Feedback 13 May 2022

[Frances_iom]

Much of the program was concerned with R3 and interview with the Controller - tho I guess the timing was to push the proms much of the program was an extended vox-pop, recorded I think at a Birmingham concert followed by an interview with the Controller and his response to the views expressed in the vox-pop.
Judging from those views very few of the audiences for a ?classical music concert were R3 listeners - CFM was it seems more popular as 'giving a wider range of music + shorter pieces' - after listening it was obvious that R3's days are numbered.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Much of the program was concerned with R3 and interview with the Controller - tho I guess the timing was to push the proms much of the program was an extended vox-pop, recorded I think at a Birmingham concert followed by an interview with the Controller and his response to the views expressed in the vox-pop.
Judging from those views very few of the audiences for a ?classical music concert were R3 listeners - CFM was it seems more popular as 'giving a wider range of music + shorter pieces' - after listening it was obvious that R3's days are numbered.

The evidence isn’t what you might call reliable. The range of music heard on CFM programmes is tiny. The same very short list of items is recycled on a half-daily basis. I’m surprised anyone bothers to listen to it, as each day’s music is pretty much the same as the previous day’s, albeit mixed up in a different order.

[Cockney Sparrow]

If the orchestras were to be no longer on the BBC's organisation chart (and budget) that proposal would, surely, stir up a lot of trouble. The government would probably be happy to leave the BBC burdened with those costs whilst, in the coming years, it deals with the undermining of the BBC as a whole. That may well include dismembering a weakened BBC if it gets its abandonment of the licence fee and a rump of a public service broadcaster.
The above may not come to pass, but until it does, doesn't Radio 3 have its place as the recipient for all those performances under the contracted time of the orchestral players?

I also need to listen again to the programme - I thought the concert goer interviewed said that R3 had the wider range of music.

[edashtav]

If the orchestras were to be no longer on the BBC's organisation chart (and budget) that proposal would, surely, stir up a lot of trouble. The government would probably be happy to leave the BBC burdened with those costs whilst, in the coming years, it deals with the undermining of the BBC as a whole. That may well include dismembering a weakened BBC if it gets its abandonment of the licence fee and a rump of a public service broadcaster.
The above may not come to pass, but until it does, doesn't Radio 3 have its place as the recipient for all those performances under the contracted time of the orchestral players?

I also need to listen again to the programme - I thought the concert goer interviewed said that R3 had the wider range of music.

One of the earlier interviewees stated that CFM had the wider choice of music but, subsequently, another vox pop. Comment suggested otherwise.

[french frank]

The range of music heard on CFM programmes is tiny. The same very short list of items is recycled on a half-daily basis. I’m surprised anyone bothers to listen to it, as each day’s music is pretty much the same as the previous day’s, albeit mixed up in a different order.

Isn't that exactly what a lot of people want? You're describing the successful features not the shortcomings. R3 takes cognisance of this and gradually seeks to emulate it, just staying a step or two behind to see how audiences take it. Existing listeners become inured and new listeners are attracted. It's the way of the world - and more than a third of students get first class degrees

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Isn't that exactly what a lot of people want? You're describing the successful features not the shortcomings. R3 takes cognisance of this and gradually seeks to emulate it, just staying a step or two behind to see how audiences take it. Existing listeners become inured and new listeners are attracted. It's the way of the world - and more than a third of students get first class degrees

.

I was responding to the ludicrous claim that CFM had a greater range of music, which is wholly inaccurate.
On your other point, the BBC’s overriding philosophy has been to copy others, since the late 1960s onwards. Hence, the Corporation’s strengths have been cast aside, leaving them more vulnerable, as the BBC can now be viewed as superfluous.

[AuntDaisy]

Just caught up on Feedback & the comments.

"We have come from our village in south Staffordshire, about half an hour's drive away, and we've come to listen to the Mahler fifth symphony. We're fairly newly retired and we listen to Classic FM in the main."

Interviewer: "Now Radio 3 is obviously aimed at you and wants you to be a listener, why don't you listen to that?"

"I think the pieces are lesser well known, and perhaps because I'm new to classical music, I think Classic FM gives me a broader experience of classical FM with a lot more variety. I suppose, I think Radio 3 is a bit more serious, if I'm honest, and I'm not quite at that level yet. I'm not knocking Radio 3, but I just like the variety of Classic FM and I, suppose, the shorter pieces."

I think Monty Python might have done this as a sketch - with Mahler hoovering in the background.


Alan Davey pushing SOUNDS yet again, with targets for younger listeners. Bonhomie - no thanks. As the young cellist said, he'd rather choose his own playlists from YouTube.

