CoW: Another repeat

[doversoul1]

Henry Purcell next week. I’m not complaining about Purcell but this was broadcast in May 2011. Not even a year ago. Why are there so many repeats and if for some reasons they have to have repeats, can’t they go back a little further?

[Suffolkcoastal]

There were a number of very interesting COTWs last year (one of the few lights in R3s dark tunnel). But I can't understand why all the recent repeats this year, the concentration on British composers was I presume to do with the recent series on Saturday afternoons, but this would have been better served if repeats were necessary but much earlier COTW repeats maybe from 10 or so years ago. The other annoying fact about recent repeats is, as I've mentioned many times, that there are still countless composers who've never featured as a COTW or haven't done so for 15 years or more.

[french frank]

Well, lots of repeats is usually to do with saving money. The official reason for the reduced Discovering Music is the cuts and Jazz Library a similar victim. Also, TTN has increased its repeats: originally it was a new one every night.

DQF (Delivering Quts First) said that Radio 3 would make savings by reducing 'music talks' which probably means speech-based music programmes which are a lot more expensive that DJ shows.

[DracoM]

So how do they hang on to Night Waves, which quite often repeats the same topics as Front Row?
And without analytic and explanatory speech + music, R3 slips every closer to CFM. Don't get it. Or rather, I do, but reject it as a solution.

BeanCountersRUS
and
InnovatioinradioRNOTUS.

[Bax-of-Delights]

Well, lots of repeats is usually to do with saving money. The official reason for the reduced Discovering Music is the cuts and Jazz Library a similar victim. Also, TTN has increased its repeats: originally it was a new one every night.

DQF (Delivering Quts First) said that Radio 3 would make savings by reducing 'music talks' which probably means speech-based music programmes which are a lot more expensive that DJ shows.

But I would have thought CotW was fairly cheap to produce. Donald MacLeod sitting (at home?) recording the bio/intro sections and then a producer slotting in the required music. It is only on the very odd occasion that there is a studio guest who is an authority on a particular composer whereas each and every day there is a guest on Essentail Classics who is, one presumes, paid a fee - and for 2 and half hours each week I'm guessing that could be quite substantial?

And would dear Donald be getting a repeat broadcast fee?

[doversoul1]

I don’t think we should underestimate the effort and time that go into programmes like CoW and the Early Music Show (are these the only two programmes that actually need research these days?) Research is a time consuming job and then the script has to be written, which by no means an easy job, especially if it has to be fitted into the allocated time.

I’d much rather they spent money on producing programmes than making the webpage smart or up-to-date. Just simple schedule and playlists are enough for me. I imagine web maintenance is a costly thing?

And No Paid Guests (excluding experts for the purpose of the programme)

BoD

And would dear Donald be getting a repeat broadcast fee?

A very good point.

[french frank]

Donald MacLeod sitting (at home?) recording the bio/intro sections and then a producer slotting in the required music.

Well, I always imagined there would be a certain amount of research to do. When I taught a few odd classes during my post-graduate years, I was paid for five hours' work for every hour class I took.

There's a ref in The Envy of the World to a CotW presenter (then Paul Guinery) also producing the programme. I would be surprised if they didn't get a repeat fee.

[Simon]

Some may say that this programme has been getting better and better, so it therefore makes sense to repeat from the past 3 or 4 years. A balance of new programming and the best from the past seems sensible and reasonable enough to me, which as far as I can tell is about what we get.

As for Purcell -well, I wouldn't want it monthly, but once a year is surely fine for one of Britain's greatest ever composers. Those who missed it last time, and new listeners too, are in for a treat again.

[Anna]

On the Saturday Classics thread there was discussion about George Lloyd and a CotW about him around 10 (?) years ago. Presumably these programmes still exist so why cannot we have repeats of such as these programmes, not ones that are still fresh in the memory? Or, perhaps the tapes have not been kept - if so then that's a terrible shame.

[Bax-of-Delights]

Well, if R3 are happy to cough up £250,000 p.a. for the very dubious and intermittent services of Katie Dereham then one can only presume that more repeats will be the order of the day.

I do wonder how the longer serving and, some might say, more devoted R3 presenters feel about the shoe-horning of an expensive "celeb" into the schedules.

[french frank]

In fairness, if that's the sum she's getting it's likely to be for her BBC contract, including work on Radio 4 and for television (e.g. Proms).

[Norfolk Born]

Far be it from me to offer the Radio 3 'management' an explanation/justification for the recent rash of repeats, but I did wonder whether it's been decided that we should all be ready to display our Britishness when the Royal celebrations really get going in earnest. Although I'm agnostic when it comes to HM, her family and their doings, I'd rather wave a flag and raise a cheer for them than display an equal degree of enthusisam for our cosseted, self-centred, overexposed Olympians. (Or our equally cosseted, self-centred, overexposed soccer 'stars' who, unlike the Olympians, don't even manage to win anything).

[Bax-of-Delights]

In fairness, if that's the sum she's getting it's likely to be for her BBC contract, including work on Radio 4 and for television (e.g. Proms).

Would her R3 work be chargeable to the R3 budget?

In any respect I find it astonishing that the BBC would believe that KD was actually worth the money and was a positive asset to the network in that more people would want to turn on to her broadcasts rather than turn off.
(But I will admit that KD makes my teeth itch with her over-accentuated pronounciation and air-sucking technique.)

[Panjandrum]

Would her R3 work be chargeable to the R3 budget?

In any respect I find it astonishing that the BBC would believe that KD was actually worth the money and was a positive asset to the network in that more people would want to turn on to her broadcasts rather than turn off.
(But I will admit that KD makes my teeth itch with her over-accentuated pronounciation and air-sucking technique.)

On behalf of the qualified chartered accountants out there, I can definitely say that there would be an apportionment of her fee to the various cost/profit centres (i.e. channels) which benefit (sic) from her services. This would be predicated on a reasonable basis, such as hours worked, audience reach etc.

On the subject of KD, I saw her recently on Sky Arts' "First Love", in which she demonstrated a practical ability on the violin and a love of music which I had not previously appreciated, as well as a touchingly vulnerable side to her character. Unfortunately, this warmth does not appear to translate to radio.

[hmvman]

On the Saturday Classics thread there was discussion about George Lloyd and a CotW about him around 10 (?) years ago. Presumably these programmes still exist so why cannot we have repeats of such as these programmes, not ones that are still fresh in the memory? Or, perhaps the tapes have not been kept - if so then that's a terrible shame.

That would be good to have a repeat of the Lloyd COTW. If the tapes have been wiped/thrown out surely the scripts must still exist in the archives and one would suppose that it wouldn't be a huge cost to re-record them and slot in the music recordings.