A good presenter

[Mr Pee]

VodkaDilc: while I don't watch Graham Norton's TV show (and obviously don't watch Eurovision), I greatly enjoy his contributions to 'Just A Minute', where his articulacy, diction and warm personality make for a very pleasurable listening experience. And, for what it's worth, while the lady wife also doesn't watch his TV show, she quite enjoys his 'agony aunt' column in the Saturday Telegraph. I suspect that a fate much worse than Graham can, and indeed may well, befall Radio 3 ere too long, at which people might realize that, as radio presenters go, he is pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcFJi...feature=relmfu

[underthecountertenor]

Well I'm just wondering whether your views are those of the majority of Radio 3 listeners, or the views of an influential minority intent on foisting their tastes on the rest.

My views are my views, which I felt moved to express on hearing Ian Skelly's (to my taste) refreshing presentation style. Whether they coincide with the views of the majority of Radio 3 listeners or those of a minority, whether influential or not, I cannot say. I certainly have no influence and I'm not about foisting anything on anyone. I thought I had expressed my views pretty moderately, so don't quite understand why you have felt the need to go on the offensive.

[Oddball]

I thought I had expressed my views pretty moderately, so don't quite understand why you have felt the need to go on the offensive.

Yes I respect your views under thecountertenor, which are based on sound musical judgements.

But my tastes are not coincident with yours, and I often feel bored/ uncomfortable after listening a while to those presenters you mention.

That is why I asked a genuine question - do your views represent those of the majority? If so , I guess we can look forward to hearing much more of Ian Skelly, and I will probably depart in the general direction of Radio 6. If not, I'll probably hang around.

[Caliban]

My views are my views, which I felt moved to express on hearing Ian Skelly's (to my taste) refreshing presentation style.

Your views coincide with mine, unders I find that he manages to deal with the email clutter deftly, giving contact details in a way which suggests they don't matter more than the music, unlike certain others, and presents the pieces without any gush or special pleading, just communicating quiet enthusiasm without excess adjectives or 'smiley voice' affectation. Good stuff.

[Norfolk Born]

Wherefore are these things hid!? Wherefore have these gifts a curtain before 'em?!

What do you talk about, Norfy? Music?

It's just a monthly guest spot at which I bring along a few CD tracks linked by a theme. It's a VERY local station, with the number of people in the studio possibly only just outnumbered by the number of listeners when it broadcasts its Classical Music Show. Every other year, I'm invited to plan and introduce a similar, but longer, sort of programme at a local church hall for the local Recorded Music Society, which (being a bit of an unashamed showman) I find more rewarding.

[underthecountertenor]

"'Smiley voice' affectation" is a brilliant description of that dreadful modern radio phenomenon. I don't know how they do it. I can't imitate it, even if I try, any more than I can finish sentences that aren't questions on a rising inflexion?

[Norfolk Born]

To whom might you be referring Norfolk Born??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyk06CD4xgY

Nice clip, but I'm not quite sure of its relevance..

[VodkaDilc]

"'Smiley voice' affectation" is a brilliant description of that dreadful modern radio phenomenon.

They all manage to sound like primary school teachers.

[underthecountertenor]

Yes I respect your views under thecountertenor, which are based on sound musical judgements.

But my tastes are not coincident with yours, and I often feel bored/ uncomfortable after listening a while to those presenters you mention.

That is why I asked a genuine question - do your views represent those of the majority? If so , I guess we can look forward to hearing much more of Ian Skelly, and I will probably depart in the general direction of Radio 6. If not, I'll probably hang around.

Fair enough, Oddball!

[aeolium]

What the BBC's focus on the role of the presenter has done is to move attention away from the musical content of the programmes, so that there are more threads here about presenters rather than what is being presented. For me a 'good' presenter will be an unobtrusive one who swiftly and concisely (and accurately) conveys the relevant information about the performance. I don't really want to notice the presenter at all, just the music. Which is why programmes like Breakfast and Essential Classics, which are really constructed around the presenter and guests, with the music as a kind of afterthought (and so much of that is endlessly recycled music) are of so little interest to me. I would like to get back to a period - there must have been one - when no-one gave a damn who the presenter was.