How very dare he!

[french frank]

The last thing I would call Roger Wright, and Classical music in general, is populist.

No suggestion that 'classical music in general' is populist. But enterprises such as 'the nation's favourite aria', 'the nation's favourite film score', Your Call, Aled Jones, celebrity guests' favourite music, fun quizzes were a few (I would say) incontrovertibly 'populist' Wright contributions. Arguably, any other ploys he used just to get more people listening to Radio 3 (not to classical music) or to bring them into the Proms (not to classical music) might be called 'populist'.

The term he used for deviating from Radio 3's cultural traditions was 'anti-elitist'. (Anti-)populist was Ivan Hewett's term.

[DublinJimbo]

And this is Ivan Hewett in The Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/what-to-listen-to/the-third-programme-was-the-best-that-has-been-thought-and-said/

He neglects to take a swipe at FoR3, and even refers to the "anti-populist" moves of the current controller (I don't recall him ever referring to the "populist" moves of the previous controller; I got the impression he rather approved of the Wright3).

"EM Forster’s hilarious report on baffling modernist productions of Wagner in Bayreuth" — now that's something I would dearly love to hear. A re-run would still be appropriate these days.

[jean]

Charlotte Higgins being irritating in today's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/23/70-years-radio-3-rethink-unleash-composers

So many contradictory ideas jostling for position!

[Bryn]

Charlotte Higgins being irritating in today's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/23/70-years-radio-3-rethink-unleash-composers

So many contradictory ideas jostling for position!

Well quite, but look st the drivel it has inspired in its second response comment (variation31).

[jean]

Some good points among the comments too.

I loved this exchange:

- Don't bother. Use the internet to listen to other countries' classical music stations - the Spanish one, Radio Clasica is wonderful!

- But I can't understand them when they read out the tweets.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm pleased that Radio 3 is perceived to be on the rise again. I can't say I've really noticed. Have Breakfast presenters stopped treating us like Kindergarten children? Has Essential Classics stopped playing annoying games? Has R3's Facebook page stopped posting irrelevant, silly soundbites as though they are facts?

(I know the answer to the last one, for that is getting worse (though it isn't actually Radio 3, so perhaps it doesn't count.)

[doversoul1]

I'm pleased that Radio 3 is perceived to be on the rise again. I can't say I've really noticed. Have Breakfast presenters stopped treating us like Kindergarten children? Has Essential Classics stopped playing annoying games? Has R3's Facebook page stopped posting irrelevant, silly soundbites as though they are facts?

(I know the answer to the last one, for that is getting worse (though it isn't actually Radio 3, so perhaps it doesn't count.)

But have you looked through recent afternoon/evening schedule? I thought the change was very clear. I actually turn the radio on almost every day these days.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But have you looked through recent afternoon/evening schedule? I thought the change was very clear. I actually turn the radio on almost every day these days.

True, but the afternoon and evening schedules were never the problem. (And we still have In Tune in the late afternoon.)

[doversoul1]

True, but the afternoon and evening schedules were never the problem. (And we still have In Tune in the late afternoon.)

I thought the choice of the music/repertoire in the afternoon and evening programmes was a serious problem. In some way, more serious than the silliness on some of the morning programmes.

[french frank]

I'm pleased that Radio 3 is perceived to be on the rise again. I can't say I've really noticed. Have Breakfast presenters stopped treating us like Kindergarten children?

If you study the playlists, the 'novelties' are few and far between and tend to be rather less obvious; the pieces are getting longer and more interesting

Has Essential Classics stopped playing annoying games?

Pass. I was never able to face that particular mélange

Has R3's Facebook page stopped posting irrelevant, silly soundbites as though they are facts?

(I know the answer to the last one, for that is getting worse (though it isn't actually Radio 3, so perhaps it doesn't count.)

I don't think anyone at R3 has really mastered social media. Misused, perhaps, a little …

[Richard Tarleton]

I thought the choice of the music/repertoire in the afternoon and evening programmes was a serious problem. In some way, more serious than the silliness on some of the morning programmes.

I only listen intermittently, but In Tune does feature a lot of live music in the studio, and some interesting conversation amongst the banter, with excellent guests. I vastly prefer it to, say, EC (I no longer listen to Breakfast, ever). I've heard some great interviews on it, and think Sean R and Suzy K are very good at what they do. It's the right programme for the time of day, IMV (by which I mean, I'm generally doing something else, food preparation or glancing through the paper, and pay attention if anything crops up that interests me).

[french frank]

I only listen intermittently, but In Tune does feature a lot of live music in the studio, and some interesting conversation amongst the banter, with excellent guests. I vastly prefer it to, say, EC (I no longer listen to Breakfast, ever). I've heard some great interviews on it, and think Sean R and Suzy K are very good at what they do. It's the right programme for the time of day, IMV (by which I mean, I'm generally doing something else, food preparation or glancing through the paper, and pay attention if anything crops up that interests me).

That seems to be a good description of the role the programme is supposed to play. Some people (myself included ) just don't particularly want to listen to anything when they're preparing a meal or skimming through a paper!

[ahinton]

That seems to be a good description of the role the programme is supposed to play. Some people (myself included ) just don't particularly want to listen to anything when they're preparing a meal or skimming through a paper!

Indeed - and which composer wants his/her work to be at best half-listened to in beteween the chatter bouts that make up the remainder of such programmes?

[Bryn]

Indeed - and which composer wants his/her work to be at best half-listened to in beteween the chatter bouts that make up the remainder of such programmes?

I do not listen to the programme at the time of broadcast, but have occasionally sampled the birdsong via the iPlayer. Radio 4's Today Programme quite often has items on music which leave those on Radio 3's Breakfast Programme standing.

[Nick Armstrong]

Ferocity will take you a long way

Maybe this suggests an alternative name which would encapsulate some of the ferocity:







Radio 3 Defence Society, anyone?