The History of R3
It's hardly believable that anyone over the age of 50 who lived in Britain during their formative years should not have heard of the legendary Third Programme.
It was launched in 1946. Already there was a BBC Home Service and a BBC Light Programme so, after careful thought, it was named the Third Programme, proving right from the start that it had the power to defy easy description.
It wasn't like the others.
It laughed at itself.
It expected a lot from its listeners.
It challenged them.
It had no fear of the esoteric — or rather, it failed to acknowledge it as being out of the ordinary.
It had precise programme timings which it ignored.
It went its own way.
Times change, oh, yes, they do, but long may the pervading spirit of the Third remain.
If you want to know the full story, you can do no better than to buy a copy of Humphrey Carpenter's "The Envy of the World. Fifty Years of the BBC Third Programme and Radio 3", (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1996, p/b Phoenix Press, 1997, which takes the story up to 1996. The best of what follows on these pages has been pilfered from this book.
In the beginning ... deals with the launch of the station in 1946, up to 1970
From Third to 3 takes the story from 1970 to 1992
Autres temps, autres moeurs covers 1992 to 1998, the controllership of Nicholas Kenyon
Things can only get... covers 1998 to the present. Notwithstanding the jibes, Radio 3 remains, quite simply, the best. And after all, it never was perfect...
It wasn't like the others.
It laughed at itself.
It expected a lot from its listeners.
It challenged them.
It had no fear of the esoteric — or rather, it failed to acknowledge it as being out of the ordinary.
It had precise programme timings which it ignored.
It went its own way.
Times change, oh, yes, they do, but long may the pervading spirit of the Third remain.
If you want to know the full story, you can do no better than to buy a copy of Humphrey Carpenter's "The Envy of the World. Fifty Years of the BBC Third Programme and Radio 3", (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1996, p/b Phoenix Press, 1997, which takes the story up to 1996. The best of what follows on these pages has been pilfered from this book.
In the beginning ... deals with the launch of the station in 1946, up to 1970
From Third to 3 takes the story from 1970 to 1992
Autres temps, autres moeurs covers 1992 to 1998, the controllership of Nicholas Kenyon
Things can only get... covers 1998 to the present. Notwithstanding the jibes, Radio 3 remains, quite simply, the best. And after all, it never was perfect...