3beebies aka Breakfast

[Nick Armstrong]

you raise an interesting point Caliban in your several recent posts .... these listener hook manipulations do work on other stations, the R3 people are bad at it ... do we object in principle [ i do ] or is the distress aggravated by the teeth grinding naffness of the execution ... if it were done well might it just be palatable?

No, I'm pretty clear it's a no-no generally - the content is inevitably banal for the most part, and in principle, the goosebumps experienced by Mr Miggins of Basingstoke are not what I want to hear about first thing in the morning. To hear the R3 announcers trying to do it just adds to the toe-curling embarrassment of the whole misguided exercise.

[anotherbob]

EA

Are we going to get, "Now Sharon from Sheffield has asked us to play something for her boyfriend Tyler who is taking his NVQ level one in hairdressing today, so here is a track from Scheherezade...."

Oh, stop me, somebody.

So...... Girls called Sharon, people from Sheffield, boys called Tyler, NVQs in Hairdressing and Scheherazade are all infra dig around here? Just when I was feeling some sympathy for the general thrust of the thread too. Would you be related to Kingsley Amis's Professor Welch?

[doversoul1]

Calum

do we object in principle [ i do ] or is the distress aggravated by the teeth grinding naffness of the execution ... if it were done well might it just be palatable?

I object it in principle on Radio3, not the principle of phoning in. On occasions when I hear Radio2 or Invicta Radio (the local station here) it is ‘done well’ because, I think, that’s what these programmes are for. The presenters know exactly how to handle the calls and the music is played as filler. I only heard it a couple of times on Breakfast before I finally gave up the programme but it reminded me of university lecturers trying to get MA students to do pair work and answering every question with ‘thank you for asking that. It’s a very important point’.

BobDM
No need to go that far. Join the TTN on iplayer camp.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tmq9

And welcome to the Forum.

[ardcarp]

do we object in principle [ i do ] or is the distress aggravated by the teeth grinding naffness of the execution ... if it were done well might it just be palatable?

Yes, yes and no.

[Nick Armstrong]

Possibly worse than anything on Radio 3 ever: the "Hallowe'en on Radio 3" trailer, Trelawney mugging pathetically.

Embarrassing and infantile. Who do they take their listeners for ?

[doversoul1]

Caliban

Who do they take their listeners for ?

You don’t really want to hear the answer, do you…?

[mercia]

So...... Girls called Sharon, people from Sheffield, boys called Tyler, NVQs in Hairdressing and Scheherazade are all infra dig around here?

worse than infra dig, I fear they are at the very ends of the long noses down which we generally survey the world, I think you'll find.

Welcome !!

[anotherbob]

worse than infra dig, I fear they are at the very ends of the long noses down which we generally survey the world, I think you'll find.

Welcome !!

All those years I've listened to R3 and I didn't realise that I was a mere outsider.

[french frank]

All those years I've listened to R3 and I didn't realise that I was a mere outsider.

Welcome, anotherbob! It's an illusion - we're the outsiders! It's the people who enjoy the new range of programmes who are cosy inside the R3 fold ...

[french frank]

Graeme (Kay) on Facebook has posted this (extract) regarding R3's Breakfast strategy, and asks for a response from the constant critics:

"If hypothetically, R3 decides that for only 2.5 hours over a 24-hour period it is going to broadcast generally well-known pieces of classical music, which might have the effect of enabling new listeners to come into the station and share the joy of classical music, as welll as entertaining existing listeners at a time of day when perhaps there are distractions which might make the programming of, say, Bruckner symphonies not, perhaps, the kind of music to which listeners could devote the necessary serious attention, comparing this 2.5 hour period with the rest of the schedule (as I have cordially invited you to do), might not such a policy be a valid response to the fact that, like it or not, classical music in our society is on the radar of fewer people than those of us who love classical music would wish? I am at a total loss to understand why people would not wish classical music to be more widely known - popular, even - and for R3 to use its schedule and its profile to pursue that aim?"

Graeme - this is disingenuous. Here are some answers:

1. The most objectionable aspect of Breakfast for many people is not that it broadcasts 'generally well-known pieces of classical music': it is the prattle, gimmicks and the irrelevant trivia surrounding the music which, for them, renders the programme unlistenable. And, for some, it's also the inclusion of snippets from the music. Oh, and the absence of a full playlist so that the occasional piece lasting 10-15 minutes can be accurately located.

2. That old straw man: Bruckner symphonies as (apparently) the only alternative to short pieces averaging about 6 minutes.

3. It isn't '2.5 hours' because the commissioning brief for Essential Classics specifically said its aim was to 'keep' as much of the Breakfast audience as possible - and it continues with the prattle and 'entertaining' gimmicks. Thus it is 5.5 hours, not 2.5 hours (pace the 'long piece' after the guest spot). And not just any 5.5 hours, but the 5.5 hours which for most radio stations (and R3 in particular which has a later listening peak and a less dramatic post breakfast fall) attracts the largest number of listeners of the entire day. Thus the largest number of Radio 3 listeners are affected by a change to the target audience. Every weekday. (And Saturday afternoons)

4. Ten years ago the strategy was to wipe all the classical music off the schedule post-9.30pm. There were complaints from the classical audience as a result, and the strategy has been semi-abandoned. Now, the strategy is to wipe all serious listening off the morning schedule and direct it at beginners. CotW begins at midday, but is speech-based 'music documentary'. So there follows three and a half hours of classical music at a time when there is the lowest demand of the day.

5. Attract new listeners - yes! But this is a crass, imitative, unimaginative formula. Can't Radio 3 come up with any better ideas than this?

Any good, Graeme? (I'm not joining Facebook just to argue the toss over there)

[antongould]

For the avoidance of doubt can I swear on the R3 charter that I am not Graeme Whoever nor am I mercia although perhaps this does mean there are four of us!!

[antongould]

Apologies I should have added the great Anton B was on Breakfast this morning,

[aeolium]

I like that 'hypothetically'

[french frank]

I like that 'hypothetically'

Very cautious - given that it's written into Radio 3's Statement of Programme Policy 2010/11

[Norfolk Born]

Apologies I should have added the great Anton B was on Breakfast this morning,

Jolly good - what did he have to say for himself?