New Presenter for Weekend Breakfast Show

[french frank]

I've never done since 2005. That was when IMO the rot set in too strongly.

There's something utterly bizarre about this mismatch between what R3 does/how it does it and a 'potential audience' that ought to be well suited by the station's cultural remit. Unfortunately, some of us aren't the 'potential audience' that R3 is after. The BBC Trust can't see any problem with sitting the two 'potential audiences' down side by side and offering the same bill of fare.

[Bax-of-Delights]

There's something utterly bizarre about this mismatch between what R3 does/how it does it and a 'potential audience' that ought to be well suited by the station's cultural remit. Unfortunately, some of us aren't the 'potential audience' that R3 is after. The BBC Trust can't see any problem with sitting the two 'potential audiences' down side by side and offering the same bill of fare.

Well, I think R3 has finally found its new audience. This has just appeared on the R3 Facebook page.:

Hope Verdi's birthday will not put more opera on the wireless the music is always spoilt by terrible singing.

[french frank]

Well, I think R3 has finally found its new audience. This has just appeared on the R3 Facebook page.:

Hope Verdi's birthday will not put more opera on the wireless the music is always spoilt by terrible singing.

Then there was the guy who said, "Some awful irritating Bach followed by Out of Africa. Perfect!" This really does open a can of worms because once they have these 'new listeners' they are going to have to cater for them. So, no Bach, no opera? Anything else people would like to get rid of? CD Review? The Early Music Show (survival)? Hear and Now?

[Dave2002]

Well, I think R3 has finally found its new audience. This has just appeared on the R3 Facebook page.:

Hope Verdi's birthday will not put more opera on the wireless the music is always spoilt by terrible singing.

Sadly I can relate to this, though perhaps not quite in the way intended. I feel the Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute hardly ever lives up to what I imagine it should sound like. I blame Mozart for having written something which is almost impossible to sing.

[Sir Velo]

Then there was the guy who said, "Some awful irritating Bach followed by Out of Africa. Perfect!" This really does open a can of worms because once they have these 'new listeners' they are going to have to cater for them. So, no Bach, no opera? Anything else people would like to get rid of? CD Review? The Early Music Show (survival)? Hear and Now?

The interesting thing is, Roger Wright is always banging the drum about how the new "accessible" style is opening up classical music to a whole new audience; getting rid of the "stuffy elitism" schtick; but when push comes to shove who do the newbies vote for in the poll: "Ivan the Terrible" or Star Wars? or Out of Africa?

Bascally, this education; this getting people "to come on a journey" is wasted effort. These "new listeners" just want easy listening pap and no matter how much Bach you force feed them they're always going to revert to type.

[french frank]

I feel the Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute hardly ever lives up to what I imagine it should sound like. I blame Mozart for having written something which is almost impossible to sing.

Technically, I this better than a similar effort we have seen - even if, understandably, the dramatic effect is not quite what Mozart intended:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItfuUd6Omks

[french frank]

The interesting thing is, Roger Wright is always banging the drum about how the new "accessible" style is opening up classical music to a whole new audience; getting rid of the "stuffy elitism" schtick; but when push comes to shove who do the newbies vote for in the poll: "Ivan the Terrible" or Star Wars? or Out of Africa?

The snag is that the method is to give them lashings of the stuff they really like, be it Doctor Who, urban music &c, and a tiny smidgeon of 'classical music' which they hardly notice, and then shrug and pass on to more Doctor Who ...

[Sir Velo]

The snag is that the method is to give them lashings of the stuff they really like, be it Doctor Who, urban music &c, and a tiny smidgeon of 'classical music' which they hardly notice, and then shrug and pass on to more Doctor Who ...

Exactly my point. They're hardly begging for more Birtwistle and Brahms are they?

[Stephen Whitaker]

Sir Arnold would have had no difficulty in recognising humour when he saw it, shame that doesn't apply the Masefield tendency of the Bax fan-club.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Bascally, this education; this getting people "to come on a journey" is wasted effort. These "new listeners" just want easy listening pap and no matter how much Bach you force feed them they're always going to revert to type.

Perhaps a little sweeping genralization, SirV? There again, perhaps not - but even if RW is at least partially right, and new audiences are inspired by hearing all this stuff by John Williams to give "Classical" (& "World" & Jazz) Music a "go" - where can they hear it? Turn on R3 and it's ... more John Williams. (And I don't mean the guitarist - see "Guitarists" Thread.)

[Mary Chambers]

It's all very depressing.

[Bax-of-Delights]

Sir Arnold would have had no difficulty in recognising humour when he saw it, shame that doesn't apply the Masefield tendency of the Bax fan-club.

If the correspondent intended ironic humour he sadly missed the mark by a mile.

[teamsaint]

Are the 20+ really major spenders in the current economic climate? In a recent trip northwards I made a remark to a family member that there didn't seem to be much sign of austerity, and was promptly corrected. I think some people, which includes youmg, middle aged and older are having a hard time right now, while others are barely affected at all. Where the 20+ group may be different is in the seemingly unthinking way they might spend - instant gratification versus long term, but even suggesting that is probably a vast over generalisation.

In some market sectors I suspect older people are actually bigger spenders. A few years ago I read that the average age of a Porsche driver was around 55-57.

Many middle class families are smoothing things out, by older members passing money down to sons and daughters - for example:

Buying them cars
Buying them houses or flats, or putting deposits down
Paying tuition fees
Paying off student loans
Bailing them out ...
Etc.

There always was an element of this, but the scale of transfers is surely much higher now. I had to work to buy an old banger of a car when I was around 21 - but now it seems that often new ones are 18th birthday presents. OTOH I didn't have to pay student fees or repay student loans.

Another family member who is financially astute has sugested that the current student loan arrangements are actually roughly equivalent to a 9-10% "graduate" tax for those who pay their loans back. This is based on an observation that the current interest rates for student loans are sufficiently higher (no longer an obvious "almost free" money supply for the better off) than previous loans that many who start to pay their loans off (kicks in at around £21k salary) will very possibly only succeed in paying off interest for quite a while. Some will get highly paid jobs and pay off early, but many won't. In the meantime, young people who do not have the support of middle class families may have an even rougher time, and some talented young people will not even take the chance on "better" educational opportunities. In some cases this is a great shame.

D2K+2, this might make a good thread elsewhere.

Just to show that there is a discussion to be had...re cars. Yes, you do see lots of 18 year olds in new fiat 500's . Certainly round here. They are the children of the top 10% (roughly) who continue to do well economically.

On the other hand, the recession and student fees has hit motoring hard. Driving tests are down 250,000 per year on the peak. Lots of driving instructors are giving up.
Many parents are having to decide between helping with astronomical tuition fees or driving lessons. Sending your child out into their first (probably poorly paid) job with £50k plus debt is a very scary prospect indeed.

[Sir Velo]

Perhaps a little sweeping genralization, SirV? There again, perhaps not - but even if RW is at least partially right, and new audiences are inspired by hearing all this stuff by John Williams to give "Classical" (& "World" & Jazz) Music a "go" - where can they hear it? Turn on R3 and it's ... more John Williams. (And I don't mean the guitarist - see "Guitarists" Thread.)

I know it seems like hyperbole FHG, but if you think about it - who did the listeners prefer in the poll: Prokofiev, VW, Korngold, Alwyn? No, it was John Williams? As another poster pointed out, on Facebook one listener complained about "too much Bach" on radio 3; and now another is whinging that the singing ruins Verdi.

Give me strength!

[ostuni]

Off-topic for this thread, but ff's posting in #21 of Imbrailo's Hölle Rache is a piquant extra for those of us who recently saw his Billy Budd...