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

[french frank]

Just in case you missed them, Today's, next week's, 14/8/2021 & 21/8/2021 episodes of "Downtime Symphony" are listed as a repeats from 27/2/2021, 6/3/2021, 13/3/2021 & 20/3/2021.

At least we can see in advance what they're going to be playing.

It just occurred to me that the BBC Annual Report and Accounts should have been published by now - and they have. The content spend (p 186) this year on the five network radio stations in England was:

R1 £36m (+£8m for 1Xtra)
R2 £47m (+£12m for 6 Music)
R3 £29m (+£5m spent in the nations = £34m)
R4 £77m (+£3m for 4Extra)
R5 £43m (+£5m for Sports Extra)

This may explain the pennypinching at R3.

[AuntDaisy]

At least we can see in advance what they're going to be playing.

Sadly, even knowing what will be on, there's not much I'd want to listen to - I'm far too old / grumpy / scruffy / untrendy...

It just occurred to me that the BBC Annual Report and Accounts should have been published by now - and they have. The content spend (p 186) this year on the five network radio stations in England was:

R1 £36m (+£8m for 1Xtra)
R2 £47m (+£12m for 6 Music)
R3 £29m (+£5m spent in the nations = £34m)
R4 £77m (+£3m for 4Extra)
R5 £43m (+£5m for Sports Extra)

This may explain the pennypinching at R3.

Thanks for the figures - R3 seems very inexpensive. I suppose it's the listener figures that do the bean-counting damage.

[AuntDaisy]

Surely if they are repeats they “have been broadcast first “ ? I see the repeats are of programmes first broadcast less than a year ago - so they may well have been licensed for unlimited repeats in a 12 month window.

That they're repeats just rubs salt in the wound - we could have had that TTN time back.
In a 29/01/2021 e-mail, Alan Davey justified the TTN attacks as follows:

...
While BBC Radio 3 commissioned these programmes primarily for BBC Sounds – where audiences can enjoy a rich array of performances and programmes from Radio 3 on demand - it is obliged to broadcast all content that it commissions on air first. The broadcast slot early on a Saturday morning was chosen because is a quiet and contemplative time at the beginning of a weekend where it might better fit the needs of all listeners. As ever, this is a matter of taste of course, but we seek to please as many people as we can.
...

Here's the link to my original 30th January post with Alan Davey's reply: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...968#post831968

[french frank]

Here's the link to my original 30th January post with Alan Davey's reply: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...968#post831968

"a quiet and contemplative time at the beginning of a weekend where it might better fit the needs of all listeners."

No, it's unlikely to fit the needs of listeners who would love to contemplate a Haydn string quartet or a Chopin recital late at night.

As ever, this is a matter of taste of course, but we seek to please as many people as we can

In a nutshell. Not to please a Radio 3 audience (as was) but to attract and please as many people as we can.

I need to check again, but I think as far as the various cited genres on television (News, Sport, Learning, Children &c), the Arts and Music came bottom - by some margin - in terms of spending.

[AuntDaisy]

No, it's unlikely to fit the needs of listeners who would love to contemplate a Haydn string quartet or a Chopin recital late at night.

In a nutshell. Not to please a Radio 3 audience (as was) but to attract and please as many people as we can.

I need to check again, but I think as far as the various cited genres on television (News, Sport, Learning, Children &c), the Arts and Music came bottom - by some margin - in terms of spending.

R3 audience figures seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy; I just can't see them attracting many youngsters.
Sad that Arts & Music was bottom - I wonder how that compares against pay for certain TV presenters?

[LMcD]

R3 audience figures seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy; I just can't see them attracting many youngsters.
Sad that Arts & Music was bottom - I wonder how that compares against pay for certain TV presenters?

Radio 3's pursuit of a 'yoof' audience is just one tool in the BBC's increasingly desperate search for a new generation of listeners and viewers. Others include the shortening of the 22.00 national and local news bulletins on BBC1, the almost complete disappearance of 60s charts from Gambo's Pick Of The Pops and a distinct move down market in the mix of questions on 'Counterpoint'. Any increase in new listeners which the latter achieve will probably be cancelled out by the departure of listeners like me.

[Serial_Apologist]

I am beginning to lose the will to moan.

[AuntDaisy]

I am beginning to lose the will to moan.

[Serial_Apologist]

(Coincidentally I recently acquired the entire box collection for that series!)

[AuntDaisy]

(Coincidentally I recently acquired the entire box collection for that series!)

One of my favourites - the older I get, the more I think Victor M is right. Wonder what he'd make of Tearjerker? "No you don't, matey" while kicking the radio?

At least we can see in advance what they're going to be playing.

