I've been following this thread over the past week with interest and at times surprise - mostly because there were so many positive posts on the first couple of pages. I've been reflecting and thinking about my habits over the years and what remains of them.
I remember writing something similar on another thread recently, but I first encountered Radio 3 as an eleven year old, given a radio by school teacher who knew of my interest in music and was surprised that I had not encountered Radio 3 before (we were a Radio 4 household, and the radio was provided courtesy of Rediffusion - Radio 4, Radio 2 and local radio only). This was 1976. I started to buy the Radio Times and mark off the programmes I wanted to listen to. The radio was very old and didn't last long but the Radio Times habit stayed and I sought out anything and everything available on the Rediffusion radio (a massive brown box in the corner of the room with a dial on the wall) - the point being that I had caught the bug of listening and educating myself as far as I could based on what was available to me. We bought another radio with FM a few years later and Radio 3 was back in my life, around the time I was doing my O Levels. In between, I had started reading Gramophone and subscribed to the local record library so I was getting an education through several sources.
I strongly believe that there is such a thing as too much choice. How can one filter the offerings available now on YouTube, Spotify, Naxos Music Library etc? I was mostly quite disciplined about how I systematically went through the record library collection. And I was organized with my Radio 3 listening. What would I do if I was 11 years old now? Be presented with a bewildering array of music, but very little context for it. That I think is what I miss most from the current Radio 3. There is music being broadcast now 24 hrs a day, the selection is in many ways far broader than it ever was; but I would not learn from the programming what I learned in the mid 70s and early 80s. Similarly, I learned much from LP sleeves that is simply not there if one is streaming or surfing YouTube (NML is better).
I should add that as an 11 year old I did not consider that I was "educating myself" - I wanted to listen, I wanted to read about the music, but I would have described it as entertaining myself rather than educating myself. Now, though, I see that I was educating myself at the same time, in the Reithian manner. And I don't see any space in the riches currently available so easily and in such baffling abundance where another young me would be educated with such a light touch.
So, yes, to those who mourn the loss of speech radio about music, intelligent discussion about music, treating the music with respect (silence before and after). And regretting the intrusions of falsely enthusiastic presenters and trails that irritate so much that they are the main reason I no longer listen. If I see something listed that I really want to hear I will find it later on Sounds rather than listen live; but in reality that too is all about treating the music with respect, and I will more often go to my CDs now.
I remember writing something similar on another thread recently, but I first encountered Radio 3 as an eleven year old, given a radio by school teacher who knew of my interest in music and was surprised that I had not encountered Radio 3 before (we were a Radio 4 household, and the radio was provided courtesy of Rediffusion - Radio 4, Radio 2 and local radio only). This was 1976. I started to buy the Radio Times and mark off the programmes I wanted to listen to. The radio was very old and didn't last long but the Radio Times habit stayed and I sought out anything and everything available on the Rediffusion radio (a massive brown box in the corner of the room with a dial on the wall) - the point being that I had caught the bug of listening and educating myself as far as I could based on what was available to me. We bought another radio with FM a few years later and Radio 3 was back in my life, around the time I was doing my O Levels. In between, I had started reading Gramophone and subscribed to the local record library so I was getting an education through several sources.
I strongly believe that there is such a thing as too much choice. How can one filter the offerings available now on YouTube, Spotify, Naxos Music Library etc? I was mostly quite disciplined about how I systematically went through the record library collection. And I was organized with my Radio 3 listening. What would I do if I was 11 years old now? Be presented with a bewildering array of music, but very little context for it. That I think is what I miss most from the current Radio 3. There is music being broadcast now 24 hrs a day, the selection is in many ways far broader than it ever was; but I would not learn from the programming what I learned in the mid 70s and early 80s. Similarly, I learned much from LP sleeves that is simply not there if one is streaming or surfing YouTube (NML is better).
I should add that as an 11 year old I did not consider that I was "educating myself" - I wanted to listen, I wanted to read about the music, but I would have described it as entertaining myself rather than educating myself. Now, though, I see that I was educating myself at the same time, in the Reithian manner. And I don't see any space in the riches currently available so easily and in such baffling abundance where another young me would be educated with such a light touch.
So, yes, to those who mourn the loss of speech radio about music, intelligent discussion about music, treating the music with respect (silence before and after). And regretting the intrusions of falsely enthusiastic presenters and trails that irritate so much that they are the main reason I no longer listen. If I see something listed that I really want to hear I will find it later on Sounds rather than listen live; but in reality that too is all about treating the music with respect, and I will more often go to my CDs now.
in favour of other sources, in place of R3.
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