Radio 3 schedule changes (‘edging away from speech')

[Ein Heldenleben]

You know, that never struck me before (b4)!

Looking at Radio Times, it’s not going to be quite the same programme - live now apparently, and looking at “the ideas shaping our lives today, looking back at the week and picking out some themes and questions which have caught their attention” - a Stop the Week reboot?


.

God I used to love Stop The Week . The final one of the trilogy known in R4 as Pluggers , Loonies, and W**nkers.

[Roslynmuse]

God I used to love Stop The Week . The final one of the trilogy known in R4 as Pluggers , Loonies, and W**nkers.

There's quite a decent selection of them, mostly from the mid-80s, on YouTube - I listened to them over lockdown. Some haven't dated well, but the regulars were sharp as razorblades and Robert Robinson was brilliant as referee... (although I can't hear him now without thinking of Stephen Fry). As I was listening back to them I thought that there is very little to compare nowadays for wit and intelligence lightly worn.

[Ein Heldenleben]

There's quite a decent selection of them, mostly from the mid-80s, on YouTube - I listened to them over lockdown. Some haven't dated well, but the regulars were sharp as razorblades and Robert Robinson was brilliant as referee... (although I can't hear him now without thinking of Stephen Fry). As I was listening back to them I thought that there is very little to compare nowadays for wit and intelligence lightly worn.

Indeed . Robert Robinson, Prof Laurie Taylor , Milton Shulman , Anne Leslie , Dennis Barker - a classic lineup
Micheal Ember the producer used to get the Friday recording going with a few bottles of champagne..

[french frank]

Indeed . Robert Robinson, Prof Laurie Taylor , Milton Shulman , Anne Leslie , Dennis Barker - a classic lineup
Micheal Ember the producer used to get the Friday recording going with a few bottles of champagne..

I never heard Stop the Week (listening to R3) - which does sound good. I heard Start the Week a few times and found it dire.

[smittims]

I used to listen to 'Stop the Week' every week. It was a breath of fresh air. I loved the way Robinson used to bring the discussion down to earth. They were going on about Roddy Llewellyn (the Princess Margaret's boyfriend) and his 'set' and RR said 'just a minute: do these people really exist?'

[french frank]

I've just broken the habit of a lifetime (well, the habit of the past 8 or so years) and listened to an R3 programme. The concert was a recording from Wigmore Hall of Paul Lewis playing Schubert's last three sonatas. As good as I expected it to be, the young lad Handley introducing it and having a word with Paul Lewis about his programme; so, yes, I enjoyed it. But two thoughts ocurred to me:

1. This was the 'live' evening concert but in fact was a recording and was a chamber recital rather than the traditional orchestral concert. Merely an observation as from my personal point of view I would prefer a chamber recital to an orchestral concert. And a cheaper option too. But others may feel a bit deprived.

2. Taking up a point made on the RR thread about Appreciation Index scores: I was the usual R3 listener who tunes in for a particular programme that I expected to enjoy (NB that's why I listened to it) and did enjoy it. It was also the kind of 'specialist' programme which is given a high AI score by its listeners, which explains why R3 has traditionally scored well on audience appreciation relative to other stations.

[smittims]

The evening concert has been a recital on many occasions , and for some reason I've often found them more memorable than orchestral concerts, for instance the Elly Ameling recital in early February 1982 has stuck in my memory. I do think they should be truly 'live', however, i.e , broadcast as it's actually being performed , rather than what they call a 'live recording'. I'm well aware that for the listener at home there's no way of telling the difference, but for some odd reason I feel more involved if I know it's atually happening there and then.

That I should say this as a lifelong enthusiast of studio recordings, most of them very old indeed to a 'millenial', shows, I think, that there must ne some mystical truth in this.

[AuntDaisy]

I've just broken the habit of a lifetime (well, the habit of the past 8 or so years) and listened to an R3 programme. The concert was a recording from Wigmore Hall of Paul Lewis playing Schubert's last three sonatas. As good as I expected it to be, the young lad Handley introducing it and having a word with Paul Lewis about his programme; so, yes, I enjoyed it. But two thoughts ocurred to me:

1. This was the 'live' evening concert but in fact was a recording and was a chamber recital rather than the traditional orchestral concert. Merely an observation as from my personal point of view I would prefer a chamber recital to an orchestral concert. And a cheaper option too. But others may feel a bit deprived.

2. Taking up a point made on the RR thread about Appreciation Index scores: I was the usual R3 listener who tunes in for a particular programme that I expected to enjoy (NB that's why I listened to it) and did enjoy it. It was also the kind of 'specialist' programme which is given a high AI score by its listeners, which explains why R3 has traditionally scored well on audience appreciation relative to other stations.

You're now a R3 statistic - clearly attracted back by the schedule changes & ads.

[french frank]

You're now a R3 statistic - clearly attracted back by the schedule changes & ads.

A near invisible blip on one particular evening. There need to be a number of such blips every day of the week for every week of the quarter to raise the average appreciably

I actually missed most of D958 because I only noticed the programme was on while I was looking through the schedule for something or other.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've just broken the habit of a lifetime (well, the habit of the past 8 or so years) and listened to an R3 programme. The concert was a recording from Wigmore Hall of Paul Lewis playing Schubert's last three sonatas. As good as I expected it to be, the young lad Handley introducing it and having a word with Paul Lewis about his programme; so, yes, I enjoyed it. But two thoughts ocurred to me:

1. This was the 'live' evening concert but in fact was a recording and was a chamber recital rather than the traditional orchestral concert. Merely an observation as from my personal point of view I would prefer a chamber recital to an orchestral concert. And a cheaper option too. But others may feel a bit deprived.

