Classic FM attacks Radio 3!

[Catherine Bott]

PS just noticed kind interpretation of Twit-list: speaking as number 21/26, I've only been twittering for 4 weeks, give me time! I appreciate that there are some people I can never hope to catch up with but shall be brave....

[Bryn]

PS just noticed kind interpretation of Twit-list: speaking as number 21/26, I've only been twittering for 4 weeks, give me time! I appreciate that there are some people I can never hope to catch up with but shall be brave....

Catherine, to me at least, there is a certain kudos to being low on that particular list.

[cloughie]

Catherine, to me at least, there is a certain kudos to being low on that particular list.

Or not on it all eg Penny Gore

[amateur51]

Catherine, to me at least, there is a certain kudos to being low on that particular list.

[french frank]

speaking as number 21/26, I've only been twittering for 4 weeks

Problem is - your followers aren't on Twitter. Must be a fair few here, I'd a thort.

[Paul Sherratt]

>>PS just noticed kind interpretation of Twit-list:

CB, quality not quantity applies to Twitsville, just as anywhere else.

[Catherine Bott]

Thanks everyone! I, er, hear what you're saying...

[Russ]

Catherine, sort of going off-subject here, but do you recognise your/R3 audience as one characterised by the Independent's Fiona Sturges as being of "Twitter-loathing listeners"?

Russ

[french frank]

but do you recognise your/R3 audience as one characterised by the Independent's Fiona Sturges as being of "Twitter-loathing listeners"?

Good heavens! Well, nothing new there (and am I right in thinking the Indy didn't cover the Global Radio story at all? - The Guardian and Telegraph did, as well as the Mail).

That really was a nasty reference to the critics of Radio 3 all being 'dead soon'. I expect she has some jolly good ideas for cutting expenditure on the NHS too ...

This is she, by the way - wouldn't you know it?

[JFLL]

Good heavens! Well, nothing new there (and am I right in thinking the Indy didn't cover the Global Radio story at all? - The Guardian and Telegraph did, as well as the Mail).

That really was a nasty reference to the critics of Radio 3 all being 'dead soon'. I expect she has some jolly good ideas for cutting expenditure on the NHS too ...

This is she, by the way - wouldn't you know it?

Fiona Sturges said:

"Morley wasn't one to mince his words, highlighting with delicious accuracy the trouble with classical music on the radio. "The ideological sting, the madness, the beauty, the improvisational genius of it has all been taken away," he rumbled. "The way it's presented on Radio 3, I often feel like I'm on a long journey to my own funeral."

Of course "the ideological sting ... beauty ..." etc. haven't been "taken away". That could only happen if the music were taken away. The things he mentions are all in the music, which is what Radio 3 is there to broadcast. Naturally today the presentation is identified with the programme, especially by journalists and those in the trade (but not necessarily by listeners). The problem is, that classical music is often hard work (and much of it is old), so there'll never be a popular audience for it. Why not just recognize the fact? They can twitter till they're blue in the face, there just isn't a big audience there to "capture". And when they realize that, I fear it'll be the end of Radio 3.

I was amused by this:

"Wright was accused of dumbing-down ... and "trying to appease the iPod generation", to which any right-minded colleague with a view to keeping the station alive would have shrugged and said: "Don't worry Roger, they'll all be dead soon."

I wonder if Wright (56) might have said to his 'right-minded' colleague: "Er, wait a minute, it won't be so long before I'm drawing my own pension".

[aeolium]

Sounds like another of those (all too many) journalists who appear never to have listened to R3 but love to sound off about its audience

[french frank]

classical music is often hard work (and much of it is old), so there'll never be a popular audience for it. Why not just recognize the fact? They can twitter till they're blue in the face, there just isn't a big audience there to "capture". And when they realize that, I fear it'll be the end of Radio 3.

Not so sure about that. Whereas people 'get' popular/pop music now from the age of 4, but don't always retain their interest in contemporary pop, they catch up with classical music (if they're lucky) later on, even if they missed out earlier.

The great division of opinion is whether you try to attract new audiences by presenting classical music under all sorts of familiar guises - reality TV, pop radio/culture - and thus risk alienating those who already listen, or whether you just wait for the curious to discover it. If the BBC ceases to present it unvarnished, the music will never discovered for itself.

(I notice Fiona Sturges says elsewhere that she not much into classical music: astonishing!)

[gurnemanz]

Good heavens! Well, nothing new there (and am I right in thinking the Indy didn't cover the Global Radio story at all? - The Guardian and Telegraph did, as well as the Mail).

That really was a nasty reference to the critics of Radio 3 all being 'dead soon'. I expect she has some jolly good ideas for cutting expenditure on the NHS too ...

This is she, by the way - wouldn't you know it?

Even old gits like me were young once. I'm not sure how soon I will be conveniently dead but if I go on as long as my Dad, Fiona is stuck with me for another 32 years.

[french frank]

Sounds like another of those (all too many) journalists who appear never to have listened to R3 but love to sound off about its audience

Yes, it's pure stereotyping and cliché.

[french frank]

if I go on as long as my Dad

Not to mention ...