I’m not renewing my TV licence - any pitfalls?

[oddoneout]

but I thought the magazine would have more detail. I may as well have thrown my £2.50 in the mud.

That's why I stopped having the RT last year. The detail had been steadily reducing, the times given often seemed at odds with what was broadcast for the afternoon programmes(really annoying when wanting to tune in for a particular item), and careless layout led to arbitrary placement of performer information resulting in, for instance, symphonies having an instrumental soloist listed with the orchestra name, instead of under the relevant concerto(which may have been part of a different concert and with a different band....)The increasingly sloppy, slangy writing was a further turn-off - I wanted details and facts not chatshow soundbites.
As the non-listing part of the magazine was of no interest(decent/useful articles being very few and far between) there seemed no point in continuing. A sad decision though as RT had been part of my life for such a long time as my parents always had it and I carried on when I left home.

[Beef Oven!]

That's why I stopped having the RT last year. The detail had been steadily reducing, the times given often seemed at odds with what was broadcast for the afternoon programmes(really annoying when wanting to tune in for a particular item), and careless layout led to arbitrary placement of performer information resulting in, for instance, symphonies having an instrumental soloist listed with the orchestra name, instead of under the relevant concerto(which may have been part of a different concert and with a different band....)The increasingly sloppy, slangy writing was a further turn-off - I wanted details and facts not chatshow soundbites.
As the non-listing part of the magazine was of no interest(decent/useful articles being very few and far between) there seemed no point in continuing. A sad decision though as RT had been part of my life for such a long time as my parents always had it and I carried on when I left home.

Totally agree. Detail is scant and sloppy.



How about this for Tuesday 30th May:



1.00pm Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert .....

2.40 Bruckner Symphony No 7 in E
Netherlands Chamber Choir (women's voices)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Conductor Bernard Haitink

Pile of rubbish - shan't be buying it again.

[french frank]

Totally agree. Detail is scant and sloppy.



How about this for Tuesday 30th May:



1.00pm Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert .....

2.40 Bruckner Symphony No 7 in E
Netherlands Chamber Choir (women's voices)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Conductor Bernard Haitink

Pile of rubbish - shan't be buying it again.

In any case, if you're only getting a week+ ahead, most of it is already online, with all available details - though the BBC is a bit parsimonious, feeding out the new information day by day

[Beef Oven!]

In any case, if you're only getting a week+ ahead, most of it is already online, with all available details - though the BBC is a bit parsimonious, feeding out the new information day by day

But doesn't anybody check it before it's printed? Nehtherlands Chamber Choir (women's voices) in Bruckner 7 !!!???

[oddoneout]

But doesn't anybody check it before it's printed? Nehtherlands Chamber Choir (women's voices) in Bruckner 7 !!!???

How about:
Dvorak Symphony 9, Narek Hakhnazaryan(cello)
Tchaikovsky Suite: Sleeping Beauty, Catrin Finch(harp)
Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 Narek Hakhnazaryan(cello)
Shostakovich Symphony 10 Olga Borodina (mezzo)
Hindemith Die Harmonie der Welt, Peter Moore(trombone)
and one of my favourites - Lunchtime Concert - first two items listed as:
J Strauss(son) the Blue Danube
Piatti String Quartet
when it was in fact the quartet version of the Strauss played by.....

Three of the above occurred in May last year, two in August.

[Beef Oven!]

How about:
Dvorak Symphony 9, Narek Hakhnazaryan(cello)
Tchaikovsky Suite: Sleeping Beauty, Catrin Finch(harp)
Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 Narek Hakhnazaryan(cello)
Shostakovich Symphony 10 Olga Borodina (mezzo)
Hindemith Die Harmonie der Welt, Peter Moore(trombone)
and one of my favourites - Lunchtime Concert - first two items listed as:
J Strauss(son) the Blue Danube
Piatti String Quartet
when it was in fact the quartet version of the Strauss played by.....

Three of the above occurred in May last year, two in August.

Ridiculous, unbelievable!

It's not as if it's the hardest thing to QA.

[french frank]

It's not as if it's the hardest thing to QA.

I expect they just "assume" that the information is correct, having come from a reliable source Otherwise they'd have to employ a special classical music checker.

[Beef Oven!]

