A new low? I actually turned off R3 on the way to work....

[Keraulophone]

A new low for R4 (as heard by a R3 listener)?

On DID just now, Kirsty announced one of Edmund de Waal's choices as "Collegium Regale from Nunc Dimitis by Herbert Howells"
... and then they played an excerpt from the Magnificat!

....aaaaaaaaaargh!!!

[Paul Sherratt]

She must have gone potty.

[french frank]

Actually,with all due respect to Jayne, I think she is missing the point. Firstly, for many of us, the morning is the preferred time for listening to music.

And in preferring to listen in the mornings (especially at breakfast time) you are in conformity with the mass of radio listeners in this country - no matter what station they listen to: R3 listeners are the same in that respect, though they are more likely to hang on through until midday than a Radio 4 audience where listening drops dramatically after the Today programme (in 1995 the BBC thought too many were buzzing off to Classic FM, which is why Radio3 brought in Paul Gambaccini (then of Classic FM) to persuade them (or as PG said to 'invite them') to stay with the BBC.

The BBC (like the commercials) knows when most people want to listen and (again like the commercials) puts on the kind of programming during the drivetimes that will appeal to the largest possible audience. As the saying goes: "Ratings by day, reputations by night." During the daytime, listening demand is lower in the afternoons: a station can 'risk' putting on less populist fare because fewer people want to listen at that time (the 'trough' for many stations is between about 3pm and 4pm). Linear radio is still as much about listening routines as about programming.

Some 99% of radio listening is 'live' i.e. not time-shifted via the iPlayer. So, if there appears to be an 'undue' amount of 'moaning' about the two morning programmes and In Tune it's because more people are disgruntled.

It's like having the football you're playing with taken away and given to other people.

[Mary Chambers]

A new low for R4 (as heard by a R3 listener)?

On DID just now, Kirsty announced one of Edmund de Waal's choices as "Collegium Regale from Nunc Dimitis by Herbert Howells"
... and then they played an excerpt from the Magnificat!

....aaaaaaaaaargh!!!

I thought I heard that, but couldn't quite believe it!

[Keraulophone]

the 'trough' for many stations is between about 3pm and 4pm

It's slightly disconcerting to know that devotees of Choral Evensong on the radio, the longest running outside broadcast in the world (since 1926), now languish in a trough (since the programme was moved from 4-5 pm). The Slough of Despond?

[Flosshilde]

It's only half in the trough - it manages to climb out halfway through

[french frank]

It's slightly disconcerting to know that devotees of Choral Evensong on the radio, the longest running outside broadcast in the world (since 1926), now languish in a trough (since the programme was moved from 4-5 pm). The Slough of Despond?

It was, of course, Radio 3 that dictated that the live broadcast should be at that time to fit in 'conveniently' (for R3) with the rest of the late afternoon-early evening programmes (In Tune, Composer of the Week at 6.30pm, then the concert at 7.30pm).

[french frank]

And, second thoughts, the graph I was looking at predated the earlier CE time: it could be that Wednesdays buck the trend, given the very evident appreciation of the programme and wide listenership

[Keraulophone]

Ascendit Stig of the Dump.

[kevmusic]

Yes, quite - and exactly how many of the live evening concerts have you listened to in the past 2 or 3 weeks? Here we are in 2012, Radio 3 live from the concert halls of GB every weekday eve, in webstream sound of a quality beyond all but the finest, long-obsolete less-compressed FM ever offered, and better than most of Europe - - and hardly a soul ever notes their reactions to it on the Performance thread.

No - they moan, with lofty disdain, about Blue Danube being played in the morning...

Well, Jayne, you may be right, though on the personal level which you choose you maintain here, please note I may have excellent reasons for an evident imbalance of critque. Leaving those aside, however, disappointment, sadness and yes, disdain, are my principle reasons for seeking out this forum. When and where oppurtunity presents itself for appreciation however, I register that, too.

[teamsaint]

Problem with the evening concerts for me is that they are at the one time of day when I might have the opportunity to listen properly,not in a car, to music of my choice. often the music of my choice is music new to me, which may well not be the case in the concert. In any event, it is "Prime Time" for me , so the concert has to beat other priority listening.
Doesn't change the fact that there is some pretty dismal programming and dull music choices in the mornings....and the evening concert programmes can be repetitive, in content if not performance. (EG IIRC a complete Beethoven cysle not long after the Proms cycle this year?)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's only a prelude to Ligeti ........ (and the Danube is grey)

I thought it was the coda to Also Sprach Zarathustra.

As for it being grey, surely it's black, rising in the Black Forest and ending in the Black Sea.

[jayne lee wilson]

Actually,with all due respect to Jayne, I think she is missing the point. Firstly, for many of us, the morning is the preferred time for listening to music. Sadly, R3 can now no longer be relied upon to serve up any fare which can sustain one through the day. As to the evening concert, firstly not every programme appeals - far too limited a menu on offer; moreover, not everyone has set up their hi-fi to take the HD feed, and the alternatives do not provide an audiophile experience to compare with the best CDs and downloads.

Fire up the laptop, wire in a little DAC... and never look back!

[Sir Velo]

Fire up the laptop, wire in a little DAC... and never look back!

Indeed. I've done it, and fine it is too. Still leaves the question of daytime broadcasting unanswered though.

[Flosshilde]

I suppose Jane's point was that with 'listen again' you could listen to the evening broadcasts, or Through the Night, during the day.