January schedule changes

[french frank]

Update: I was looking at the D-G's proposals, which were slightly different from the ones the Trust finally approved. It appears that Radio 5 Live's reduction is NOT -5.8% but -0.9%. And Radio 4 loses a little. Radio 2 & Radio 3 have to find the same amount, but out of differing totals. So Radio 3 is the worst hit of the five network stations, for strategic reasons. Figures below

[IMG][/IMG]

[aeolium]

It should also be borne in mind that looking at percentage reductions alone is misleading. A 4.4% reduction in a budget of £42m (or a 9.2% reduction in a budget of £59 million as BBC4 has received) is very different from a 5.8% reduction in a budget of £480m. There is much more scope for coping with the budget cut if the budget is much larger in the first place (as has been seen elsewhere with Arts Council England cuts).

[DracoM]

<< Its axing is to do with how somebody sees the content changing and not cost >>

And ain't that the spot on truth?
And there is absolutely no wriggling out of that.

An aeolium is smack on as well.

HG has entered the den of the very well-informed, and the highly motivated, and the highly unchuffed.

[teamsaint]

some interesting summaries of spending here.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/jul/12/bbc-spending

2010 to 2012, Radio3 3 and 5 live are the only radio stations, including local, to have a cash cut. 5 live does a little better if you add in an increase for sports extra.
TV has had a cash cut across the board, except childrens, which have a very big percentage rise. (not sure why.)

Of course, give the vast size of TV budgets, there was always a lot of scope for cuts in TV as opposed to radio.

Content costs look quite low at R3 compared to R2, for instance.
here's an FOI request that was rejected by the BBC. The one we pay for.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/cost_of_radio_shows

[french frank]

That is the standard reply: "The information you have requested is excluded from the Act because it is held for the purposes
of ‘journalism, art or literature.’ The BBC is therefore not obliged to provide this information to you and will not be doing so on this occasion."

There then follows the justification.

The last request I submitted said: "The information you have requested is excluded from the Act because it is held for the purposes
of ‘journalism, art or literature.’ The BBC is therefore not obliged to provide this information but we are happy to do so on this occasion." And they did. Probably because it shut me up at once, whereas on 'other occasions' I should just have been asking for more information. It really is like pulling teet from a hen.

[teamsaint]

In the case of That request for costs though, the information is being withheld for reasons of finance surely?
Its not an artistic matter or doesn't involve journalistic confidentialities?

[french frank]

In the case of That request for costs though, the information is being withheld for reasons of finance surely?
Its not an artistic matter or doesn't involve journalistic confidentialities?

Under the paragraph 'Applications to the BBC' it says: "This means the Act does not apply to information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output (TV, radio, online etc), or information that supports and is closely associated with these creative activities." They claim that that means telling you how many people listened to a particular programme e.g. Essential Classics during a particular quarter (RAJAR data). How that can be defined as either 'journalism', 'art', or 'literature', I really don't know. Except that music is an art ...

Another definition which they've given is 'information which informs programme-making', but that's their interpretation.

[teamsaint]

Thanks for that information FF.

Needs challenging, I would have thought.

Has there ever been a programme of systematic requests designed to put a bit of pressure on their (our) valuable resources?

[Honoured Guest]

<< Its axing is to do with how somebody sees the content changing and not cost >>

And ain't that the spot on truth?
And there is absolutely no wriggling out of that.

An aeolium is smack on as well.

HG has entered the den of the very well-informed, and the highly motivated, and the highly unchuffed.

Roger Wright, Controller of BBC Radio 3, commented: “Although we have had to make tough decisions in order to make savings in line with the rest of the BBC, by broadcasting Free Thinking over three days rather than four and taking a break from commissioning Discovering Music, we have protected the unique and ambitious range of the station’s live music - its classical, world music, jazz and arts content - whilst reducing our overall volume output.

"Free Thinking consolidates our two strong arts and ideas brands - Free Thinking and Night Waves - which have been delivered with such success by the same production team. In continuing to evolve the Radio 3 schedule, we have sought to provide the best value for money for the licence fee payer and the most distinctive offering for our audience. From every Strauss opera to a topical world music series and boundary pushing drama – Radio 3 remains a home for passionate minds everywhere.”

