Latest RAJARs

[french frank]

(Welcome to the forum, nephew! You aren't my nephew, are you - if so, which one?

[Mr Pee]

While I'm not wholly responsible for any drop in R3 listening figures, I feel I should hold up my metaphorical hands and have part of the blame placed on my metaphorical shoulders, as I listen to the station less and less frequently, and for shorter and shorter periods, than ever.
I recognize that, in itself, this matters no more than a Casablancan hill of beans, but, if others have a similar story to tell, perhaps some middle- to high-level apparatchik might spend a couple of moments wondering why some of us have fallen out of love with the station.

Ditto in the VodkaDilc household.

And ditto again at Pee towers.

[ahinton]

And ditto again at Pee towers.

Just as a matter of relatively idle interest, are they of ivory or - as Sorabji wrote that his were - of granite? (see Il Gran Rifiuto, from Sorabji's Mi Contra Fa: The Immoralisings of a Macchiavellian Musician for details)...

[Firebird]

While I'm not wholly responsible for any drop in R3 listening figures, I feel I should hold up my metaphorical hands and have part of the blame placed on my metaphorical shoulders, as I listen to the station less and less frequently, and for shorter and shorter periods, than ever.
I recognize that, in itself, this matters no more than a Casablancan hill of beans, but, if others have a similar story to tell, perhaps some middle- to high-level apparatchik might spend a couple of moments wondering why some of us have fallen out of love with the station.

I have a similar story, Norfolk Born. I've taken to listening only (a) when a concert is broadcast (b) when listening to CDs isn't convenient (short car journeys, cooking). I used to be an avid Radio 3 listener, but just can't stand most of it anymore. It isn't just the inanity of the entire morning offerings once TTN is over, but the fact that much of the afternoon/early evening is taken up with Composer of the Week (however worthwhile in some respects, I've never enjoyed it and the rationale for broadcasting the same programme twice within a few hours is infathomable to me) and In Tune, which used to be reasonable value for providing something of mild interest to listen to in the kitchen while I chopped and stirred, but which has these days taken lite to a new level of unbearable liteness of being. (Is anyone else tired of the endless gushing over the Strads of every string player who is interviewed? Isn't it possible to ask people about the music itself?)

On the occasions when I do tune in outside concert times, I generally get annoyed enough I want to throw something at the radio, but that never lasts long--mostly, I just feel very sad about the situation.

[Don Petter]

Welcome, Firebird.

I echo your echo.

[Norfolk Born]

I wonder what effect the 'Schubertathon' had on the Q1 figures? (I know what effect it had on me...)

[EnemyoftheStoat]

I wonder what effect the 'Schubertathon' had on the Q1 figures? (I know what effect it had on me...)

The 'Schubertathon' only kicked in at the end of Q1, did it not? Won't there therefore be an effect on Q2 RAJARs as well?

[french frank]

The 'Schubertathon' only kicked in at the end of Q1, did it not? Won't there therefore be an effect on Q2 RAJARs as well?

Quarter 1 goes up to 1 April this year. The Spirit of Schubert was 24-31 March, so all the live listening will be inside this quarter.

RW tentatively attributed the very high listening figures for the same period last year to the Mozartathon. I merely mention this ...

On the whole, 8 days out of approx. 90 can't usually have a mammoth effect on its own to the entire quarter. Any mass walk-out would be noticed in the coming quarter.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well if you wanted to set out to reduce the coherence loyalty and size of an audience you could do no better than R3 with Jazz

in general i find myself to be a copy of the Norfolk Born school of listening ....

i do hope that a 15.8% drop is not erased or wriggled out of by CORPOSPEAK rubbish .... time to go to the headmaster's [i would say head mistress but erotic thoughts may be aroused] study with one's french lessons tucked in one's derriers eh .... [on second thoughts ... oh never mind]


oink oink oink etc

[Russ]

Breakfast which last quarter was hailing a leap in reach for its 'refreshed' style over the previous quarter has slumped 17.6% year-on-year.

Where do the Breakfast figures come from, ff?

Russ

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Quarter 1 goes up to 1 April this year. The Spirit of Schubert was 24-31 March, so all the live listening will be inside this quarter.

Ah, ok. It's just that it seemed to go on much longer.

