Parliamentary Inquiry: CFM lets rip

[Flay]

Interesting email just in with a scan from the Spectator. It describes a clip from Blue Peter in 1972. Yehudi Menuhin has his violin and is talking about the strings and Paganini, and then plays an operatic aria 'accompanying himself' (says Valerie Singleton) 'with the left hand pizzicato.' And then he plays a bit from Paganini's Caprice No 24. Four minutes of prime-time children's television, addressing children of 8 or 9.

The point being made was not that children's television should be just like that now, 40 years on, serious and not dumbed down in an effort to inspire young people; it was that Radio 3 'operates more and more on the opposite, unflattering and eventually self-fulfilling principle' that its adult listeners can be expected to understand almost nothing.

It may be that 'most' of Radio 3's listeners understand almost nothing. But many, under the age of 50, won't have been introduced to broadcasts like the Blue Peter one ... And the majority of Radio 3 listener ARE, in any case, over the age of 50.

It was featured in Petroc's recent BBC4 programme about YM, available on iPlayer until tomorrow afternoon (42mins 50secs in):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03p7p6q/Chamber_Music_at_the_BBC_Yehudi_Menuhin_at_the_BBC/

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

OB too expensive? but they are not all over the place, surely some semi-permanent facilities for braodcasting purposes could be installed in a couple of Houses?

wonder what the Presenting budget has done in recent years

it is distressing to read of 'the proposition' a final confirmation, if needed, that R3 under Wright [and no doubt his bosses in recent years] has succumbed to the narcissism of being a brand, of serving the station and not the art .... Radio Three used to serve the art and was an example to the nation and the world now it just scurries after propositions, demographics and silky voices on air

the authority and authenticity we previously enjoyed has been squandered in the flight from virtue that characterises the BBC both under and after Thompson

[gurnemanz]

Interesting email just in with a scan from the Spectator. It describes a clip from Blue Peter in 1972. Yehudi Menuhin has his violin and is talking about the strings and Paganini, and then plays an operatic aria 'accompanying himself' (says Valerie Singleton) 'with the left hand pizzicato.' And then he plays a bit from Paganini's Caprice No 24. Four minutes of prime-time children's television, addressing children of 8 or 9.

The point being made was not that children's television should be just like that now, 40 years on, serious and not dumbed down in an effort to inspire young people; it was that Radio 3 'operates more and more on the opposite, unflattering and eventually self-fulfilling principle' that its adult listeners can be expected to understand almost nothing.

It may be that 'most' of Radio 3's listeners understand almost nothing. But many, under the age of 50, won't have been introduced to broadcasts like the Blue Peter one ... And the majority of Radio 3 listener ARE, in any case, over the age of 50.

When I was aged 14 in 1963 the marvellously serious and high-minded BBC with its edifying snippets such as bits of Paganini tossed the way of its younger audience almost completely refused to acknowledge the popular (pop), dumbed down music which my friends and I were interested in. I spent my teenage years listening mostly to pirate stations and Radio Luxembourg until one day I discovered Radio Three - while having a bath! - and it was Beethoven's Ninth. It may be that the Beeb is now tending to go too far in the other over-popularising direction but there is still plenty there to challenge the intelligent and discerning listener. Luckily, even the Spectator does not always get it wrong. Here is an alternative to its generally unhelpful and overstated dumbing-down agenda.

[Master Jacques]

When I was aged 14 in 1963 the marvellously serious and high-minded BBC with its edifying snippets such as bits of Paganini tossed the way of its younger audience almost completely refused to acknowledge the popular (pop), dumbed down music which my friends and I were interested in. I spent my teenage years listening mostly to pirate stations and Radio Luxembourg until one day I discovered Radio Three - while having a bath! - and it was Beethoven's Ninth.

You make the point eloquently. You didn't need to listen to the BBC to get your fix of pop music, because there was oodles of the stuff blaring out of endless pirate stations and Radio Luxembourg. Today's teenagers can get infinitely bigger fixes of pop music from an unimaginable slew of media sources, so why does Radio 3 these days bend over backwards to try to "popularise" Western Art Music?

A much better policy would be to present WAM as a cool, secret underground alternative to the establishment, Anglo-American commercial pop which drowns everything else out. It is much harder for teenagers today to resist commercial and peer group pressures than it ever was in your day, and projecting the image that WAM consists of gobbets of bland, soothing romantic pap for the terminally middle-aged and middle-class hardly encourages young people to give it a go.

[Serial_Apologist]

It is much harder for teenagers today to resist commercial and peer group pressures than it ever was in your day,

Hmm - I'm wondering about that. What I recall is being called a "square" for my love of classical music in the early 60s; and this was at a private school for boys from middle class backgrounds. This is just to remind people that middle class was not at all necessarily synonymous with "cultured" back then either - and by that one doesn't mean in the manner of received pronunciation. Fortunately, there was jazz around as a still-popular alternative to Cliff Richard, Adam Faith & co, and from Acker Bilk one could graduate on to mainstream and modern jazz without being thought uncool... which, of course, one still can.

[jean]

Lunchtime O'Boulez appears to have spent a couple of happy hours browsing through it too, if the new Private Eye is anything to go by...

