Tearjerker, Downtown Symphony, Piano Flow, Happy Harmonies and other Saturday padding

[AuntDaisy]

R4's "Feedback" had a piece about cuts to Radio 1 (which I don't listen to).
Radio 1's head, Aled Haydn Jones, said something interesting about their Sounds streaming and OFCOM that may be relevant to the Tearjerker etc. drivel.

Here are a few "highlights" (apologies for any typos or errors):
Roger Bolton asked "What about Decompression Session? Which almost sent me to sleep... but how much of this is unique to Sounds?" (~8:00 in).
RB "How much fresh, original content...?" (~9:14)
AHJ "Not a station... we can't put live programming on it..." (~10:12)
RB "Similar services already provided by other commercial stations such as Magic & Virgin..." ~10:49
RB "Always Politics involved... chair of all party Parliamentary group on commercial radio asked the regulator Ofcom to fully investigate BBC Sounds app..." (~11:28)
AHJ "Open and honest with Ofcom about our need to collate programmes already broadcast on Radio 1 into its own stream..." (~12:18)
AHJ "... reassure them that the programmes that are going out on Radio 1 Relax are also already broadcast and already part of BBC Sounds. So OFCOM say it's fine, if other people do not agree..." (~12:36)
AHJ "... I'm focused on ensuring young people get use of the licence fee in the same way that older audiences do." (~12:51)

So, to sum up - "You Oldies get too much radio", "We want Youngsters to have it", "Stop moaning and b#gger off to Classic FM" (Alright, he didn't really imply the last part, but I'm extrapolating in my best Scientific manner.)

Does this mean that the Tearjerker drivel will also be used in this way, i.e. fragments of the as-broadcast programmes can be cut up and streamed willy-nilly? And, because the fragments have already been aired, they're automatically legally compliant?

In terms of funding I wonder what the relative proportions of Radio funding is between Youngsters & Oldies? Or, is £ R2+R3+R4+R4extra > R1+R1extra+Radio1Relax+Radio1Dance+Radio6Music+Asi anNetwork+... (N.B. I'm guessing at a lot of these stations, never having heard them).

[AuntDaisy]

I forgot - again.
Up too early and befuddled after a bad night I switched to radio on and was treated to William Byrd. "Oh back to normal" flitted through my mind, only to be rudely banished by some male wailing which followed it...

Perhaps I need to put a warning note on the radio above the On switch - "Think, is it Saturday?" as it's really not a good way to start the day. Knowing that the intended audience won't be subjected to the same distress as they won't be listening in real time rubs salt into the wound.

Apparently, the male wailing was part of something called Flyte.

Why have the "This programme contains mild swearing" warning for "Happy Harmonies"? Far too late, for those of us of a nervous / sensitive disposition that might be shocked by the drivel.

After the highly entertaining alliterative new titles earlier this week, why not some new warnings? "This programme may offend Radio 3 listeners" or "Turn off Grandad!!!".

[oddoneout]

I'm focused on ensuring young people get use of the licence fee in the same way that older audiences do.

Clumsy wording, he means I assume " to the same extent", as young people don't access the content or listen in the same way. Isn't that much of the point of these tiresome and counterproductive exercises - certainly as applied to R3?
Incidentally I've just noticed that the heading blurb to this morning's 6am dumbtime slot contains the phrase "This programme contains mild swearing" - which set in train several responses on my part, not helped by having counted the proportion of what might be called R3 content - 4 out of 16 items.

[LMcD]

I forgot - again.
Up too early and befuddled after a bad night I switched to radio on and was treated to William Byrd. "Oh back to normal" flitted through my mind, only to be rudely banished by some male wailing which followed it...

Perhaps I need to put a warning note on the radio above the On switch - "Think, is it Saturday?" as it's really not a good way to start the day. Knowing that the intended audience won't be subjected to the same distress as they won't be listening in real time rubs salt into the wound.

Saturday mornings 0600-0800 - one of the highlights of my listening week (on Radio 2, of course ...)

[AuntDaisy]

Clumsy wording, he means I assume " to the same extent", as young people don't access the content or listen in the same way. Isn't that much of the point of these tiresome and counterproductive exercises - certainly as applied to R3?
Incidentally I've just noticed that the heading blurb to this morning's 6am dumbtime slot contains the phrase "This programme contains mild swearing" - which set in train several responses on my part, not helped by having counted the proportion of what might be called R3 content - 4 out of 16 items.

Perhaps it should be "This programme will cause strong swearing / nausea and a rush to the Off button"?

In some ways, Aled Haydn Jones (of Radio 1 / Feedback fame) is right. Our youngest (17) doesn't listen to BBC radio (or TV), nor do the other two offspring. So what do they get out of the BBC licence fee?

I grew up with BBC radio and can't imagine a world without it. But it's often not the radio I remember & love, especially the radio drama.

[kernelbogey]

Having been listening on and off to TTN, I made a point of listening to the transition from TTN to Piano Flow at 0500 BST which was brutally abrupt: Jonathan doing his usual 'Just to mention...' piece then Lianne La Havas straight in with her Piano Flow intro and Laura Mvulla.... that is, straight on from Geminiani.....

Then Happy Harmonies ended with a Lennon-McCartney song by the King's Singers before Elizabeth A introducing Breakfast at 0700 BST in her usual Nursery School sing-song (many sentences begun with 'Well...' - a really irritating verbal tick). I simply cannot listen to that programme, even though the first item was by Ethel Smythe ('The Boatswain's Mate).

It seems the Suits want to create a four hour block of programming for those who think music is transactional - like cup of cocoa or a double espresso.

