Essential Classics - The Continuing Debate

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

This speaks volumes.
Particularly the bit about "core classical repertoire".

It was the "avid user of social media" that stuck out for me. (I'd "ticked all the boxes" up until that point.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It was the "avid user of social media" that stuck out for me. (I'd "ticked all the boxes" up until that point.)

But you are using this site all the time. I think that qualifies all of us.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ah! I was thinking of Twitbook, Facetweet and such like ... as, I suspect, were the creators of the Jobspec: it would be nice to think that one could get a BBC-associated job (if one should so wish) after declaring that one posted regularly to the Forum.

[french frank]

This speaks volumes.
Particularly the bit about "core classical repertoire".

Don't forget the original commissioning brief:

"This is a significant part of Radio 3’s weekday daytime schedule and should aim to hold on to as much of the breakfast audience as possible whilst drawing in new listeners from the post-Today Radio 4 switch over. It should also be an entry-point programme to appeal to listeners with a broad interest in mainstream classical music.
[...]
"The programme should feel inclusive and informative... Presentation should be light and brief, without in-depth musicological or complicated biographical detail (which is more suited to COTW which follows)."

It's that word 'avid' [NB Agree with ferney - It's job-related social media, Fb and Twitter, oh, and the Essential Classics blog. Haven't looked at that for ages ...]

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

"This is a significant part of Radio 3’s weekday daytime schedule and should aim to hold on to as much of the breakfast audience as possible whilst drawing in new listeners from the post-Today Radio 4 switch over.

Reading between the lines, is there some infighting going on here between BBC radio channels. Pistols at Dawn between the controllers of Radios 3 & 4?

It is interesting that there are news bulletins throughout Breakfast, but at the most sensible time to programme such an item, there's an almighty scramble as the two presenters try not to trip over one another in the handover. "Clemmie, get out of my seat, quickly please." "OK Rob. Ouch! you kicked my ankle twice last week and now it's my shin. "

Heaven forbid we should have a news bulletin, think for ourselves, etc. DO THEY THINK WE ARE ALL IDIOTS?


EDIT
If I'm being a little unhostly, I'll willingly amend/delete.

[Serial_Apologist]

[B]

in-depth knowledge of the core classical repertoire (Baroque to Late Romantic)

All this bluster about Radio 3 introducing new listeners to classical music isn't anything of the kind, in other words, really just a very selective introduction to a musical museum, and an historically restricted one at that.

[vinteuil]

in-depth knowledge of the core classical repertoire (Baroque to Late Romantic)
.

... wot, no Léonin, no Pérotin, no Guido d' Arezzo, no Odhecaton?? to say nowt of them Byrds n Tallises and other Dowlands????

And nuffink from the later 20th c and the 21st c???

[Bryn]

... wot, no Léonin, no Pérotin, no Guido d' Arezzo, no Odhecaton?? to say nowt of them Byrds n Tallises and other Dowlands????

And nuffink from the later 20th c and the 21st c???

Which wastes the particular professional expertise of at least one of its presenters, whose doctoral thesis was on the English experimental tradition of the second half of the 20th century, and who is also active as a performer in that field.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Nearly all the presenters have expertise that dwarfs the sycophantic role their bosses demand.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well in the bad old days of Jon3 [since improved] we used to say on da jazz boreds that it was 'some thin else productions' you should know that they sell muzak services to airlines

[Bryn]

Nearly all the presenters have expertise that dwarfs the sycophantic role their bosses demand.

How very true.

[vinteuil]

Nearly all the presenters have expertise that dwarfs the sycophantic role their bosses demand.

... that is true - and so sad. Actually, it makes me angry - it's a real trahison des clercs . .

[Serial_Apologist]

well in the bad old days of Jon3 [since improved] we used to say on da jazz boreds that it was 'some thin else productions' you should know that they sell muzak services to airlines

It's known as "diversification"; I read somewhere else on this forum today that Somefink Else have taken over another R3 franchise which I hadn't realised had been privatised already.

[french frank]

Reading between the lines, is there some infighting going on here between BBC radio channels. Pistols at Dawn between the controllers of Radios 3 & 4?

Not necessarily. Remember Paul Gambaccini's brief? At 9am (same as EC) he had the specific mission [sic] to invite Radio 4 listeners, post-Today, to 'stay with the BBC rather than switch to Classic FM'. Radio 4's audience tumbles from about 8am. Some people are just going to work, others are switching to ... where? Radio 2? Classic FM? Gambaccini's Classical Collection was to compete with CFM for the classical audience. So although the BBC says Radio 3 was not targeting CFM listeners (but Radio 4 listeners), the Radio 4 listeners were the CFM listeners.

This is what the standard R4 listening pattern looked like:



(The red line was ten years ago, but if you check with five years earlier - the blue line - the pattern is near identical. And the current pattern is likely to be not dissimilar.) 2014's Rob Cowan is 1995's Paul Gambaccini

[Bax-of-Delights]

If such a thing exists, Frenchie, it would be interesting to see a comparison of R3's listener audience size before and after the entry of CFM onto the scene to see if, indeed, CFM snaffled any of R3's audience or created a new one - which, it would appear, R3 now chases.
(You may well have these things already at your fingertips and posted elsewhere but I, for one, probably missed it).