Skelly replaces Cowan

[Stanfordian]

Hiya Rob, do hope your new programme will be a success and be rather chunky!

Hiya Maestro,

Is that chunky, as in bleeding chunky?

[Karafan]

Greetings everyone. Karafan: don't you think it would be fairer to sample my new CFM show before assuming an unpalatable menu? I have some great stuff planned for the first programme (6th January) and have no intention of abandoning playlist standards that I helped established on R3. I've always flown a flag for CFM, even while at R3, and the reverse is also true. Both stations are vital to the country's cultural profile.

Hi Rob, I could be quite guilty of a little presumption there and intend to listen as I have always found your R3 contributions very valuable. I thought, in the quote, I had detected the cold, dead hand of a CFM PR man - my apologies if not!

I am afraid, though, that an antipathy for the customary CFM offerings has taken gradual hold in me over the years - though I thought they started out better than they have developed (Hugh MacPherson's opera guide was always a favourite listen, but was dropped and replaced with something far less enlightening).

However, I shall tune in with an open mind (and ears) and wish you all the best with your new endeavours.

[teamsaint]

... he always gave every appearance of enjoying 'the things Radio 3 forced him to do'.

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Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

[Rob Cowan]

Hi Rob, I could be quite guilty of a little presumption there and intend to listen as I have always found your R3 contributions very valuable. I thought, in the quote, I had detected the cold, dead hand of a CFM PR man - my apologies if not!

I am afraid, though, that an antipathy for the customary CFM offerings has taken gradual hold in me over the years - though I thought they started out better than they have developed (Hugh MacPherson's opera guide, anyone?).

However, I shall tune in with an open mind (and ears) and wish you all the best with your new endeavours.

K.

Thanks Karafan. Much appreciated. Rob.

[Rob Cowan]

Chunky-is-me! - I'm even hoping to sneak a bit of Reger into the first programme (6/1/18). Don't fret, I intend to change the listening world with a wink and a smile. Keep well.

[pastoralguy]

Will you still be doing BaL's on Record Review, Rob?

[vinteuil]

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... I find winks and smiles a total turn-off.


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[Alison]

Good luck to Rob. New Year, New Start etc.

We all need a new challenge.

[doversoul1]

Chunky-is-me! - I'm even hoping to sneak a bit of Reger into the first programme (6/1/18). Don't fret, I intend to change the listening world with a wink and a smile. Keep well.

I didn’t hear very much early music from you, so from that point I probably shan’t miss you too much but I’m sure the late salymap would have been very sorry to see you go. All the best. And I don’t see why CFM and Radio3 can’t share classical music listeners in some way or areas.

[Gasteiner]

I found Classic FM quite useful to start with (I especially liked David Mellor's programmes), but I gave up listening to it many years ago, as I grew tired of all the adverts, dedications, the banal chit-chat, emphasis on short pieces, etc. At the time I packed up, I did so because I found the competing classical music programmes on R3 to be far superior in both presentation and content.

Besides, as far as I recall, CFM transmit at 160 kbps MP2 on DAB. At this quite low bit rate, it is OK for pop/rock/jazz, but for classical music it is more doubtful. This bit rate is possibly OK on cheap listening kit, but as soon as you listen to it through a decent hi-fi set up the shortcomings can show up, especially on fast-moving, orchestral classical music. I suppose a higher sound quality is potentially available on FM broadcasts, if one is fortunate enough to live within easy reach of a suitable transmitter, but I do not and DAB gave a better result.

The BBC's R3 digital transmissions on the other hand, as streamed over the internet, are of far higher sound quality, and good enough for most people's ears even on more expensive sound equipment. However, as has been stated by others many times in this and related threads by many people, the trouble with the R3 classical music scene is that its main morning programmes have become so dumbed down that they find them not worth listening to them any more. That's my view too. I have found that their content has become contaminated with excessive commentary, adverts for other programmes, quizzes, trotting out suggestions by listeners, dedications etc. First, it occurred on "Breakfast" and more recently Essential Classics has followed suit, these two programmes becoming virtually indistinguishable in presentation/content.

As far as I am concerned, by far the best classical music programme on R3 is "Through The Night". I sometimes manage to catch an hour or so at the end, and the presentation is always excellent. Once that ends at 6.30 am, things go very quickly downhill thereafter, and I switch off. I accept that some adjustment in the presentation style is probably justified for the two morning programmes, but the BBC have gone much too far towards appeasing the casual listener and turned away from meeting the requirements of people who have a more serious interest in and knowledge of classical music. Moreover, there's virtually nothing worth going back to "listen again" that's worth recording, on these programmes as it's all just a recital of standard old favourites that have been done to death. I especially miss the post 11 am section of "Essential Classics" as it used to be.

As for Rob Cowan's replacement, for me this is of no consequence as there is no presenter who could possibly change my mind about how awful these morning programmes have become. I will not resume listening to either to any of them unless and until they revert to more like the way they used to be.

[Richard Tarleton]

I didn’t hear very much early music from you, so from that point I probably shan’t miss you too much

On Essential Classics, no....but (and I actually wrote in to R3 at the time to thank you) your finest moment, Rob, was the CD Masters week when you featured "the lutenists" for a week - would have been in the early 2000s......You featured Desmond Dupré, Jakob Lindberg, Paul O'Dette and many more....

What happened to CD Masters, and the spirit behind it?

[DracoM]

Certainly echo the 'TTN' cheer.

I very rarely listen to R3 before 7.30. The whole Breakfast / Essential Classics team has totally lost it IMO. Do they have any clear idea for whom they are putting this stuff together? Feels like hit and hope at best to me. And the presenters do NOT help either.

Rob Cowan was indeed once a major opinion / taste-shaper and maker, CDM was a highlight for me, but hamstrung as he has been by the weedy format, Ess/Class has delivered so diluted a profile of someone we once knew that I cannot say I will miss him much any more.

[hmvman]

I especially miss the post 11 am section of "Essential Classics" as it used to be.

And we've even lost the BaL choice on a Monday.

[DracoM]

Skelly as a replacement for Cowan?
Out goes disappointed old dog, in comes mouse falling over itself to please.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Skelly as a replacement for Cowan?
Out goes disappointed old dog, in comes mouse falling over itself to please.

But should we be focussing on personalities? Surely the issue is the general direction that Radio 3 has taken in the last decade and more. From a high quality station for serious listeners - to a frivolous entertainment for people with limited attention spans.