This BBC Media Centre news story of 18 December, announcing January programming for 2014, quotes the R3 Controller as attributing the cuts to Free Thinking (nee Night Waves) and the "break from commissioning Discovering Music, to the need to "make savings".

My earlier comments were based on this statement.

[teamsaint]

So the question remains then, what is the additional cost to the R3 budget of an hour of DM, as opposed to an hour of " Breakfast", "afternoon on 3" or some other part of the regular scheduling?

But licence fee payers aren't allowed to know that, so we just have to take the BBCs word for it that it is necessary in order to make savings.

[Flay]

Could not anyone so qualified make a similar programme to DM? There must be experts out there who would love to create their own episodes at low cost. Am I being naïve?

I find the R3 schedule so unimaginative. Just about every day is the same with such rigid programming. It's getting so boring.

[teamsaint]

FF will no doubt put me right on this....but R3 already commissions programmes such as Essential Classics.
However, such programmes are commissioned with a specific brief, so unless R3 specifically wants to buy in a DM type programme, there wouldn't be much point in making it, unless there was another potential customer.

I suspect that your "rigid programming" comment gets close to the heart of the issue.

[doversoul1]

Why doesn’t RW just say ‘we can’t afford to be seen as a station that has a programme like Discovering Music’, and have done with it? Then, we wouldn’t be wasting our breath on suggesting how saving can be made differently etc.. It’s not his/their inability but dishonesty that despairs me.

I bet we’ll soon be hearing something like Free Thinking. It’s a programme that YOU make.

[aeolium]

Why doesn’t RW just say ‘we can’t afford to be seen as a station that has a programme like Discovering Music’, and have done with it? Then, we wouldn’t be wasting our breath on suggesting how saving can be made differently etc.. It’s not his/their inability but dishonesty that despairs me.

I bet we’ll soon be hearing something like Free Thinking. It’s a programme that YOU make.

Precisely, doversoul. RW cannot blame the need to make cuts for the detrimental changes he has made over the years to the R3 schedule. Discovering Music had already been altered from its best and most educational format long before the BBC's misleadingly named project Delivering Quality First required him to make cuts.

[french frank]

Roger Wright, Controller of BBC Radio 3, commented: “[...]".

My earlier comments were based on this statement.

So how do they propose to afford 'every Strauss opera'? You are basing your comments on the statement of someone who declared that three weeks of film music on Radio 3 was undertaken because there was a 'requirement' in the BBC Trust's review of 2011 which 'obliged' Radio 3 to 'reach out to the widest audience'.

I find in the Trust review of 2011:

§34 The service licence for Radio 3 states that it should appeal to listeners of any age seeking to expand their cultural horizons through engagement with the world of music and arts. Whilst our analysis shows that Radio 3 struggles to reach certain audiences we note that there are other services within the BBC’s portfolio – across both television and radio – that also have an important role in making great music and arts accessible to a wide audience.
§35 The scale and appeal of many BBC services are much greater than those of Radio 3, particularly amongst certain demographic groups, and may therefore be effective in complementing Radio 3’s delivery of this content. We believe that a coordinated approach can make more impact and note the success that the BBC has had with its poetry and opera seasons. In addition, a number of organisations felt that Radio 3 could more effectively reach these audiences when working in conjunction with other BBC services.

Action 2 – BBC management should consider how the BBC can best
deliver classical, jazz and world music to all licence fee payers
They should set out how Radio 3 can best work alongside other BBC services
and events to deliver this overall responsibility. In particular, BBC management
should consider how the BBC can effectively make this content available and
appealing to those audiences which Radio 3 struggles to reach.
We have asked BBC management to report back on this by summer 2011.

As I read that, the Trust is agreeing that Radio 3 is not effective in reaching ALL licence fee payers and that other services within the broadcasting portfolio are 'better placed' - and should do so. That means, in my view, that Radio 3 should not be left to reach all licence fee payers or 'the widest audience' - it should be the joint responsibility of other appropriate services.

The controller's statements often seem to suggest that it's not his fault; that he is being forced to take a particular decision. Yet it was his decision to have a live concert every night - 'for the first time ever' - only a few months ago. That, and live opera, and three weeks of film music are IN; but anything that reeks of seriousness, or in-depth treatment is OUT.

And even if what he said was the strict truth, if I were controller () I would regard the depletion of Radio 3's budget as a resigning matter. The money HAS been there - especially for radio: it has just gone to other services. WHY?