cctaylor
pfm Member
I suppose they think they that the new "Around Midnight" replaces it.
Radio 3 recent changes.
- Thread starter GavinA
- Start date
I suppose they think they that the new "Around Midnight" replaces it.
Mike Reed
pfm Member
Then they ought to change the meaning of J-Z to 'jaded to zonked out' ! The association with late night jazz has its limits.
Finnegan
I like a bit of a cavort
You’re the sort of occasional listener that they’re hoping to lure in. I’m glad you enjoyed the programme. There’s nothing wrong with Jools Holland presenting a programme on Armstrong’s classical influences- I’m not a snob. But these sorts of shows were easily previously accommodated on R2.
I know the Classic FM-isation of R3 began many years ago, but even so (and I don’t think I’m imagining it) over the last few weeks there’s been a definite increase in the more popular ‘classics’ and show tunes (I’m typing this to the sound of Rodger & Hammerstein’s ‘Bali Hai’), and if I never hear the intermezzo from Cavelleria Rusticana or Khachaturian‘s Masquerade Suite again it will be too soon. This sort of stuff is available on Classic FM if that’s what people want, but it’s edging out the more unusual and esoteric music you could previously enjoy; or at least banishing it to the graveyard shift.
I can see both sides of the argument & R3 has never been a pure classic station. It has drama, Jazz Record Requests etc.
I listen to some of the dramas & the odd program, I still think it’s very distinct from R2.
Perhaps the traditional audience isn’t enough? The perceptions around what different demographic groups want is constantly changing.
Private Eye's music correspondent 'Lunchtime O'Boulez' in edition 1619 15 March 2024 wrote of some disquiet over R3 mentioning that the Controller Sam Jackson, appointed about a year earlier (and 'ex-boss of Classic FM'), had announced the changes being discussed in this thread. This despite R3 having already received past criticism for perceived shift towards more Classic FM easy listening style.
I share the sentiments of others here, not wanting to be constantly reminded that I'm tuned into R3, nor listen to adverts for other programmes including television programmes (whaat?!). I guess it's irrelevant to the soft drinks marketeers in charge, but I, and I imagine many others, tune into the BBC to avoid and not be reminded of the commercial broadcasting style, of programmes serving as fillers between the ads.
I'd also consider that programmes like 'Sounds of Cinema' and 'Sounds of Gaming' (on R3 Saturday afternoon 3pm slot) to be more apt to R2 or R1 respectively.
I've tended not listen to R3 Saturday morning since the changes, nor Jools' 12-1 slot after the first week, 'Land without Music' (Music Matters six-parter) not at all, 'Music Map' Sun 1.30-3.00 not after part of the first week's prog. Record Review and Music Planet are now inconvenient timings (no I don't listen on BBC Sounds - no wish to go online to listen to Radio).
I share the sentiments of others here, not wanting to be constantly reminded that I'm tuned into R3, nor listen to adverts for other programmes including television programmes (whaat?!). I guess it's irrelevant to the soft drinks marketeers in charge, but I, and I imagine many others, tune into the BBC to avoid and not be reminded of the commercial broadcasting style, of programmes serving as fillers between the ads.
I'd also consider that programmes like 'Sounds of Cinema' and 'Sounds of Gaming' (on R3 Saturday afternoon 3pm slot) to be more apt to R2 or R1 respectively.
I've tended not listen to R3 Saturday morning since the changes, nor Jools' 12-1 slot after the first week, 'Land without Music' (Music Matters six-parter) not at all, 'Music Map' Sun 1.30-3.00 not after part of the first week's prog. Record Review and Music Planet are now inconvenient timings (no I don't listen on BBC Sounds - no wish to go online to listen to Radio).
Spraggons Den
pfm Member
Agreed, he’s a brilliant presenter as is Petroc Tralawny who I catch on the drive to work.
Finnegan
I like a bit of a cavort
Of course the demographics change on a generational basis. Remember when, until comparatively recently, R2’s Sunday schedule was ‘Sing Something Simple’ and ‘Charlie Chester’s Soapbox’? As I said previously, the audience for a full Mahler symphony or a complete Wagner cycle on a weekday mid-morning must now be vanishingly small, and of course programmers have to respond to this if R3 is to survive. Whether this is best achieved by bringing in populist presenters and an ever closer aping of Classic FM is however a moot point.
Here is R3’s daytime schedule from twenty years ago to give us an idea of how commercial R3 has become.
genome.ch.bbc.co.uk
Here is R3’s daytime schedule from twenty years ago to give us an idea of how commercial R3 has become.