[french frank]

Hmm.What to say … I was up for early breakfast, to get ready to go to the Coop at 8am. Curiosity made me switch on an old "ghetto blaster" I'd rescued from my workshop, and cleaned up ready to put it on Freecycle or dump it on the front wall in the hope someone would take it away. It 'came' tuned to R3 and worked on the mains. So when I switched on …I wasn't sure … but kept listening to what I think would be described as a "mixtape". Occasionally the presenter spoke over the music, I think she said she was playing one of 'her own': was that the Beatles song? Finally she handed over to someone else who announced herself as Elizabeth Alker. I switched off, thoughtfully. Shall I bother to write a letter/email to the Controller to give him, helpfully, the benefit of my thoughts? Telling him I was not sure whether he is naive or cynical might not be received well.

Add: Just read the kernel's. Yes the Beatles song was the King's Singers but seemed to be mixed with something else.

[kernelbogey]

FF you missed Danielle J reading the news, of course beautifully. Almost like old times!

[antongould]

Hmm.What to say … I was up for early breakfast, to get ready to go to the Coop at 8am. Curiosity made me switch on an old "ghetto blaster" I'd rescued from my workshop, and cleaned up ready to put it on Freecycle or dump it on the front wall in the hope someone would take it away. It 'came' tuned to R3 and worked on the mains. So when I switched on …I wasn't sure … but kept listening to what I think would be described as a "mixtape". Occasionally the presenter spoke over the music, I think she said she was playing one of 'her own': was that the Beatles song? Finally she handed over to someone else who announced herself as Elizabeth Alker. I switched off, thoughtfully. Shall I bother to write a letter/email to the Controller to give him, helpfully, the benefit of my thoughts? Telling him I was not sure whether he is naive or cynical might not be received well.

Add: Just read the kernel's. Yes the Beatles song was the King's Singers but seemed to be mixed with something else.

I think you should bother ff ..... but, unusually, you worry me a little - are you saying it wasn’t Alkers but an imposter ...... ????

[Ein Heldenleben]

Hmm.What to say … I was up for early breakfast, to get ready to go to the Coop at 8am. Curiosity made me switch on an old "ghetto blaster" I'd rescued from my workshop, and cleaned up ready to put it on Freecycle or dump it on the front wall in the hope someone would take it away. It 'came' tuned to R3 and worked on the mains. So when I switched on …I wasn't sure … but kept listening to what I think would be described as a "mixtape". Occasionally the presenter spoke over the music, I think she said she was playing one of 'her own': was that the Beatles song? Finally she handed over to someone else who announced herself as Elizabeth Alker. I switched off, thoughtfully. Shall I bother to write a letter/email to the Controller to give him, helpfully, the benefit of my thoughts? Telling him I was not sure whether he is naive or cynical might not be received well.

Add: Just read the kernel's. Yes the Beatles song was the King's Singers but seemed to be mixed with something else.

I filled the awkward half hour before record review with a most beautiful rerelease on Qubuz of Rafael Orozco playing the Coronation Concerto with the ECO. A good lead in to this morning’s Haydn Symphony discussion.

[french frank]

FF you missed Danielle J reading the news, of course beautifully. Almost like old times!

I turned off before the news

I think you should bother ff ..... but, unusually, you worry me a little - are you saying it wasn’t Alkers but an imposter ...... ????

No, I'm sure it was really her. No reason to think it wasn't. But as I hadn't looked at the clock I didn't know who she was until she said. She also told me I'd been listening to Happy Harmonies, though I didn't catch the name of the presenter.

So we have Piano Flow (I didn't hear) and Happy Harmonies which I would classify as 6 MUsic programmes; then we have Breakfast, semi classical with a 6 Music Presenter; then we move into mainly classical, presented as easy listening for newbies. And finally we have Full Classical with CotW.

This seems either naivety: thinking a 6 Music audience will gradually be lured into the 'Radio 3 classical mainstream'. Or cynicism, knowing full well that they won't. All that happens is that the 'new audience' clamours for more of the same. I remember when the Late Junction listeners - most of whom didn't listen to classical music at all and attacked its listeners as snobs - clamoured for an Early Junction too. And Roger Wright (God bless him! ) said firmly that there would be NO EARLY JUNCTION. Well, there is now.

[kernelbogey]

This seems either naivety: thinking a 6 Music audience will gradually be lured into the 'Radio 3 classical mainstream'. Or cynicism, knowing full well that they won't. All that happens is that the 'new audience' clamours for more of the same.

Well, as we say, the proof will be in the padding....

[AuntDaisy]

So we have Piano Flow (I didn't hear) and Happy Harmonies which I would classify as 6 MUsic programmes; then we have Breakfast, semi classical with a 6 Music Presenter; then we move into mainly classical, presented as easy listening for newbies. And finally we have Full Classical with CotW.

This seems either naivety: thinking a 6 Music audience will gradually be lured into the 'Radio 3 classical mainstream'. Or cynicism, knowing full well that they won't. All that happens is that the 'new audience' clamours for more of the same. I remember when the Late Junction listeners - most of whom didn't listen to classical music at all and attacked its listeners as snobs - clamoured for an Early Junction too. And Roger Wright (God bless him! ) said firmly that there would be NO EARLY JUNCTION. Well, there is now.

Should "Early Junction" be added to the updated thread title?

[kernelbogey]

It seems the Suits want to create a four hour block of programming for those who think music is transactional - like cup of cocoa or a double espresso.

Thus failing the extraordinary potential of BBC Radio Three to educate that 'classical' music is something much more than that - an extraordinary experience for the mind, the emotions and even the whole body.

[Bryn]

Thus failing the extraordinary potential of BBC Radio Three to educate that 'classical' music is something much more than that - an extraordinary experience for the mind, the emotions and even the whole body.

Indeed, and thus a failure to abide by Radio 3's remit.