It just occurred to me that the BBC Annual Report and Accounts should have been published by now - and they have. The content spend (p 186) this year on the five network radio stations in England was:

R1 £36m (+£8m for 1Xtra)
R2 £47m (+£12m for 6 Music)
R3 £29m (+£5m spent in the nations = £34m)
R4 £77m (+£3m for 4Extra)
R5 £43m (+£5m for Sports Extra)

This may explain the pennypinching at R3.

Tearjerker gets a mention on page 28 of the BBC Annual Report and Accounts!

Our distinctive, expertly curated music content reached records with 27 million plays in 2020/21. Mood-led mixes such as Mindful Mix, Focus Beats and The Happy Hour helped listeners with different needs; shows like 6 Music Artist in Residence and Tearjerker with Jorja Smith have been popular; and Radio 1 Dance was launched as one way to help listeners enjoy more of what they like from the BBC.

Somewhat miffed that Tearjerker didn't appear under "Editorial complaints and lessons learned" on page 117.

[Ein Heldenleben]

One of my favourites - the older I get, the more I think Victor M is right. Wonder what he'd make of Tearjerker? "No you don't, matey" while kicking the radio?



Tearjerker gets a mention on page 28 of the BBC Annual Report and Accounts!


Somewhat miffed that Tearjerker didn't appear under "Editorial complaints and lessons learned" on page 117.

Thing is they will have the precise number of downloads and streams on iPlayer / BBC sounds for all R3 output but with Rajar surveying suspended they won’t have the show by show data (with all its attendant accuracy issues) . I wouldn’t mind betting it’s amongst the most downloaded Progs on R3 ( because it’s marketed for the download / playlist generation) so I’m not sure complaining will have much impact.

[french frank]

I’m not sure complaining will have much impact.

It's the brick wall we came up against: we were complaining about the very strategies that were being pushed ("You're guilty of Crime X." "Yes, we know - it's deliberate.")

The BBC was told it had to cater better for younger audiences and they've demonstrated that they have done so successfully. In their book they have gained more than they've lost. Job done.

Tearjerker gets a mention on page 28 of the BBC Annual Report and Accounts!

Somewhat miffed that Tearjerker didn't appear under "Editorial complaints and lessons learned" on page 117.

It's Radio 3's contribution to the Sounds 'mood-led mixes'. What's disappointing is that they were incapable of producing a distinctively Radio 3 mood-led mix (possibly, I concede, because Radio 3 listeners don't necessarily want a mood-led mix ). Still, I've really ceased to care about Radio 3.

[Ein Heldenleben]

It's the brick wall we came up against: we were complaining about the very strategies that were being pushed ("You're guilty of Crime X." "Yes, we know - it's deliberate.")

The BBC was told it had to cater better for younger audiences and they've demonstrated that they have done so successfully. In their book they have gained more than they've lost. Job done.



It's Radio 3's contribution to the Sounds 'mood-led mixes'. What's disappointing is that they were incapable of producing a distinctively Radio 3 mood-led mix (possibly, I concede, because Radio 3 listeners don't necessarily want a mood-led mix ). Still, I've really ceased to care about Radio 3.

It would be interesting to know how many times TTN is downloaded vs the comparative figure for TJ et al . Although the latter may have the edge I suspect the download figures for Through The Night will be substantial as well. I wonder if they would supply the info? One of Netflixes most closely guarded secrets are their precise number of viewers….

[french frank]

It would be interesting to know how many times TTN is downloaded vs the comparative figure for TJ et al . Although the latter may have the edge I suspect the download figures for Through The Night will be substantial as well. I wonder if they would supply the info? One of Netflixes most closely guarded secrets are their precise number of viewers….

They used to publish the figures for downloads, but even then it was only the BBC's top programmes, among which Radio 3 didn't figure. The BBC has a special 'derogation' under the FoIA which means they don't have to release any information which they consider could be useful to rival broadcasters (which means anything to do with programmes).

Radio 3's new specialism is mood music, slow radio, mindfulness. The idea that much of classical music would fit the bill anyway doesn't seem to appeal to them. If only they had a single good idea for a new classical music programme … the last one I remember was CD Masters, 14 years ago.

[french frank]

And the reason there is no point in Radio 3 listeners complaining is this:

"We know mood, occasion and need-state are the primary criteria by which young people choose their media and aim to reflect that through new and distinctive music and speech-led formats designed primarily for on-demand listening. Recent successful examples include music shows like Tearjerker with Jorja Smith, Downtime Symphony with Celeste and Piano Flow with Lianne La Havas. Whilst this content airs on Radio 3 it is developed specifically for a younger, Sounds-first audience with a very different sound from anything else on the network."

Tell us about it