April Schedule Changes

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It wasn't broke until they fixed it.

So, Hear & Now becomes The New Music Show - and goodbye Robert Worby (and SM-P)?

We want to provide a space to take time out and experience great music by great performers, broadcasting full-length concerts and offering insight from people who know what it means to perform these works. These new presenting names and programming that gives the listener time to be with the music will do just that.

Which? Listening to the "insight from people who know what it means to perform these works" ot giving "the listener time to be with the Music"?

Answers on a postage stamp, please, to "Licence Fee Payers' Feedback / The Recyling Bins Behind Broadcasting House / W1A

[teamsaint]

It wasn't broke until they fixed it.

So, Hear & Now becomes The New Music Show - and goodbye Robert Worby (and SM-P)?


Which? Listening to the "insight from people who know what it means to perform these works" ot giving "the listener time to be with the Music"?

Answers on a postage stamp, please, to "Licence Fee Payers' Feedback / The Recyling Bins Behind Broadcasting House / W1A

Is Tom Mckinney being sidelined ? Fairly disastrous if he is being given less airtime, and Elizabeth Alker is getting more, what with him being good, and her not so much.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I can’t work out if Kate Molleson is even more flavour of the month , since she seems to present almost everything, or has been naughty and thus relegated to the show formerly known as “Hear and Now”.

Anyway, good for R3 , for getting on trend with the cult of celebrity, one way and another.......

She's been presenting editions for a couple of years now, and took over from Sara Mohr-Pietsch when she went on maternity leave. (SM-P seems to have jumped the sinking ship, and got herself a proper job in as Artistic Director of Dartington Summer Schools.) I suppose that means that KM and TMcK will be at Huddersfield in November

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is Tom Mckinney being sidelined ?

I don't know - hope not.

Fairly disastrous if he is being given less airtime, and Elizabeth Alker is getting more, what with him being good, and her not so much.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes, Record Review loses half an hour. Thin end of the wedge before the introduction of Essential Saturdays.

[doversoul1]

The 20 year-old former BBC Young Musician finalist - who will be the youngest presenter on the station - will be joined each week by her contemporaries to select and discuss their favourite pieces from across the musical spectrum, giving an insight into the musical influences on young performers.
[…]
Jess Gillam says: “I’m so excited to be joining BBC Radio 3 as the presenter of This Classical Life. Music is such a huge part of my life, and I can’t wait to share all my latest and greatest discoveries with fellow musicians who will be joining me on the show, as well as with listeners at home.”

I find this simply bizarre. It’s all about presenter in the same way as, I guess, about disk jockeys on Radio 1 and 2. There is not an atom of what I recognise as Radio3. ‘The final nail in the coffin’ sounds like a phrase invented for this new schedule.

[LMcD]

She's been presenting editions for a couple of years now, and took over from Sara Mohr-Pietsch when she went on maternity leave. (SM-P seems to have jumped the sinking ship, and got herself a proper job in as Artistic Director of Dartington Summer Schools.) I suppose that means that KM and TMcK will be at Huddersfield in November

Didn't I hear SM-P the other day (of course, it may have been a repeat)?
At least Radio 3 isn't copying Classic FM's policy of calling every programme a 'show' and naming it after a celebrity presenter! (Sorry, what's that ….are you SURE?)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Presumably, the extended excerpt at the close of the programme will be no more.

Yes - this was how I imagined they'd do it - no more "Discs of the Week".

Sad news for me, as R.R. is among the best things Radio 3 does; though I will admit I skip it during the summer weeks when it exists largely to plug the Proms

For me - and, I'm sure, many other Forumistas - too (though I often switch off not long after Building a Library, as it tends to turn into the Andrew McGregor Show at that point).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Didn't I hear SM-P the other day (of course, it may have been a repeat)?

Yes - now you mention it, I think she presented one of the Lunchtime Concerts last week. Perhaps she's "about to jump ship" or is just cutting down on her R3 presence due to her new appointment? In either case, I greatly miss her on Hear & Now.

At least Radio 3 isn't copying Classic FM's policy of calling every programme a 'show' and naming it after a celebrity presenter! (Sorry, what's that ….are you SURE?)

Scout's Honour - I hadn't read this when I posted my "Andrew McGregor Show" comment!

[LMcD]

Yes - now you mention it, I think she presented one of the Lunchtime Concerts last week. Perhaps she's "about to jump ship" or is just cutting down on her R3 presence due to her new appointment? In either case, I greatly miss her on Hear & Now.


Scout's Honour - I hadn't read this when I posted my "Andrew McGregor Show" comment!

I've just checked back - SM-P presented Monday's Lunchtime Concert. (On which subject, yesterday's was another wonderful hour of Czech music).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes, yes yes!
How bloody dare he be so smugly patronising?!!

HOW does he 'know' that people do not listen across genres? Evidence?
How many Forumistas have been asked to complete any kind of survey that might support or refute this outrageous claim of the Controller's?
Which, given that this is very specifically a Radio 3 site, might be one of the first places he might come to actually ASK questions.

That's an interesting interpretation, DracoM - I had read it as meaning the opposite; that he felt/believed that there are increasing numbers of listeners who regard Classical Music as "just another type of Music", and who do listen to many different genres - and that he therefore feels that R3 content and presentation needs to be adjusted to meet the expectations of this "growing" audience. I might be wrong in my interpretation, of course.

But, as frenchie says, there's no indication in this Press Release as to where he gets the evidence for his "knowledge". He may be right - there may be a growing section of young adults who are keen to have access to a Radio Channel that freely mixes Musics of different sorts. And, if so, maybe the new programmes will bring in and expand audiences for Classical Music. Maybe. But is Radio 3 the best place for such a programme? Isn't something like BBC3 - a purely online broadcaster - more tailored to what this potential new audience is used to accessing? (Genuine questions - I am terribly old, and no longer have regular communication with young people: maybe MW radio is now all the rage?) And how this will further impact upon the regular R3 audience, or what's left of it, and upon what they want to listen to ... does this matter to the BBC?

