Back to Saturday night is opera night?

[Honoured Guest]

The homepage of Opera on 3 gives some advance scheduling dates: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnpy

The new flexibility allows for live concerts on Saturdays, such as the BBC Philharmonic's on Sat 18 Jan.

Some people prefer listening on Monday evenings to listening on Saturdays.

Since the recent Free Thinking (nee Night Waves) cutback, for cost reasons, operas on Mondays can now run until 10.45pm without disrupting the regular schedule.

[Quarky]

This is becoming perverse. First they change Opera on 3 to mondays, but then it reverts back to saturday including Fledermaus from the Met last week.
Now - the upcoming live from the MET "Eugene Onegin" which is being broadcast all around europe live this coming saturday(18th) is BACK to monday 20th on Radio 3.
What on earth is going on? Who is responsible for these schedule leap-frogging?
I shall be listening on Deutschlandfunk on saturday and to the devil with this nonsense.
I enjoy the occasion of a live opera link on a saturday evening. It does not have the same frisson on a monday.

It seems R3 is trying to juggle competing interests on Saturday night, and in the process optimising listener numbers. RW has admitted that the Jazz set has been getting a lousy deal, with programmes such as Jazz Record Requests frequently being cancelled to make way for a Wagner Opera.

If the opera set is saying - Opera on Saturday night and no other time, and the Jazz set is saying on no account disturb the scheduling of Jazz programmes, then there does not appear much scope for compromise.

Personally I'm quite happy to consult R3 Schedule in advance to see whether I will be listening to way out Jazz or a Britten Opera at 6.15 pm Saturday night.

Am I in a minority of making great use of iPlayer? I find the total output of R3 on Saturday night will last me well into the following week.

[Flosshilde]

I don't really mind what day opera is on, or whether there's a broadcast every week - but if the BBC say that the regular day is going to be Monday then they should stick to that, otherwise it gets confusing. It does seem rather silly to restrict themselves to a specific day when there might be an opera worth broadcasting on a different evening one week, or nothing worth broadcasting on the evening they've set aside as 'opera evening'. & by broadcasting a recording of the Met production on Monday (I assume it's a recording - the timing is rather odd if it's live) they are knocking a hole in their 'evening slot = live broadcast' promise. It all adds up to confusion & muddle on RW's part (but does that surprise us?).

[Barbirollians]

It seems R3 is trying to juggle competing interests on Saturday night, and in the process optimising listener numbers. RW has admitted that the Jazz set has been getting a lousy deal, with programmes such as Jazz Record Requests frequently being cancelled to make way for a Wagner Opera.

If the opera set is saying - Opera on Saturday night and no other time, and the Jazz set is saying on no account disturb the scheduling of Jazz programmes, then there does not appear much scope for compromise.

Personally I'm quite happy to consult R3 Schedule in advance to see whether I will be listening to way out Jazz or a Britten Opera at 6.15 pm Saturday night.

Am I in a minority of making great use of iPlayer? I find the total output of R3 on Saturday night will last me well into the following week.

How about cancelling the pile of bilge known as Saturday classics or the terrible film music programme and moving JRR to earlier in the afternoon ?

[Quarky]

How about cancelling the pile of bilge known as Saturday classics or the terrible film music programme and moving JRR to earlier in the afternoon ?

Personally, I would be quite happy with an afternoon of Jazz. And to move Geoffrey Smith's programme there, which is frequently the best Jazz programme broadcast on Saturday. But I can't speak for others; JRR at 5 pm is something of a national institution.

[Honoured Guest]

How about cancelling the pile of bilge known as Saturday classics or the terrible film music programme and moving JRR to earlier in the afternoon ?

JRR at 5.00pm on Saturdays is an institution!

Jazz Line-Up has a "regular" slot of 6.00 to 7.30pm, but when there's an Opera at 6.00, JLU moves to 4.00 and Sound of Cinema is silent, so your suggestion is moreorless happening now.

Saturday Classics is a good idea. I understand why it may offend some Third Programme purists but it's one of the classical programmes I'm most likely to consider listening to (and I can't be alone) because it always gives a reason for listening to the music chosen, which is the sort of context I personally find very helpful.

[french frank]

Saturday Classics is a good idea. I understand why it may offend some Third Programme purists but it's one of the classical programmes I'm most likely to consider listening to (and I can't be alone) because it always gives a reason for listening to the music chosen, which is the sort of context I personally find very helpful.

Obviously the target audience will approve of it, and those who are excluded by reason of its oversimplification and lack of expert insights (not the same as 'purists') will disapprove.

