A 'Controller' of Radio 3? Judging by the somewhat pessimistic details etc above, it would seem that any 'Controller' of Radio 3 is....not really in much of a position to be a 'Controller', since the resources available to him / her are increasingly mortgaged to other areas, or 'controlled' by the 'Controller of Music', or the 'Controller of Arts'. That the two gentlemen named in those posts seem not to have much background in nor apparntly commitment to the very particular remit of R3, even a pessimist must be downhearted.
Increasingly, the 'Controller' of R3 is merely admin, he/ she need have no intimate background in any of the core areas of R3, but merely a track record as a Beeb insider administrator. R3 simply becomes a commodity. Given that the massive pressure on public media to scramble after the crudely termed 'yoof' market [elusive, and many would argue now actually unreachable by such platforms as the BBC given the changes in how such music etc for the age group is delivered and accessed ], the easy listening market, the comedy market, the sport market, the R3 core remit of classical music is very seriously threatened.
Most of the BBC's major talk / critical / analytic / debate radio programmes have been incrementally re-assigned / re-designed to R4 specs eg in a sense 'In our time' is by its nature a R3 type programme, and then there are Front Row and Saturday Review which would seem to sit more naturally and more comfortably on R3, the Reith Lectures are now on R4 [how ironic is that!], most of the truly challenging music is being scheduled later and later in the day/night, and drama shunted likewise later and later, with the view of eventually shunting it out of R3 altogether one suspects, so that all in all, R3 is being prepared as the BBC's challenger to CFM by stealth, or maybe no longer by stealth, but in a bit of a hurry. As indeed, CFM quite rightly drew the CMS Cttee's attention to recently.
All the talk is of Tony Hall being so wedded to Music and the Arts, but the appointments he has made would seem to indicate something else. Thanks to the BBC Trust's invertebrate indifference to representations either from listener groups, or apparently the Parliamentary CMS Cttee's analyses and investigations, the BBC is able unmolested to be impervious to the increasing despair of many at its slow but steady abdication of the pursuit of excellence in any field. R3 is no longer seen, apparently, as a jewel in the crown, but a millstone round its neck as it jostles into the popular entertainment market on all its platforms.
So by his appointments shall ye know the DG. I do not lament RW's departure, but I certainly do fear the prepared weapons of emasculation that await his successor.
Increasingly, the 'Controller' of R3 is merely admin, he/ she need have no intimate background in any of the core areas of R3, but merely a track record as a Beeb insider administrator. R3 simply becomes a commodity. Given that the massive pressure on public media to scramble after the crudely termed 'yoof' market [elusive, and many would argue now actually unreachable by such platforms as the BBC given the changes in how such music etc for the age group is delivered and accessed ], the easy listening market, the comedy market, the sport market, the R3 core remit of classical music is very seriously threatened.
Most of the BBC's major talk / critical / analytic / debate radio programmes have been incrementally re-assigned / re-designed to R4 specs eg in a sense 'In our time' is by its nature a R3 type programme, and then there are Front Row and Saturday Review which would seem to sit more naturally and more comfortably on R3, the Reith Lectures are now on R4 [how ironic is that!], most of the truly challenging music is being scheduled later and later in the day/night, and drama shunted likewise later and later, with the view of eventually shunting it out of R3 altogether one suspects, so that all in all, R3 is being prepared as the BBC's challenger to CFM by stealth, or maybe no longer by stealth, but in a bit of a hurry. As indeed, CFM quite rightly drew the CMS Cttee's attention to recently.
All the talk is of Tony Hall being so wedded to Music and the Arts, but the appointments he has made would seem to indicate something else. Thanks to the BBC Trust's invertebrate indifference to representations either from listener groups, or apparently the Parliamentary CMS Cttee's analyses and investigations, the BBC is able unmolested to be impervious to the increasing despair of many at its slow but steady abdication of the pursuit of excellence in any field. R3 is no longer seen, apparently, as a jewel in the crown, but a millstone round its neck as it jostles into the popular entertainment market on all its platforms.
So by his appointments shall ye know the DG. I do not lament RW's departure, but I certainly do fear the prepared weapons of emasculation that await his successor.
Comment