The Radio Times, can it sink any lower than this week's issue?

[Nick Armstrong]

great writers and artists are often 'rather boring, unassertive persons'...

... indeed, but so often are genuinely dull people.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... moving swiftly from the ridiculous to the sublime - surely, o Calippe, you haven't forgotten one of the great lessons of à la Recherche - that great writers and artists are often 'rather boring, unassertive persons'...

I'm more concerned with the plain nastiness that is central to many of her diatribes..

[Crowcatcher]

Oh thank you Ferret!

Mere mention of that dear man's name has me grinning away here

I remember him once, on a Radio 4 panel show some 30 odd years ago saying "The grand thing about Radio 3 is that they sometimes lose the news"
How things have changed!!

[Dave2002]

As to the rest of RT - quite frankly it's rubbish when it comes to R3 coverage and why I continue to buy it I don't know but I like the crossword.

We still get it, probably dating back to the days when I complained that I couldn't see what was really on R3 from other sources. Now it seems that one can't find that information from anywhere else, except online. I'm not sure why we still buy it. I think it's on subscription, so doesn't cost as much as the notional cover price, and a few times a year there are offers from outlets, such as gardening firms, so we get curiosities, such as potatoes and potato bags.

[Must see if we've got any potatoes yet, or will we get potato blight first?]

I suppose it gives the postman and the post lady something to deliver, and it goes out with the recycling most weeks. Sometimes it doesn't get read at all, and sometimes it is opened after the week has past. Sad really.

[french frank]

I used to buy it as part of my cultural education until I decided not to.

[french frank]

I thought not long ago that Radio Times should be renamed 'Dr Who Times' since it was featured on the cover about every fortnight. Maybe it's not being shown at the moment.

That was probably in Gill Hudson's (and David Tennant's) day. I suppose Ben Preston isn't as smitten with Matt Smith.

[salymap]

We still get it, probably dating back to the days when I complained that I couldn't see what was really on R3 from other sources. Now it seems that one can't find that information from anywhere else, except online. I'm not sure why we still buy it. I think it's on subscription, so doesn't cost as much as the notional cover price, and a few times a year there are offers from outlets, such as gardening firms, so we get curiosities, such as potatoes and potato bags.

[Must see if we've got any potatoes yet, or will we get potato blight first?]

I suppose it gives the postman and the post lady something to deliver, and it goes out with the recycling most weeks. Sometimes it doesn't get read at all, and sometimes it is opened after the week has past. Sad really.

I feel like stopping the RT,also the BBCMM, my only two papers, I give the MM to a local cousin who takes me shopping occasionally, the RT is a lifelong habit hard to break. It was 2d inold money and a much better magazine than now IMO.

[gurnemanz]

I have been buying RT for ever and I remember my parents used to get it in the 50s. I agree with others about it going downhill, but if you want printed listings without having to go on the net every time you want to check something, eg cast list, there is no serious rival. It is annoying that pre-noon R3 listings are almost non-existent, but this may be the BBC's fault. I don't usually read any of the articles but thumbnail film reviews can be useful.

[JFLL]

It is annoying that pre-noon R3 listings are almost non-existent, but this may be the BBC's fault

And not just pre-noon. I think it's often the BBC's fault. For example, all this week the Lunchtime Concert has consisted of chamber music recordings from this year's Aldeburgh Festival. But there's been nary a mention of what works are being performed. For example, on the R3 website we have just this for today's programme:

"Louise Fryer reaches the final edition of chamber music highlights from the 2012 Aldeburgh Festival. Today's programme features music from the concerts given by Ian Bostridge and Menahem Pressler. The music includes works by Ives and Schubert."

Who is singing/playing what? And just what are they performing? I think this is inexcusable. Since it's a recording, they must know exactly what is being played, so why can't they tell us?

[Serial_Apologist]

And not just pre-noon. I think it's often the BBC's fault. For example, all this week the Lunchtime Concert has consisted of chamber music recordings from this year's Aldeburgh Festival. But there's been nary a mention of what works are being performed. For example, on the R3 website we have just this for today's programme:

"Louise Fryer reaches the final edition of chamber music highlights from the 2012 Aldeburgh Festival. Today's programme features music from the concerts given by Ian Bostridge and Menahem Pressler. The music includes works by Ives and Schubert."

Who is singing/playing what? And just what are they performing? I think this is inexcusable. Since it's a recording, they must know exactly what is being played, so why can't they tell us?

[mangerton]

Like gurnemanz's, my parents bought RT in the fifties. It was a publication that was always in the house when I was growing up. I bought it myself until the mid nineties, when, appalled by the way it was going even then, I stopped.

Looks like things have got worse!

[Roehre]

And not just pre-noon. I think it's often the BBC's fault. For example, all this week the Lunchtime Concert has consisted of chamber music recordings from this year's Aldeburgh Festival. But there's been nary a mention of what works are being performed. For example, on the R3 website we have just this for today's programme:

"Louise Fryer reaches the final edition of chamber music highlights from the 2012 Aldeburgh Festival. Today's programme features music from the concerts given by Ian Bostridge and Menahem Pressler. The music includes works by Ives and Schubert."

Who is singing/playing what? And just what are they performing? I think this is inexcusable. Since it's a recording, they must know exactly what is being played, so why can't they tell us?

Well, with this type of information I am definitely not listening at all.
Just don't want to spill my precious spare time/listening time with works/music I don't fancy to listen to at that moment.

[JFLL]

Well, with this type of information I am definitely not listening at all.
Just don't want to spill my precious spare time/listening time with works/music I don't fancy to listen to at that moment.

By the way, it was 'only' Schubert's D. 960 that Pressler was playing. Not worth mentioning, was it?

[mercia]

extra 60p for your Radio Times next week, for an extra 72 pages

something going on ?

[salymap]

extra 60p for your Radio Times next week, for an extra 72 pages

something going on ?

What £2 a week. Must try to manage without it.