The BBC has a history of ignoring the preferences of an existing audience, in the interest of creating a new one (Radio 1 under Matthew Bannister in the '90s) - so I suspect that any protests will be high-handedly ignored.

So - more streaming and reliance on our own collections - and greater call for the Forum, not so much as to protest to the BBC, as to make our usual, more widely-informed, recommendations for fellow Forumistas' listening interests. "The New Radio 3 Forum" may well take on a meaning that wasn't intended at the start - as a replacement for the majority of the content and presentation on R3.

Or am I being unduly pessimistic? Do Forumistas think that there might be any purpose served by making a presentation to AD, expressing yet again our concerns? I'd be genuinely interested to know.

[zola]

Do Forumistas think that there might be any purpose served by making a presentation to AD, expressing yet again our concerns? I'd be genuinely interested to know.

No, the battle's lost.

I hope there may still be the occasional live concert I'd want to listen to or late night discussion. But no presenter led program, with Record Review now Record Review lite and with Donald McLeod having to almost apologise to listeners to COTW when he is about to play an extract 'that lasts almost 25 minutes' ( anyone noticed that recent development ?)

[french frank]

That's an interesting interpretation, DracoM - I had read it as meaning the opposite; that he felt/believed that there are increasing numbers of listeners who regard Classical Music as "just another type of Music", and who do listen to many different genres

My perception would be that you - and AD - are right. I think it's the generation of 40-50 somethings who contribute to threads like 'What Rock/Pop/Jazz-rock/Fusion/Prog/Experimental etc album are you listening to?' who confirm that these listeners do listen to a wide range of genres (excluding, probably, contemporary pop). But such people are likely to listen to Radio 3 already. AD seems to think that those who listen to a wide range of different kinds of music (excluding classical music) are likely to be attracted to Radio 3 if young people present some programmes. Why should they? They're listening to the stations of their choice: why listen to something which does not cater for their own preferences?

I'm sure that the tactic of using 6 Music presenters (who are amenable to classical music) on Radio 3 is in the hope that their 6 Music fans will follow them over to Radio 3. Falling between two stools. The fans continue to listen to 6 Music and the presenters aren't good enough for an audience which knows more about classical music than they do.

I would even venture to suggest that listeners whose main interest is classical music are more likely to listen to (and be knowledgeable about) a range of more popular music than those whose main interest is in popular music are to listen to a range of classical music.

[oddoneout]

The 20 year-old former BBC Young Musician finalist - who will be the youngest presenter on the station - will be joined each week by her contemporaries to select and discuss their favourite pieces from across the musical spectrum, giving an insight into the musical influences on young performers.
[…]
Jess Gillam says: “I’m so excited to be joining BBC Radio 3 as the presenter of This Classical Life. Music is such a huge part of my life, and I can’t wait to share all my latest and greatest discoveries with fellow musicians who will be joining me on the show, as well as with listeners at home.”

I find this simply bizarre. It’s all about presenter in the same way as, I guess, about disk jockeys on Radio 1 and 2. There is not an atom of what I recognise as Radio3. ‘The final nail in the coffin’ sounds like a phrase invented for this new schedule.

I find myself very much in two minds about this one. On the one hand my initial reaction is that it's not something of interest to me, partly because of the 'presenter as most important element' you mention and also partly because I fear it might tend towards the over-enthusiastic, gushy, excitable, lacking in content approach which too often seems to be required of programmes featuring young people nowadays. On the other hand young musicians are the future(as always) and so deserve to be heard, and by the same token young presenters need to be given a chance as the old ones won't last indefinitely. On balance I think my main concern is not so much the concept as the realisation not living up to potential(as I perceive it) or expectation(again personal), as happened with 'Choir and Organ' and 'Inside Music'. I'll give it a go and hope to find it of interest.

[antongould]

That's an interesting interpretation, DracoM - I had read it as meaning the opposite; that he felt/believed that there are increasing numbers of listeners who regard Classical Music as "just another type of Music", and who do listen to many different genres - and that he therefore feels that R3 content and presentation needs to be adjusted to meet the expectations of this "growing" audience. I might be wrong in my interpretation, of course.

But, as frenchie says, there's no indication in this Press Release as to where he gets the evidence for his "knowledge". He may be right - there may be a growing section of young adults who are keen to have access to a Radio Channel that freely mixes Musics of different sorts. And, if so, maybe the new programmes will bring in and expand audiences for Classical Music. Maybe. But is Radio 3 the best place for such a programme? Isn't something like BBC3 - a purely online broadcaster - more tailored to what this potential new audience is used to accessing? (Genuine questions - I am terribly old, and no longer have regular communication with young people: maybe MW radio is now all the rage?) And how this will further impact upon the regular R3 audience, or what's left of it, and upon what they want to listen to ... does this matter to the BBC?

The BBC has a history of ignoring the preferences of an existing audience, in the interest of creating a new one (Radio 1 under Matthew Bannister in the '90s) - so I suspect that any protests will be high-handedly ignored.

So - more streaming and reliance on our own collections - and greater call for the Forum, not so much as to protest to the BBC, as to make our usual, more widely-informed, recommendations for fellow Forumistas' listening interests. "The New Radio 3 Forum" may well take on a meaning that wasn't intended at the start - as a replacement for the majority of the content and presentation on R3.

Or am I being unduly pessimistic? Do Forumistas think that there might be any purpose served by making a presentation to AD, expressing yet again our concerns? I'd be genuinely interested to know.

I think a purpose would be served ........