[Serial_Apologist]

Ah, ok. It's just that it seemed to go on much longer.

I jst can't wait to listen to the waffleloads of managerial doublespeak used to justify these figures...

[Quarky]

The BBC news website makes particular mention of R3's anomalous result, but then moves swiftly on. No mention of controversial schedule changes. No ask, no need for comment Evans-Moyles-Bruce-6 Music record high blah blah ....

Taking an overview of the situation, Radio 1 and Radio 2 have roughly 10 and 20 times respectively more listening hours than Radio 3. Magic, Heart and other pop stations have very high Figures.

Radio 3 has roughly the same listening hours as Radio 6, and Jazz FM one-fifth of that.

Only Classic FM bucks the trend with about 4 times more listening hours than Radio 3.

The "trend" as far as I can see, is that music is used in this day and age for entertainment and that intellectual content is present no more than a minimal amount. Blame successive generations brought up on pop, rock, soul, R&B, etc, where rhythm is king.

The conclusion I draw is that no amount of rescheduling by Radio 3 is going to increase their figures. Non-classic programmes (Jazz, World music) have been shunted to late evening slots, to make way for more classic music aimed for a "wider reach", but this makes no difference at all.

So Radio 3 may have options - 1. to go for an out and out CFM clone, if listening figures are the primary objective. This may be would involve reducing intellectual content to something approaching that of Radio 6
2. to accept that intellect is out of fashion in music, but that there should be at least one station in UK that broadcasts "intellectual music", and keep its existing audiences happy. This would involve moving Lucy Durran and Geoffrey Smith back to day time slots.
3. May be to go for more digital functionality, in the sense of providing links to Youtube sites etc from the Radio 3 website to minority interest programmes, that will only get at the best of times a small audience - but not actually broadcasting the music. I'm sure that much lateral thinking could be applied here.

[french frank]

Where do the Breakfast figures come from, ff?

Russ

Where Quarterly Listening is highlighted at the top of the page, click on the tab Market Trends, to the right. This lists various pdfs, including under Comparative Charts 'Breakfast Show Listening for National and London Stations PDF'. That's the one.

[Serial_Apologist]

Taking an overview of the situation, Radio 1 and Radio 2 have roughly 10 and 20 times respectively more listening hours than Radio 3. Magic, Heart and other pop stations have very high Figures.

Radio 3 has roughly the same listening hours as Radio 6, and Jazz FM one-fifth of that.

Only Classic FM bucks the trend with about 4 times more listening hours than Radio 3.

The "trend" as far as I can see, is that music is used in this day and age for entertainment and that intellectual content is present no more than a minimal amount. Blame successive generations brought up on pop, rock, soul, R&B, etc, where rhythm is king.

The conclusion I draw is that no amount of rescheduling by Radio 3 is going to increase their figures. Non-classic programmes (Jazz, World music) have been shunted to late evening slots, to make way for more classic music aimed for a "wider reach", but this makes no difference at all.

So Radio 3 may have options - 1. to go for an out and out CFM clone, if listening figures are the primary objective. This may be would involve reducing intellectual content to something approaching that of Radio 6
2. to accept that intellect is out of fashion in music, but that there should be at least one station in UK that broadcasts "intellectual music", and keep its existing audiences happy. This would involve moving Lucy Durran and Geoffrey Smith back to day time slots.
3. May be to go for more digital functionality, in the sense of providing links to Youtube sites etc from the Radio 3 website to minority interest programmes, that will only get at the best of times a small audience - but not actually broadcasting the music. I'm sure that much lateral thinking could be applied here.

The problem is the BBC dealing with a burgeoining historical accumulation of non-critical cultural assimilation among populaces as wholes, which it and they themselves are now increasingly in the business (sic) of feeding.

It could be argued that most of the "best" and most catalytically challenging art and intellectual thought in the West has been effected by the assumption of a critical or premonitary stance: Mahler's prevision of global war; existentialism's epochal signposting of the end of religion-born certainty; Shostakovitch's encoded opposition to Stalinism. Today's critical artist or composer who, up against the marsmallow of consumer "choice", takes the all-too subtle stand of ironic reference and distance, is doomed. What do you do if you're young and talented and want to composer a music that's yours today? Do jazz?? I feel really sorry for 'em all.