I expect they just "assume" that the information is correct, having come from a reliable source Otherwise they'd have to employ a special classical music checker.

Yes, on reflection, I can see that. What is really basic information to forum members, wouldn't necessarily be to others. But I assumed that somewhere along the line there'd be someone who knows about classical music. The 'source' would be a good contender.

It's still a poor show, IMV.

[french frank]

Yes, on reflection, I can see that. What is really basic information to forum members, wouldn't necessarily be to others. But I assumed that somewhere along the line there'd be someone who knows about classical music. The 'source' would be a good contender.

It's still a poor show, IMV.

Not defending it but it's a sign of how classical music is being made into The Great Unknown. Would anyone not be alerted that 'Penny Lane'/The Rolling Stones didn't contain something that at least should be checked … ? In my view blurring the distinctions between popular music and classical music (musique sans frontières) isn't the solution but part of the problem.

[Beef Oven!]

Not defending it but it's a sign of how classical music is being made into The Great Unknown. Would anyone not be alerted that 'Penny Lane'/The Rolling Stones didn't contain something that at least should be checked … ? In my view blurring the distinctions between popular music and classical music (musique sans frontières) isn't the solution but part of the problem.

I'll need to think about that - gut reaction, not sure I agree or even understand.

[oddoneout]

The examples I gave in #185 are not really anything to do with whether one 'knows about classical music', more a case of 'I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order'. The information for the items in the programmes was all there but had been put together in the wrong order. It wasn't even a case of trying to save space, as the number of lines was the same as if the information had been assembled in the correct order. So as far as I am concerned somebody, at some point in the process, made a decision to 'do it wrong', and no-one has seen fit to correct the practice.
As a matter of interest what were the Netherlands Chamber Choir actually supposed to be singing in (a clue, it's probably located somewhere above the Bruckner on the page....)

[Beef Oven!]

The examples I gave in #185 are not really anything to do with whether one 'knows about classical music', more a case of 'I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order'. The information for the items in the programmes was all there but had been put together in the wrong order. It wasn't even a case of trying to save space, as the number of lines was the same as if the information had been assembled in the correct order. So as far as I am concerned somebody, at some point in the process, made a decision to 'do it wrong', and no-one has seen fit to correct the practice.
As a matter of interest what were the Netherlands Chamber Choir actually supposed to be singing in (a clue, it's probably located somewhere above the Bruckner on the page....)

above Bruckner was Debussy's Prelude to the afternoon of a faune and three nocturnes; some Schubert and Mozart instrumental chamber pieces; a CPE Bach flute sonata. If the choir had joined in any of that, it would have ruined it.

[oddoneout]

above Bruckner was Debussy's Prelude to the afternoon of a faune and three nocturnes; some Schubert and Mozart instrumental chamber pieces; a CPE Bach flute sonata. If the choir had joined in any of that, it would have ruined it.

Ah, so the deluxe version of the 'mistake'. There is/was another sneaky layout device which is not listing all the items in the programme, so it might even be a compound error. Before I discovered this site and the easy link to the R3 schedule that was an ongoing source of irritation - 'is this a substitute, will the listed item be played, if so when'(times given were/are? often approximate to say the least).

[Beef Oven!]

Ah, so the deluxe version of the 'mistake'. There is/was another sneaky layout device which is not listing all the items in the programme, so it might even be a compound error. Before I discovered this site and the easy link to the R3 schedule that was an ongoing source of irritation - 'is this a substitute, will the listed item be played, if so when'(times given were/are? often approximate to say the least).

They were all in the section "1.00pm Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert" so the inclusion of the choir was totally, err, random!

I can live with the variation of the times that they give - it's a week in advance and there's bound to be some variance here and there. What I don't accept is that the R3 section in the magazine is a very skimpy, superficial treatment of important broadcasts. If the Radio Times can't be bothered about classical music and the BBC's own broadcasts thereof, we're doomed.

[ahinton]

They were all in the section "1.00pm Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert" so the inclusion of the choir was totally, err, random!

I can live with the variation of the times that they give - it's a week in advance and there's bound to be some variance here and there. What I don't accept is that the R3 section in the magazine is a very skimpy, superficial treatment of important broadcasts. If the Radio Times can't be bothered about classical music and the BBC's own broadcasts thereof, we're doomed.

Agreed on all counts!