That said, I'm not sure why anyone would be more wedded to 'opera on Saturday' than 'opera on Monday'. Since these programmes are arranged well in advance, it should be possible to reserve long operas (if live) with early starts to a week day. I don't feel it's good enough fiddle about with the Saturday jazz by altering the timing and expecting people to notice. It would be far less serious to drop some of In Tune for opera (or even CotW, considering it's already a repeat from earlier in the day and already on iPlayer if people are annoyed).

If they were really 'flexible', they would consider live opera as 'Live in Concert' and broadcast on any convenient day. If the start time is going to vary, why shouldn't the day?

[Barbirollians]

Obviously the target audience will approve of it, and those who are excluded by reason of its oversimplification and lack of expert insights (not the same as 'purists') will disapprove.

That said, I'm not sure why anyone would be more wedded to 'opera on Saturday' than 'opera on Monday'. Since these programmes are arranged well in advance, it should be possible to reserve long operas (if live) with early starts to a week day. I don't feel it's good enough fiddle about with the Saturday jazz by altering the timing and expecting people to notice. It would be far less serious to drop some of In Tune for opera (or even CotW, considering it's already a repeat from earlier in the day and already on iPlayer if people are annoyed).

If they were really 'flexible', they would consider live opera as 'Live in Concert' and broadcast on any convenient day. If the start time is going to vary, why shouldn't the day?

For those of us at work - getting home in time and sitting down at 6.30 on a Monday and listening to an opera is completely impossible .Radio 3 is not just for the retired or otherwise economically inactive.

[Honoured Guest]

I agree with Barbirollians. I'd have thought that most serious Opera listeners would very much want to be able to hear it in its entirety. It's ridiculous to start operas in the week before 7.30. It's as bad as when all the concerts started at 7.00 and live audiences plummeted at some venues because working people either couldn't attend at all or had to rush in hope. Now that Monday operas are free to end at up to 10.45 without disrupting the regular schedule, I would hope that the early Monday Opera starts in the autumn won't recur in future. Another consideration is that many regular listeners to Composer of the Week from 6.30 miss it when it's shunted earlier by early concerts and operas.

[Quarky]

french frank points the best way forward, in my view.

The mainline problem is that operas may be very lengthy, and get in the way of other scheduled programmes. So by keeping the Opera set happy, one or more other groups will be disenchanted.

Flexibity in programming schedules appears the best way forward. Other than that, aren't there any short operas people want to hear?

Or possibly broadcast the first half of Parsifal Saturday night, and the rest Monday night?

[french frank]

For those of us at work - getting home in time and sitting down at 6.30 on a Monday and listening to an opera is completely impossible .Radio 3 is not just for the retired or otherwise economically inactive.

But the whole point is that most of the time operas DON'T start at 6.30pm; they hardly ever do. They start at 7.30pm, the same as live concerts. Not least because 'those who go to work' can't get to the opera by 6.30pm. I'm only saying that flexibility would allow the best arrangement, week by week, for most people. It isn't a solution to dump jazz because 'Saturday night is always opera night'. (I don't say this as a jazz fan, which I'm not).

[Flosshilde]

For those of us at work - getting home in time and sitting down at 6.30 on a Monday and listening to an opera is completely impossible .Radio 3 is not just for the retired or otherwise economically inactive.

But unfortunately longer works with an earlier starting time aren't always scheduled by the company for Saturdays - & starting them at the 'usual' time of 7.30 (7.15 in the case of Scottish Opera) with a later than usual finishing time would upset those who go & have to catch trains home & would cost more in overtime payments for the orchestra & chorus.

[Flosshilde]

It isn't a solution to dump jazz because 'Saturday night is always opera night'. (I don't say this as a jazz fan, which I'm not).

But if Saturday night is the best night to broadcast a live performance of a longer opera then changing the timing of the preceeding jazz programme shouldn't be taboo - it isn't reasonable to expect opera enthusiasts to be flexible about timing & days while jazz enthusiasts aren't.

[french frank]

Another consideration is that many regular listeners to Composer of the Week from 6.30 miss it when it's shunted earlier by early concerts and operas.

And, by the way, my point about CotW was that because it's a repeat from earlier in the day, at 6.30pm, when the 'regular listeners' want to hear it, it's already on the iPlayer so they can listen to that. All it would need is an apology that CotW is not being broadcast, but it is being narrowcast, to be listened to either right then, in an hour's time, the next day or up to 7 days' time. Don't shunt it around - drop it just occasionally.

[Flosshilde]

Or possibly broadcast the first half of Parsifal Saturday night, and the rest Monday night?

I've heard of a long supper interval, but ....