From a quick skim of the Proms listings, there was one with Early music and that's alternating with modern pieces! Some Baroque.
AD's Wooden comparison of Sibelius Prom premieres with game music was really pushing it. What would happen if Classic FM played Game Music?

Not sure what I actually found out from Feedback, other than AD sounds a tad dreary.

[french frank]

. I was responding to the ludicrous claim that CFM had a greater range of music, which is wholly inaccurate.

Yes, I wasn't disagreeing with you, but responding to your comment that you couldn't understand why anyone would listen to CFM. Aunt Daisy's quote from the listener exactly makes my point: CFM is what it is and that's why R3's desired "target" audience listens to it rather than to R3. Conclusion: be more like CFM.

AD's Wooden comparison of Sibelius Prom premieres with game music was really pushing it. What would happen if Classic FM played Game Music?

If memory serves, when CFM thought it worth bothering to complain about the BBC, they cited the example of R3 covering video game music - as they themselves did in one of their regular programmes. R3's response was that R3 didn't do gaming music: it had just been briefly covered in one Sound of Cinema(?) programme. That, of course, was before they did …

Not sure what I actually found out from Feedback, other than AD sounds a tad dreary.

From the days when I had to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special as a quid pro quo for free lunch (I know, there's no such thing as a free lunch), I remember David Tennant's murmured aside re Penelope Wilton's Prime Minister. I saw a photo of the Controller some months back. He looked changed to me.

[antongould]

…:

Not sure what I actually found out from Feedback, other than AD sounds a tad dreary.

He’s a Smoggie remember

[AuntDaisy]

If memory serves, when CFM thought it worth bothering to complain about the BBC, they cited the example of R3 covering video game music - as they themselves did in one of their regular programmes. R3's response was that R3 didn't do gaming music: it had just been briefly covered in one Sound of Cinema(?) programme. That, of course, was before they did …

Thanks FF, news to me
I wonder if the lady "from a village in south Staffordshire" would be enamoured of it?

From the days when I had to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special as a quid pro quo for free lunch (I know, there's no such thing as a free lunch), I remember David Tennant's murmured aside re Penelope Wilton's Prime Minister. I saw a photo of the Controller some months back. He looked changed to me.

Tired? You might be right. "It's the workings of conscience, of course" - or possibly too much Icelandic beer & long days?

After a morning writing and an afternoon checking references in the library I emerge to this. The light in Iceland is special. Now for Friday Appy Hour…

[AuntDaisy]

He’s a Smoggie remember

New term to me.
I'd expected more enthusiasm & lively discourse from Alan D.

(Got to be careful, I'm a Northerner as well.)

[edashtav]

I'd expected more enthusiasm & lively discourse from Alan D.

(…)

I felt that he was fluent but bland. It didn’t sound live and I concluded that AD had been given RB’s questions, in advance. The result was a dull recitation of the party view from the R.3 Silo.
Silo-speak based in silo myths was just as evident in the comments that came from the public: I know what I like / I like what I know.
I emerged unenlightened but depressed.

[AuntDaisy]

I felt that he was fluent but bland. It didn’t sound live and I concluded that AD had been given RB’s questions, in advance. The result was a dull recitation of the party view from the R.3 Silo.
Silo-speak based in silo myths was just as evident in the comments that came from the public: I know what I like / I like what I know.
I emerged unenlightened but depressed.

You might well be right about the advance questions.

AD posted this rather PC tweet - clearly an offence to English as wot she is spoke.
Sadly, not all the presenters are "lovely" and I'm surprised that such a term is allowed.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I felt that he was fluent but bland. It didn’t sound live and I concluded that AD had been given RB’s questions, in advance. The result was a dull recitation of the party view from the R.3 Silo.
Silo-speak based in silo myths was just as evident in the comments that came from the public: I know what I like / I like what I know.
I emerged unenlightened but depressed.

I would be extremely surprised if the questions were given in advance . No self-respecting journalist , BBC or otherwise, does this nor do the interviewees ever expect it. Apart from anything else it would be virtually impossible to keep it secret and you can bet someone on the team would leak it. The interviewee would be generally given a broad indication of the subjects to be covered though.

[edashtav]

I would be extremely surprised if the questions were given in advance . No self-respecting journalist , BBC or otherwise, does this nor do the interviewees ever expect it. Apart from anything else it would be virtually impossible to keep it secret and you can bet someone on the team would leak it. The interviewee would be generally given a broad indication of the subjects to be covered though.

Thanks for that reassurance.