Today's even newer PE carries a letter doubting whether the puny Friends of Radio 3 exist much beyond Lunchtime O'Boulez's local winebar.

Can't post a link, most of PE isn't online...

[french frank]

Today's even newer PE carries a letter doubting whether the puny Friends of Radio 3 exist much beyond Lunchtime O'Boulez's local winebar.

I can think of a couple of people who might have written it!

[Serial_Apologist]

I can think of a couple of people who might have written it!

I can think of a couple of parts of one person...

[Stan Drews]

Appears to have been written by:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Witts

Pretty poor letter for a supposed pro, btw.

[french frank]

Appears to have been written by:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Witts

Pretty poor letter for a supposed pro, btw.

In that case, I suspect a joke, if it's really him - I met him some years back when he gave a lecture at the BL, a Saul seminar. I don't think I'll say any more (I've just deleted what I was going to say).

[Ed: Who knows? Perhaps he IS the current L O'B!]

[Flosshilde]

quite a substantial overlap range and that with its recent changes Radio 3 is not in fact "targeting a broad audience'" but fighting over these middle range floaters.

Rather like 'New Labour' going after the soft conservative (or LibDem) vote - but then losing its traditional core voters. The edvidence shows that if you dilute your core message/service/beliefs to attract people who are on the fringe of your core, you end up losing the core.

[muzzer]

Hmm - I'm wondering about that. What I recall is being called a "square" for my love of classical music in the early 60s; and this was at a private school for boys from middle class backgrounds. This is just to remind people that middle class was not at all necessarily synonymous with "cultured" back then either - and by that one doesn't mean in the manner of received pronunciation. Fortunately, there was jazz around as a still-popular alternative to Cliff Richard, Adam Faith & co, and from Acker Bilk one could graduate on to mainstream and modern jazz without being thought uncool... which, of course, one still can.

I surmise with no proof at all that the professional middle classes are so status-obsessed these days that some knowledge of classical music is de rigueur even if it extends no further (which is some way) than some exams to put on the CV. Yes, I know that means you "can always go back to it later in life" but I don't see much of that in practice. My point being that you can have culture and not have culture. Education never ends of course, in reality, if the seeds are sown properly.

[Nick Armstrong]

The view from South of the Channel

French classical station France-Musique has published an article on its website about all this: http://www.francemusique.fr/actu-mus...en-crise-20326

This is my swift translation of the same:




BBC RADIO 3 IN CRISIS?

Radio 3, the BBC's classical music station, has seen its listener figures drop and is receiving strong criticism in the UK

A 3.35% drop in listeners and above al a 13.9% drop in the average listening period for each listener in 1 year - the RAJAR figures for Radio3 paint a pessimistic piecture of the health of the BBC's specialist classical music channel.

However, the RAJAR report shows that in the last quarter of 2013, "there have never been more people listening to radio" and that Classic FM, the rival commercial station, had better results with its listener numbers rising by 250 000 in one year, taking its cumulative number in the final quarter of 2013 to 5.6 million as opposed to 2 million for Radio 3.

Since the end of January, a series of press articles in the UK - in particular in the Telegraph - have pointed out a certain amount of tension. In the ratings war, Classic FM accuses Radio 3 of mimicking its programmes, and of copying its "innovations” to recover viewer figures. The accusation was made in writing to the government commission covering culture, media and sport, and is a new element in the process being undertaken by the British government concerning the "future of the BBC”.

Classic FM's criticisms fall under three main headings:


1 According to Classic FM, Radio 3 broadcasts too many extracts and short pieces during the main listening periods

2 According to Classic FM, Radio 3 is pursuing listener numbers

3 According to Classic FM, Radio 3 is switching its content towards "lighter" content like film music.

In an open letter published on 30th January in the Telegraph, the Controller of Radio 3 Roger Wright responded by denouncing these accusations as "nonsense", and stressing “the complementary nature of the two stations". Mr Wright also stresses the rich programming of the station, its 600 live concerts a year, and reaffirms that his aim is to "enrich the fabric of British culture".

Unfortunately for him, Roger Wright also has to tackle the criticism of his own teams. One of his presenters, Michael White, for example, recently crtiticised the "pressure" exerted on the station and the "obsession with increasing listener numbers at the expense of programme quality". Wrong, says the Controller, pointing to more flexible management under his own Controllership.

In responses and counter-attacks, Roger Wright is trying to create a harmonious picture of Radio 3. He states that he's not trying to copy the competition, or chase after listener numbers, or cheapen programmes, and is not coming under pressure… But he does admit to "difficulties" encountered by Radio 3, starting with trying to find a "happy medium" between modernising the programmes (responding to changes in listening habits) and maintaining the station's identity.

The battle for music-loving listeners is underway.

Guillaume Decalf

[french frank]

Some comments on our Facebook page.

Oh, by the way, RadioCentre and Global Radio are appearing before the CMS Committee on 25 February, to give evidence anent.

[jean]

A letter in the new Radio Times complains about 'Auntie's' declining standards, praises her 'love of art programmes' and a few other things, but is 'cross' that 'one of her favourite sons (Radio3) keeps taking chunks of Auntie's money to serve his own minuscule, private audience.'

So the RW effect isn't even working.