Latest RAJARs

[french frank]

#328 - thanks I understand all of that - it was really your 2 hours "limit" I was querying - can't we cope with 3 or more ? or do you feel that 2 hours is sufficiently long to 'deal with' one subject/thread/narrative ?

I think I was trying to be "realistic". I accept the (BBC) line that people 'consume' their music differently now, that lifestyles change, that people don't buy listings magazines in the way they used to, which is why they like the 'If it's 9am it must be Essential Classics' (cf 'If it's Tuesday it must be Rome') fixed routines. If that's so, I'd generally stick - as far as possible - to the 'fixed points' schedule (it would mess up iPlayer if you went back to CotW at 9.05- 10.05, News, weather, Artist in Focus 10.10 - 10.55 (this week only - all change next week).

But if you work on the basis of content getting the 'time it needs', realistically people would probably begin to baulk at being expected to listen regularly for two hours at a time, and at a specific time. So 45 mins, 60 mins, 90 mins would be better but - I think - the more separate programmes, the more expensive they get (different presenter, different production team &c &c) so 2 hours would be an attempt at an (un?)happy compromise. Cheapest radio is one presenter playing CDs - which is why programmes are longer: they can economise on content and pay the presenter a hefty whack (NB does not apply to R3 which I think does - and should - pay out for the content. But I'm not a presenter ).

Unlike some, I do think that a Shakespeare play needs to be broadcast in one go, not divided up into separate acts, one per night. Same goes for opera. But apart from that, it's hard to think of a programme that would need 3 hours, or wouldn't be better split into 2 or 3 shorter episodes.

[Old Grumpy]

Does everyone think there are massive differences between weekday and weekend Breakfast? ....

Sorry, dunno - never listen to weekend Breakfast.

OG

[mercia]

#331 - I understand, thank you.

[french frank]

Couldn’t the BBC have Catherine Bott back? Her two-year programme on CFM must be coming to an end (or has it already?).

My guess is it will finish this summer (150 progs is 3 years) and the first was on Oct 27 2013.

But it's not always possible to go back : if they've signed up Elin Manahan Thomas and Simon Heighes (or anyone else), they can't just say - Oh, you were just a stop-gap: we can get CB back again now. But maybe now and again for concert introductions, first …

[antongould]

People here have detected 'differences' but I was only really meaning a reduction of the weekday programme to 2 hours ('like at the weekends') which to my mind is about the longest a regular daily programme should be. [Next bit of choppery on Essential Classics, which for me, turned a more varied and interesting morning with some enjoyable listening into a 3-hour cringe. Total turn-off.]

My own view is that 2.5 hours is fine for Breakfast and that the most obvious candidate for change is EC ....

[french frank]

My own view is that 2.5 hours is fine for Breakfast and that the most obvious candidate for change is EC ....

Do you listen to Breakfast every morning from 6.30am until 9am? Even if it was only on weekdays, that alone would be more than twice the weekly average per listener.

I don't disagree about EC. But, being 3 hours long, it clocks up quite a few listeners. Roughly speaking, the longer a programme is, the more listeners it will mop up.

[antongould]

Do you listen to Breakfast every morning from 6.30am until 9am? Even if it was only on weekdays, that alone would be more than twice the weekly average per listener.

I don't disagree about EC. But, being 3 hours long, it clocks up quite a few listeners. Roughly speaking, the longer a programme is, the more listeners it will mop up.

To qualify as Sad Person of the Year I do and as soon as EC comes on I switch off .......

[Beef Oven!]

Do we know which programmes attract the most listeners on R3?

I'd be interested to see how Bal (the Bal bit, specifically) fares.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Wrong programme ferney .... now Essential Crassness ... even I could write a book ....

Whoops! Giving away what time I get up these day

(The Lithping thtill countth!)

[french frank]

Do we know which programmes attract the most listeners on R3?

I'd be interested to see how Bal (the Bal bit, specifically) fares.

'We' know nothing because the BBC doesn't disclose anything about individual programmes (except Breakfast because all national stations now publish their morning figures). I've never seen any special figures for BaL but CD Review/Record Review has a quite healthy audience.

Actually, I might be able to work out some semi-informed estimates - I'll look tonight - but they wouldn't be the most recent figures.


I believe Essential Classics is probably at the top, but this is because the weekly figures are an aggregate of all five days, and 3 hours per day. It also catches Radio 3's peak listening time of the entire day (around 8-9). These are the most important factors. Mutatis mutandis, I think CD Masters would have compared very well, but was only on for two hours per day and missed the peak, as it didn't start until 10am.

[Beef Oven!]

'We' know nothing because the BBC doesn't disclose anything about individual programmes (except Breakfast because all national stations now publish their morning figures). I've never seen any special figures for BaL but CD Review/Record Review has a quite healthy audience.

Actually, I might be able to work out some semi-informed estimates - I'll look tonight - but they wouldn't be the most recent figures.


I believe Essential Classics is probably at the top, but this is because the weekly figures are an aggregate of all five days, and 3 hours per day. It also catches Radio 3's peak listening time of the entire day (around 8-9). These are the most important factors. Mutatis mutandis, I think CD Masters would have compared very well, but was only on for two hours per day and missed the peak, as it didn't start until 10am.

If you get the chance to do some semi-informed workings out, it'd be good. In many ways, we're flying blind. If we could get sight of what's popular, it might be possible to nail down some strong assumptions for future programming.

[Serial_Apologist]

If you get the chance to do some semi-informed workings out, it'd be good. In many ways, we're flying blind. If we could get sight of what's popular, it might be possible to nail down some strong assumptions for future programming.

Yes I agree. But it's high time the BBC was forced to be transparent with regards to its listening figures beyond the morning segments. There really is no justifiable recourse to "commercial secrecy", assuming this to be the excuse for hushing things up.

[teamsaint]

Yes I agree. But it's high time the BBC was forced to be transparent with regards to its listening figures beyond the morning segments. There really is no justifiable recourse to "commercial secrecy", assuming this to be the excuse for hushing things up.

the same thing applies to their stance on DRM, but don't hold your breath......

[french frank]

There really is no justifiable recourse to "commercial secrecy", assuming this to be the excuse for hushing things up.

Partly. And if it means 'keeping secret from commercial competitors' it doesn't because they all get the same figures. CFM is perfectly well aware of what Radio 3's figures are - in detail. So the secrecy refers to keeping them secret from the public who actually foot the bill for them.

[french frank]

If you get the chance to do some semi-informed workings out, it'd be good.

I've got various bits and bobs stretching back ten years, and including 2015 :-) . The picture looks fairly consistent.

CD Review/Record Review is possibly the most popular single programme of the week (i.e. only one programme per week, not daily) with the Sunday morning programme reaching a similar sized audience. What seems to happen is that the Saturday Breakfast programme gradually builds up until listening hits a peak at 9 am; it begins to fall off as the Breakfast listeners switch off. But then there seems to be another smaller peak at 9.30. Overall, Saturdays have the highest peak of the week, but Sunday programmes maintain their listening levels better so some may amass more listeners overall than Record Review.

Slender evidence but Record Review is among the most popular programmes of the week, and BaL looks to be a very popular part of it.