Classical warfare

[Stanley Stewart]

An intriguing Radio Waves column by Paul Donovan in yesterday's (2 Nov 2014) Sunday Times Culture magazine.

"Radio has not been a party-political issue for a
long time, but it is striking how much warmer the
Tories are towards the commercial sector. They should
be, of course, because it is their baby. Local commercial
radio was born under Edward Heath in 1973, and national
commercial radio under John Major in 1992. It was a
Conservative minister, David Mellor, who ensured that
the only national commercial station on the coveted FM
platform should be "non-pop", and thus become the
midwife of Classic FM..."

Donovan continues by suggesting that Ed Vaizey, culture minister, has floated the notion that the BBC should consider broadcasting Radio 3 on digital only are potentially far-reaching. He provides comparative figures between R3 and Six Music. It seems that 43%, mainly elderly, now listen to R3 on a digital platform which is among the highest figures for
national networks that go out on both digital and analogue.

"...About 38% of all listening is now to digital, and 49%
of the population has access to a DAB radio. Digital is
irreversible, and Vaizey's idea deserves a hearing..."

"...If Classic FM is a tranquilliser, what, in a word, is R3?
It needs the sort of friends that Classic has in abundance.
It needs to talk about its low audience, which it will not do.
It needs a vision. The new controller, Alan Davey, takes
over in January. He has a great job, but not an enviable
one."

Overall, 2015 suggests that we do live in interesting times!

[french frank]

Against that is the argument that if the FM signal is due to be switched off (what's the latest on that?) everything will be digital soon, and whether it is or not there certainly won't be any advantage - in terms of audience numbers - to being on FM.

I agree that R3 needs to talk about its low audience, and think the BBC is imbecilic to keep parroting that 'Radio 3 has an audience of around 2m and the latest figures are in line with that'.

Alan Davey does have a difficult job - and there's no easy way of doing it. But I think he will have 'a vision' of a kind that Roger Wright never had.

[Stanley Stewart]

Against that is the argument that if the FM signal is due to be switched off (what's the latest on that?) everything will be digital soon, and whether it is or not there certainly won't be any advantage - in terms of audience numbers - to being on FM.

I agree that R3 needs to talk about its low audience, and think the BBC is imbecilic to keep parroting that 'Radio 3 has an audience of around 2m and the latest figures are in line with that'.

Alan Davey does have a difficult job - and there's no easy way of doing it. But I think he will have 'a vision' of a kind that Roger Wright never had.

'A vision' - a consummation devoutly to be wished.

[rauschwerk]

It seems that 43%, mainly elderly, now listen to R3 on a digital platform which is among the highest figures for
national networks that go out on both digital and analogue.

As it stands, that statement is meaningless. Do they listen exclusively on digital platforms? I doubt it. If they're anything like me they use FM in the car(s) and on some of their portable radios, DAB on other portable radios, Freeview on televisions, and iPlayer. If I were deprived of R3 whilst driving, I'd be pretty sore about it. I don't plan to change my car for another four years.

[Frances_iom]

As it stands, that statement is meaningless. Do they listen exclusively on digital platforms? I doubt it. .

it's the start of the softening up to switch off R3 FM - the digital platform is I suspect the catch up iPlayer as it seems more are deserting daytime R3 for a delayed TTN - I've suggested several times that switch off of R3 FM is imminent - once on DAB (and then certainly with a reduced bit rate) it will soon succumb to closure in the same way Beeching justified many rail closures, by removing any convenient usage of the service

[teamsaint]

it's the start of the softening up to switch off R3 FM - the digital platform is I suspect the catch up iPlayer as it seems more are deserting daytime R3 for a delayed TTN - I've suggested several times that switch off of R3 FM is imminent - once on DAB (and then certainly with a reduced bit rate) it will soon succumb to closure in the same way Beeching justified many rail closures, by removing any convenient usage of the service

or once totally digital, pay options become much more viable.