unwilling, of a changed reality and continual adjustment to that change are the only viable solutions. Sometimes it will broadcast stuff I like, and at other times it won't. I never used to listen late in the evening, and never used to miss Breakfast. Overall, I listen much less often than I used to, but that gives me more time to read and tackle cryptic crosswords. It also means that fewer of my CDs will remain ignored on the shelf.

[french frank]

As far as "moaning" is concerned , think of it as being like Brexit. The Remainers were branded "moaners" or "sour losers" by the Brexiter "winners". Losers have reason to feel unhappy - and even "moan" - but if there's one thing that's worse than bad losers, it's bad winners. Some Brexiters now regret having won. If you feel R3 is "better" now, good luck to you: it will probably continue to get "better". If you think that on balance there's still enough to be grateful for, hang in there: but it will probably get worse .

[Serial_Apologist]

As far as "moaning" is concerned , think of it as being like Brexit. The Remainers were branded "moaners" or "sour losers" by the Brexiter "winners". Losers have reason to feel unhappy - and even "moan" - but if there's one thing that's worse than bad losers, it's bad winners. Some Brexiters now regret having won. If you feel R3 is "better" now, good luck to you: it will probably continue to get "better". If you think that on balance there's still enough to be grateful for, hang in there: but it will probably get worse .

[OtherwiseSatis]

Why do I moan (though admittedly more to friends than on this board)? Because Sam Jackson missed the obvious. He could have kept Lunchtime Concert, to keep a slightly different oasis in the middle of DJ led shows from 0630-1900. COTW could instead have been moved to 2200-2300, and continued to plough more interesting furrows than the safe ground it's gradually being forced towards. He'd then have saved the significant extra spend on a new late night strand, while spending a small bit more on having built lunchtime concerts with a presenter rather than mangling them and broadcasting them in the Afternoon Mishmash show. So it could have been a better Radio Station for less money. That's why I moan.

[LMcD]

. If you think that on balance there's still enough to be grateful for, hang in there: but it will probably get worse .

I haven't completely given up hope yet, and would describe my current position as 'an accommodation'.

[Bella Kemp]

Well all I can say is that I can listen to a complete Mahler, Bruckner or, indeed, any symphony whenever I want to, and I couldn't do that in 1982. Radio 3 had to change and I have changed with it. I have a deep and abiding affection for Radio 3 but, like my sweet husband, it's the same but not the same sweet thing it was forty years ago, and that doesn't mean that I love it any the less.

[Serial_Apologist]

What a sad day! Any more among our erstwhile supporters thinking of joining the sinking ship?

[french frank]

What a sad day! Any more among our erstwhile supporters thinking of joining the sinking ship?

I suppose it's a question of what the (elderly - if they are) individual can tolerate in the here and now, rather than them caring about where the changes, which will affect future generations, are inevitably heading. Who actually cares if attention spans are getting shorter? Just try to capitalise on the fact. The fact is that Radio 3, with its insistence on the soothing mindfulness of immersing oneself in classical music (and, yes Night Tracks and R3u, I mean you), is commodifying great art. It's rather like buying the Mona Lisa at an auction sale and using it as a fire screen - and a jolly nice one as it happens.