I'm sure it's been mentioned before but there's a section on the BBC website listing, more or less, the complete radio schedule for the Third Programme and other BBC radio stations. Here's the opening day in 1946...
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Steve -
Given the current complaints about the absence of substantial pieces in many Radio 3 programmes, it's a remarkably 'bitty' opening concert.
I believe there was a BBC film drama a few years ago about the opening day of the Third Programme, especially 'How To Listen'. -
Curious how they list the countertenors after the tenors...Comment
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The blog detailing the views of Lord Reith contains the following: "He was a constant critic of the BBC’s policies for years afterwards, even railing against the start of the Third Programme, seeing it as putting serious music and talks into a ghetto where they would not reach the masses." The implication being that 'serious music and talks' should be broadcast on networks where they would "reach the masses" …
Sir William Haley was the real progenitor of the Third, and his view was " … a public service such as the BBC has to feel that it is covering the whole range of its possibilities, that it is providing for all classes of its listeners, and that it is, among its other functions, presenting the great classical repertoire in music and drama, and "so far as they are broadcastable" in literature, and the other arts.
"To do this within the two services already existing, the regionalised Home Service and the Light Programme, is not possible. Quite apart from the already great pressure upon their time, the basic conceptions of ordinary broadcasting with its news bulletins and other fixed points, its desire in the course of the limited peak listening hours every evening to give some service to every possible taste, restrict to a hampering extent the possibility of devoting the necessary time to the full and frequent performance of great works in their entirety or to the development of those highest forms [Ed. yes, I know] of music and drama which, while they have a major importance, have, as yet, only a minority audience. The range of the Home Service and the Light Programme is admitted by all who have studied broadcasting programmes throughout the world to be outstanding. But in view of all this, it is not enough. "
What audience was it aimed at? I'd say, at listeners who were interested. If that audience was only a minority [as yet], how could it be expanded?
1. By making the content available on publice service radio for those who were curious to explore and discover new things.
2. By adjusting the content so as to appeal to 'the masses' who have either no knowledge or interest ("Simplifying and making less demanding in order to appeal to a broader audience"), but that might compromise the principal aim.
"The Third Programme will have no fixed points. It will devote to the great works the time they require. It will seek every evening to do something that is culturally satisfying and significant. It will devote occasional series of evenings to some related masterpieces, a Shakespeare historical cycle, all the Beethoven quartets, or a series of Mozart operas. It will, so far as circumstances permit, be international. Concerts, operas, plays will be taken from abroad as landline conditions improve. Its talks will include contributions from the great European thinkers. Its whole content will be directed to an audience that is not of one class but that is perceptive and intelligent. "
There have been major and minor changes since then. A service that was on between 6pm and 12pm could attract listeners who wanted to concentrate on what they were hearing, be it a single musical work or a talk. A service which is on 24 hours a day will attract listeners who want background music. (And of course there are listeners who are happy with classical music as background music).
Technology creates demands as well as offering advances: the iPlayer less complicated to set up for a schedule which is constructed round fixed points. Reliance on automated playlists mean that running orders are not available to listeners in advance. That's just two areas where compromises have been made.It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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I first became interested in serious music in 1956 - at the time of Mozart's bi-centenary, I remember - . Looking back over the schedules in 1956, it occurred to me that much of my listening was to the BBC Home Service (Radio 4). There was a great deal of music on that station, notably the weekly Wednesday Symphony Concert at 8.0 pm, which included all the BBC SO Festival Hall concerts. Also there was the Sunday Symphony Concert, usually from the studios at 3.0 pm, again with often the BBC SO. Also on Sunday morning there was Your Concert Choice, and also Music Magazine, with Julian Herbage. Also I'm not forgetting Anthony Hopkins "Talking about Music". Of course the Third Programme only began transmission each day at 6.0 pm - and it tended to be more specialised or "advanced" with its content. Even the Light Programme (Radio 2) put on regular concerts - Music of the Masters, I seem to remember, also on a Wednesday, around 4.30 (after Mrs Dales Diary, I believe) - slightly popular fare.
This is all a far cry from where we are today.Comment
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Somewhat of an oversimplification ff? Society has changed a huge amount over this time period and there are listeners who can only manage to concentrate fully at odd times and for odd periods of time. Otherwise they are busy, busy busy....Originally posted by french frank View PostComment
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Most interesting to see. It seems quite impossible now to have a bible reading these days!Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750Comment
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