3beebies aka Breakfast

[mercia]

just for clarification, does one swich off because one doesn't like the Lark or because one doesn't like PT?

[Frances_iom]

You keep hitting that OFF switch in the morning, Calum, but my question is: why do you hit the ON switch knowing what is likely to come?

possibly like me invested in a clock/radio many years ago - mine is now set for 7.25am so that weekdays I catch the 7.30 short bulletin then switch off - I'm afraid PT in his new listen-to-me-tweet wanabee-DJ mode an instant turnoff

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well hope over experience i guess; most especially the maundering meander of PT and the LARK AGAIN and it's habit innit ...actually what i need is PT and the LARK AGAIN every time i light a ciggie ... now that would be of use ....

[antongould]

So no one made it to the Elderly (as ff says we have to call them) person with his tale of Finzi and then the IMHO lovely piece of Finzi?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

alas no, and i like Finzi very much ....

[french frank]

I believe that it was in the period before that referred to above by ff - mid nineties? - that PT first appeared on R3 on whatever the equivalent of Breakfast was. I stopped listening to that early morning show on R3 for several years as a result.

Have I remembered correctly that it was at the end of that period that Andrew MacGregor began introducing that show? For me he set the gold standard for that time of the day - in content as well as voice.

Andrew presented On Air weekdays up until about April 1998, when Record Review was at 7am. It then moved to 9am and Humphrey Carpenter started presenting a weekend edition of On Air. PT was launched at roughly that time as weekday presenter. After the Proms in September 1998, Andrew took over the new 'CD Review'.

'On Air' became 'Morning on 3' with Penny Gore and Edward Seckerson (later, Martin Handley), I think, in Sept 1999.

Something like that, anyway. Yes, Andrew was the highpoint for the morning presentation for me too.

[antongould]

alas no, and i like Finzi very much ....

more than ciggies?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

alas no, i'd say yes but my behaviour would give me away i do not listen to Finzi 20 or more times a day ....

[MrGongGong]

When I was doing my music degree in the 1980's I did listen to radio 3 , I found all sorts of things there via programmes like Mixing it and late night New music programmes which I listened to as well as Peel etc , Radio 3 got me interested in all sorts of music that was outside the mainstream
it was also one of the places to find some of the music we were studying
my daughter who is now at University doing a music degree never listens to Radio 3, she listens to and plays loads of different music including the mainstream repertoire that R3 plays endlessly.
The world has moved on in that sense, people studying music use the internet to find recordings they go to concerts but don't really do the "sitting down and listening to the radio" that many older folk do. This DOESN'T mean that "classical" music is less popular just that people listen to it in different ways.

One thing I realised a long time ago was that there really isn't (apart from Resonance FM) a Radio station for people who want to discover music they didn't know anything about , again that's the way the world is and those of us who are interested in that have to find their opportunities elsewhere !

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

my daughter who is now at University doing a music degree never listens to Radio 3, she listens to and plays loads of different music including the mainstream repertoire that R3 plays endlessly.
The world has moved on in that sense, people studying music use the internet to find recordings they go to concerts but don't really do the "sitting down and listening to the radio" that many older folk do. This DOESN'T mean that "classical" music is less popular just that people listen to it in different ways.

ditto MrGongGong; sprog and her mates use Spotify and were horrified when it started charging so much ...

[Lateralthinking1]

Switched on this morning at 7.45am and got a time check and a news summary. Just what I wasn't wanting.

I don't like the references to Twitter. In fact, I probably hate Twitter more than any invention of the past 25 years. It has knocked the hadron collider into second place.

I don't wholly dislike Petroc but the way he does smooth is approaching caricature.

Was it my imagination or did I hear something about nicknames for composers the other day? Calling Mozart Mozzer. That kind of thing. I'm being serious. Hopefully I was asleep and it was a dream.

Are they doing weeks of Petroc with Sarah and weeks of Sara with Rob? I haven't worked that one out yet.

I'm not overly keen on Sara. There are some very good women presenters on Radio 3. Unfortunately none of them are in the main time slots.

Those who say Weekend Breakfast is better are wrong. I'm not very keen on Martin Handley. As for Clemency Burton-Hill, she's got to be the worst of the lot.

(Vote for a better future - R Cowan, A McGregor, S Sharpe)

[arancie33]

'On Air' became 'Morning on 3' with Penny Gore and Edward Seckerson (later, Martin Handley), I think, in Sept 1999.

I recall another presenter, Sandy Burnett, who sounded sensible and informed yet occasionally asked for listeners' suggestions. One morning in exasperation I emailed the programme to suggest that, as the presenters were very knowledgeable, even expert, this was bit of a waste of talent and time. I got a very quick reply, by return of post as it were, from him to say that, yes, he agreed and had made representations but to no avail. Shortly afterwards he went and was, I believe, replaced by the blesséd Rob Cowan (and read that adjective how you will) whom I hold personally responsible for the inexorable downhill slide of Radio 3 mornings.

[french frank]

Vote for a better future - R Cowan

the blesséd Rob Cowan (and read that adjective how you will) whom I hold personally responsible for the inexorable downhill slide of Radio 3 mornings

Thus does the BBC get away with murder: whatever they do, some like it, some hate it. So they go on doing what they want ...

[kernelbogey]

[....] Humphrey Carpenter started presenting a weekend edition of On Air[....]

I remember being a devotee of Humphrey Carpenter's irreverent and quirky presentation, setting my alarm not to miss him. I think he didn't last long perhaps he was too irreverent about the suits.

[Roslynmuse]

... the blesséd Rob Cowan (and read that adjective how you will) whom I hold personally responsible for the inexorable downhill slide of Radio 3 mornings.

I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling slightly more queasy about RC than many on here. Not about his knowledge but about the energetic bonhomie of his presentation that seems to have set a tone of (what seems to me to be) false chumminess that jars with the music being played. Still, if he's the thin end of the wedge, it's grown considerably thicker on the other side in recent months...