Change Afoot for Saturdays and Sundays in April

[LeMartinPecheur]

FGS stop this stupid innuendo.

[Barbirollians]

Agree with Jean - defining Clare Balding by her sexuality is very tedious .

[cloughie]

I think the 'problem' with Rob Cowan is that he's essentially a music writer who got lucky with a broadcasting job. I suspect his interviews are not great because he's not a trained journalist and so finds it difficult to be probing with his subjects who often have a very limited knowledge of 'art music'. I've always felt that he's 'one of us' in that he has tremendous knowledge and enthusiasm so, IMHO, I'm prepared to forgive his shortcomings in other areas.

[french frank]

I think the 'problem' with Rob Cowan is that he's essentially a music writer who got lucky with a broadcasting job. I suspect his interviews are not great because he's not a trained journalist and so finds it difficult to be probing with his subjects who often have a very limited knowledge of 'art music'. I've always felt that he's 'one of us' in that he has tremendous knowledge and enthusiasm so, IMHO, I'm prepared to forgive his shortcomings in other areas.

I think his original 'broadcasting job' was on CD Review (or possibly the original Record Review). And then we had CD Masters . The 'problem' with a lot of things was the change in the content at the time CD Masters was dropped.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The 'problem' with a lot of things was the change in the content at the time CD Masters was dropped.

[cloughie]

I think his original 'broadcasting job' was on CD Review (or possibly the original Record Review). And then we had CD Masters . The 'problem' with a lot of things was the change in the content at the time CD Masters was dropped.

One of Radio 3 s biggest mistakes - bring it back and drop the dead donkey aka Essential classics - a fine example of fixing things that weren't broken and an inexhaustible source to call on.

[Andrew Slater]

I've just listened to a recording of last Sunday's SM which was RC's last. At the end he announced that he would be presenting 'Rob's Gold Standard' on Saturday Classics, from 2nd April. Not sure whether this means he's taking over the whole programme or a part of it or whether he will be alternating (weekly) with other SC presenters. From the title it sounds as if it could be along the lines of CDM......

[BBMmk2]

I've just listened to a recording of last Sunday's SM which was RC's last. At the end he announced that he would be presenting 'Rob's Gold Standard' on Saturday Classics, from 2nd April. Not sure whether this means he's taking over the whole programme or a part of it or whether he will be alternating (weekly) with other SC presenters. From the title it sounds as if it could be along the lines of CDM......

More dumbing down

[french frank]

I've just listened to a recording of last Sunday's SM which was RC's last. At the end he announced that he would be presenting 'Rob's Gold Standard' on Saturday Classics, from 2nd April. Not sure whether this means he's taking over the whole programme or a part of it or whether he will be alternating (weekly) with other SC presenters. From the title it sounds as if it could be along the lines of CDM......

Yes, I saw that in the advance programme news - still called Saturday Classics, though. It didn't know whether it was a bridging programme until something new started, but if that's the new programme title, it sounds as if the celeb spot is ditched.

I approve of the junking of the word 'Classics' (meaningless unless it implies 'classical' - in which case it's unnecessary on a station which is predominantly classical) but disapprove if it's to be 'Rob's Saturday Afternoon'. Bad move because Rob isn't sufficiently well known among non-R3 listeners to be any sort of draw, but at the same time will put off people who are less keen on him as a presenter: it makes it sound as if he's the central attraction.

Ed:Missed the point about alternating presenters - what's 'SC'? 'Sential Classics? Oh, Saturday Classics? So same deal, but sometimes with Rob presenting?

Gold Standard? When RW started introducing programmes containing the presenters' names, I remember suggesting CD Masters would become Rob 'n' Jon's Golden Oldies …

[Flosshilde]

- Cowan isn't brilliant but is over exposed.

Absolutely agree, but Ardcarp's original comment re 'the Claire Balding of Radio 3' was about Tom Service.

[Flosshilde]

I think his original 'broadcasting job' was on CD Review (or possibly the original Record Review). And then we had CD Masters . The 'problem' with a lot of things was the change in the content at the time CD Masters was dropped.

The 'problem' is Rob Cowan. People say that he is extremely knowledgable but it always seems to be 'anoraky' knowledge to me - he proclaims something 'wonderful' but doesn't say much about why. When he was on 'CD Masters' (such a mis-nomer, as most if not all the recordings were made before CDs existed - perhaps it should have been called 'CD Re-masters'?) he contrasted unfavourably with Jonathon Swain.

[french frank]

Absolutely agree, but Ardcarp's original comment re 'the Claire Balding of Radio 3' was about Tom Service.

Tom Service is to present the new programme for younger listeners. I applaud such a programme, but very warily - for various reasons it seems like an uphill task these days. I think the quiet aim should be to find an 'adult audience' and just wait to see if a younger audience emerges. A 'childish' programme e.g. Making Tracks didn't work: didn't attract enough children (in spite of having the BBC Blue Peter/CBBC brands and attempts to link in with the schools) and was a no-no for adults. Tom Service … ? Not at all sure about that.

[Zucchini]

Tom Service is to present the new programme for younger listeners. I applaud such a programme, but very warily - for various reasons...

In principle, a fully developed Symphinity (BBC Taster) has the potential to attract those individuals. I do agree that in an increasingly electronic, visual and fast moving world it's utterly ridiculous to expect young(er) people to accept audio-only information:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/bc6f9a1c-bc6d-43bc-9d66-d806d7f83623

(Note the last comment on the blog!)

[johnb]

I think his original 'broadcasting job' was on CD Review (or possibly the original Record Review). And then we had CD Masters . The 'problem' with a lot of things was the change in the content at the time CD Masters was dropped.

Wasn't it Jonathan Swain who presented Record Review? The Wiki article on RC says edited "CD Review" for four years from 1985 though I'm not clear whether that refers to the Radio 3 programme or a magazine (I suspect the latter).

I remember that I had the strong impression, when listening to Jonathan Swain's final Record Review, that he was rather upset about leaving the job.

[french frank]

Wasn't it Jonathan Swain who presented Record Review? [...] I remember that I had the strong impression, when listening to Jonathan Swain's final Record Review, that he was rather upset about leaving the job.

Yes, he saw it out in July 1997 (but before that Richard Osborne had been a regular). Once the Proms had ended that year the new CD Review began with Andrew at the helm.

I don't think Rob ever presented the programme, though he might have appeared in it at some point - as he sometimes appears on CD Review. I'm not sure at what point he first became a 'BBC voice'. It would be very like RW to have nabbed him as a Classic FM voice who might have wider appeal than for the 'stuffies' of Radio 3 .

What seems baffling is the number of experienced presenters kicking their heels, often as continuity announcers or newsreaders - and who would be well able to present (and have presented) programmes: Jonathan S, John Shea, Paul Guinery. Rob, on the other hand (and I'm not saying anything against him) and Sean seem to have been on the longer daily programmes since forever.