2. Taking up a point made on the RR thread about Appreciation Index scores: I was the usual R3 listener who tunes in for a particular programme that I expected to enjoy (NB that's why I listened to it) and did enjoy it. It was also the kind of 'specialist' programme which is given a high AI score by its listeners, which explains why R3 has traditionally scored well on audience appreciation relative to other stations.

I would love to meet the listener who “felt deprived “ listening to Paul’s utterly magnificent and compelling playing. I might advise them to take up another hobby - it just doesn’t get much better. I thought it was live until I heard a bad digital glitch during the A major first movement. It was a long concert so I’ve saved the Bflat D960 till tonight .
On the AI front with R3 it depends on the music - 2nd Viennese school don’t necessarily score so well.

[french frank]

I would love to meet the listener who “felt deprived “ listening to Paul’s utterly magnificent and compelling playing. I might advise them to take up another hobby - it just doesn’t get much better.

I wasn't of course referring to this particular performance, but the general point of the loss of a slot for a traditional orchestral concert.

On the AI front with R3 it depends on the music - 2nd Viennese school don’t necessarily score so well.

I would question this on the same basis. Those who choose to listen to a programme of Schoenberg and Webern may judge the excellence of the performance/presentation and their level of appreciation will be based on that. Those who don't like 'that sort of thing' won't be listening anyway. AI isn't really designed to measure what is popular.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I wasn't of course referring to this particular performance, but the general point of the loss of a slot for a traditional orchestral concert.



I would question this on the same basis. Those who choose to listen to a programme of Schoenberg and Webern may judge the excellence of the performance/presentation and their level of appreciation will be based on that. Those who don't like 'that sort of thing' won't be listening anyway. AI isn't really designed to measure what is popular.

I still don’t see that anyone would “prefer “ an orchestral concert to a chamber recital purely because one was orchestral unless they had some prejudice against chamber music. I don’t see how that’s shortchanging - it’s more about an individual’s taste, A first rate chamber performance is preferable to a run of mill orchestral one.

Many years ago I did see the RI’s for Radio 3 - modern music scored badly.

[french frank]

Many years ago I did see the RI’s for Radio 3 - modern music scored badly.

I assume that means AI? But again, AIs aren't designed to measure popularity or whether listeners 'enjoy' particular kinds of music. That can be measured if broadcasters are interested in finding out what is popular or unpopular ("Don't put on that 2nd Viennese stuff: people don't like it").

AIs are principally to measure how enjoyable listeners have found a particular programme to which they themselves have chosen to listen (certainly not one which they've been asked to listen to and then report what they thought of it). As far as I know, the scores for individual programmes are never/seldom published (but can be found sometimes), but the overall scores for stations and TV channels are published. I'm looking for one set which, of the radio stations, had R3 in third place and R1 at the bottom. Just lost it. Can't remember what was top.

Just found it:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/285170/public-appreciation-of-bbc-radio-in-the-united-kingdom-uk-by-station/

[Roslynmuse]

Appreciation Index as applied to R3 will give a completely different sort of answer to that when applied to almost any other radio or TV programme. "Did you enjoy the concert?" "Well, I thought the performance of the concerto was excellent but I much prefer X's interpretation of the symphony" is not in any way comparable to "fascinating documentary/discussion/drama". Even when a new work is being premiered, that piece is often only a part of the programme as a whole, and in any case it won't have gone through the same sort of commissioning process that a new TV drama (for example) goes through.

Is the enjoyment being measured the music itself (in which case, as has been said already, the audience will generally be self-selecting) or the performance, in which case it is irrelevant? Or, perhaps the presentation? If you enjoy watching the televised proms but hate the chat around the music how do you give an honest answer that will not mean that one's partial negativity might jeopardize the MUSIC being televised in the future?

It's a bit like asking whether you enjoyed a football match if your team has been massively defeated. "No, terrible game." "In that case we won't show any more football."

[Ein Heldenleben]

I assume that means AI? But again, AIs aren't designed to measure popularity or whether listeners 'enjoy' particular kinds of music. That can be measured if broadcasters are interested in finding out what is popular or unpopular ("Don't put on that 2nd Viennese stuff: people don't like it").

AIs are principally to measure how enjoyable listeners have found a particular programme to which they themselves have chosen to listen (certainly not one which they've been asked to listen to and then report what they thought of it). As far as I know, the scores for individual programmes are never/seldom published (but can be found sometimes), but the overall scores for stations and TV channels are published. I'm looking for one set which, of the radio stations, had R3 in third place and R1 at the bottom. Just lost it. Can't remember what was top.

Just found it:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...uk-by-station/

No one is quite sure what AI’s measure but in Radio 3 there was a pronounced correlation between the type of music played and AI’s particularly on programmes where people hadn't made a conscious listening decision ie sequence Programmes that played a piece of Boulez out of the blue for example. This is all forty years ago when they were called RIs . The samples sizes are so small for radio that they are probably not that accurate. One of the reasons the morning sequence programmes are almost wholly tonal classics and light music is they don’t want to frighten the horses ,..,

In TV where they be always been called AI’s the holy grail is high AI , High ratings - the classic example being an Attenborough programme . Soaps tended to be high rating lower AI. I remember for years the highest AI score of the year often went to the Vienna New Years Day Concert.