Controller, BBC Radio 3

[Honoured Guest]

Service has also blotted his copybook, as far as I'm concerned, with some of his over-populist introductions to TV Proms this season - though perhaps that's seen as a recommendation.

Surely he was presenting in a manner agreed with the programmes' producers? If he'd behaved unprofessionally by not doing what he was required to do, he'd have made himself unemployable as a presenter. And that would have been a risky move as part of a bid to become R3 Controller.

[VodkaDilc]

Surely he was presenting in a manner agreed with the programmes' producers? If he'd behaved unprofessionally by not doing what he was required to do, he'd have made himself unemployable as a presenter. And that would have been a risky move as part of a bid to become R3 Controller.

I'm sure it was what he was required to do - sadly that's how the BBC thinks it has to present music these days. I think it was a Norrington Prom where he came over so dreadfully.

[ahinton]

R3 (the only BBC station that would play a string quintet)

Even then, sometimes they only play 'em once, you know!...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Alan Davey is an interesting applicant

[ahinton]

Alongside Tom Service and Petroc Trelawney, according to today's Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/med...-davis-radio-3

At the risk of sounding pedantic (and in the wrong thread for that kind of thing), the reference to the "six-month anniversary"(!) seems to be an example of BBC cutting things in half for the sake of economy, a yet more egregious instance of which may be found in Radio Times for today in which an entry on the Radio 4 page (p.133) for tonight's edition of Just a Minute reads:

“Nicholas Parsons challenges Tony Hawks, Kerry Godliman, Stephen Mangan and Gyles Brandreth to talk for 30 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation”.

Why have BBC cut this wonderful and treasured game in half? Will the virtuoso whistle-blower receive a bonus for having to blow the whistle twice as often? What on earth would Ian Messiter have said? And will the intro and outro music be the half-minute waltz – just "Cho" and no "pin"? We should be told!

Yes, six-month anniversaries are bad enough, but this takes the biscuit, methinks!

Anyway, to return to topic, why not Gillian Moore? (or maybe she doesn't want the gig)...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Even then, sometimes they only play 'em once, you know!...

Sadly so.

[french frank]

Yes, six-month anniversaries are bad enough, but this takes the biscuit, methinks!

I think the press are making too much of this. RW decides to apply for the Aldeburgh post - he doesn't inform the BBC in case he doesn't get it. He does get it and announces he's leaving which MUST have been a total surprise given the unusual situation of giving up both the top posts at the same time. And he only left two months (6 weeks?) ago.

Added to which, the post of Controller, Radio 3, must be the most difficult of all BBC controllerships to fill. They will have started headhunting among people who already had other posts - under contract - who also would be cautious about burning boats with their employers. And the BBC hierarchy must be blind if they are unaware that it isn't just a footling little group of nobodies () who have been extremely scathing about recent station performance: they may well have been reassessing the whole Radio 3 thang internally

[DracoM]

Ah, but is Alan Davey the model for the Hugh Bonneville part in the fantastic Olympic Games Organisation TV spoof? He seems to have come down the same sort of track.

I think it ought to be Andrew McGregor for the Comptroller of R3. A real insider, proper music background, articulate.

Either that or one of the basic requirements should be that the top candidate has had to be / have been a 2nd violinist or viola player in a string quartet.

[Serial_Apologist]

Surely he was presenting in a manner agreed with the programmes' producers? If he'd behaved unprofessionally by not doing what he was required to do, he'd have made himself unemployable as a presenter. And that would have been a risky move as part of a bid to become R3 Controller.

You equate being a yes man with professionalism, then?

[french frank]

A real insider, proper music background

When was a serving insider last appointed (as distinct from someone who had been with the BBC at some point)?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Surely he was presenting in a manner agreed with the programmes' producers? If he'd behaved unprofessionally by not doing what he was required to do, he'd have made himself unemployable as a presenter. And that would have been a risky move as part of a bid to become R3 Controller.

"I was only acting under orders" is a classic limp excuse. Not all Radio 3 presenters are quite so in-your-face. Talking more generally (and not specifically about anyone) being a bit of a creep to become teachers' pet is hardly deserving of promotion - just a sign of weakness.

[Serial_Apologist]

"I was only acting under orders" is a classic limp excuse. Not all Radio 3 presenters are quite so in-your-face. Talking more generally (and not specifically about anyone) being a bit of a creep to become teachers' pet is hardly deserving of promotion - just a sign of weakness.

Professionalism, according to our Honoured Guest!

[DracoM]

When was a serving insider last appointed (as distinct from someone who had been with the BBC at some point)?

'Twas a weary joke. Would it not be revolutionary if they appointed someone who truly cared about music, knew about the BBC, knew the music business, had listeners' trust as a basis for whatever they then hen did?

Eheu, me misere, ain't going to happen.

[french frank]

'Twas a weary joke. Would it not be revolutionary if they appointed someone who truly cared about music, knew about the BBC, knew the music business, had listeners' trust as a basis for whatever they then hen did?

Eheu, me misere, ain't going to happen.

Of course, there's no certainty that the one they would choose would be the one you would want :-).

As far as I can see, it isn't a job many people WANT - and anyone who does want it will want to do it his (her) way. No one had better musical credentials than the last controller.

[DublinJimbo]

Alongside Tom Service and Petroc Trelawney, according to today's Guardian[/url]

Did I somehow miss out on some seven months? I must have, since mentioning either of these two as a potential Radio 3 Controller can only be an April Fools joke.