New schedule changes 2018

[french frank]

The press release has been published here, and AD's blog is here. Still studying it, but the brief advance details included:

New jazz programme replacing(?) Jazz Line-up,
Saturday Classics, now Inside Music, to have only musicians talking about pieces in a more technical way
Drama moving to 7.30pm
'Rebranding of the late zone'(????) to try and get younger listeners interested, launching with a season (Night Blossoms) about Japanese culture
Roddy Williams doing Choir and Organ (while SMP is away)
New series for late on Sundays: a 6-part History of Polyphony by Peter Phillips, and others
World on 3 becomes Music Planet - recorded now so as to get a better range of live guests (same presenters)

Comments?

[french frank]

Comments?

Just as a hint: there are several changes which seem like a response to complaints people have had, e.g. the earlier timing of Drama on 3, the change in the apparent brief of Saturday Classics that was people waffling about My Favourite Things, World on 3, plus a possible change to Choir and Organ, the Sunday specialist series starting with Peter Phillips on the History of Polyphony.

* World on 3 is relaunched as Music Planet, exploring classic tracks, big names and new releases from roots-based music from across the globe.
* A refreshed version of Jazz Line-Up, renamed J to Z, will celebrate the best in jazz - past, present and future. Alongside Julian Joseph and Kevin Le Gendre, award-winning broadcaster and singer Jumoké Fashola will join the presenting team.
* A new Saturday afternoon programme, Inside Music, replaces Saturday Classics, and will see a range of high-profile musicians join the programme to guide listeners through a selection of music.
* Celebrated Baritone and composer Roderick Williams will appear as ongoing guest presenter on Choir and Organ from April.
* Radio 3’s weekly drama offering, Drama on 3, to move to an earlier Sunday evening slot, beginning at 7.30pm (starting with Ibsen's The Wild Duck).

The refreshed schedule is part of Radio 3’s ongoing aim to guide listeners to the riches on offer, and will include a new sound across week-nights for culturally minded audiences - directing them through Radio 3’s existing speech programming, in the newly titled After Dark.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Saturday Classics, now Inside Music, to have only musicians talking about pieces in a more technical way

New series for late on Sundays: a 6-part History of Polyphony by Peter Phillips, and others

These sound promising (as might the "Late Zone" rebrand). The rest sounds a leeeeetle bit like repackaging.

[cloughie]

No changes to the dreadful morning fare then!

[french frank]

These sound promising (as might the "Late Zone" rebrand). The rest sounds a leeeeetle bit like repackaging.

So 3 get the (Inside Music, Late Night series, and I would add, the retiming of Do3), two remain to be seen (new jazz and world programmes), though according to management, listener reaction to World on 3 corresponds with the forum info that I was given, so 'worldies' may well be better pleased with the new programme; and Jazz Now seems to have been an improvement on Jo3, so perhaps the new J to z will improve Jazz Line-Up. Choir and Organ has been a thorough damp squib, so a change should surely get at a least a cautious welcome until it turns out to be no better.

The notes I'm making on the recent meeting with R3 will get sent to them. The mornings will again be mentioned together with scepticism about the significance of much of their audience findings (let's not forget that the audience appreciation index and reach are both very high for Essential Classics, so it's pleasing a lot of people), some suggested directions for Choir and Organ and evidence that attracting new listeners by filling the peak listening times with entry-level programming has been tried for 25-30 years: reach/population is declining, and the average age is as high as it has been in recent times.

So time for a change of policy for the morning programming, I am suggesting.

[Quarky]

Generally positive reaction.

I'm hopeful that J to Z will overcome perceived shortcomings in JLU.

Potentially the most interesting change for me is After Dark. That time slot 10-11 pm is a time when I want to listen to the Radio, but I find Free Thinking to be a great turn-off.

[DracoM]

VERY bad news [ at least for me] on Drama moving @ 7.30 - which means longer forms etc are bound to clash with quite a lot on telly / R4.
Deo Gratias for iPlayer.............but still a nuisance.

Rest looks VG - apart from un peu de daft re-titling. 'Music Planet' ? Erm......? Why not 'World Music on 3'?

[french frank]

VERY bad news [ at least for me] on Drama moving @ 7.30 - which means longer forms etc are bound to clash with quite a lot on telly / R4.
Deo Gratias for iPlayer.............but still a nuisance.

Good news for others. And common sense. Why should evening concerts be on at 'normal' concert times, i.e 7.30, but a full-length play keep people up until approaching midnight? All you have to do is choose between a programme on television, a programme on R4 and the play on R3, all on iPlayer. Embarrassment of riches.

Rest looks VG - apart from un peu de daft re-titling. 'Music Planet' ? Erm......? Why not 'World Music on 3'?

Yes I always admired the sheer imaginative genius that gave us Morning on 3, Afternoon on 3, Performance on 3, Opera on 3, Drama on 3, World on 3, Jazz on 3 … I think the focus of Music Planet will be a bit different. The title is a return to the Kershaw/Duran short series that accompanied Human Planet on television.

[cloughie]

Generally positive reaction.

I'm hopeful that J to Z will overcome perceived shortcomings in JLU.

I'm sure there's some significance in the new title but it's lost on me!

[french frank]

I'm sure there's some significance in the new title but it's lost on me!

Probably not original but 'Jazz from J to Z' seems to mean, like, everything jazz.

[cloughie]

Probably not original but 'Jazz from J to Z' seems to mean, like, everything jazz.

Don't see A to I with it!

[french frank]

Don't see A to I with it!

Or eye to eye?

[Bryn]

Or eye to eye?

az you were.

[Quarky]

A little more about J to Z: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0622r35

Thematically, it seems similar in some respects to Jazz from J to Z.

[french frank]

A little more about J to Z: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0622r35

Thematically, it seems similar in some respects to Jazz from J to Z.

This is the first one:

Jumoké Fashola presents UK band of the moment Sons of Kemet in session. Led by award-winning saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, the band features two drummers and tuba to create a unique sound influenced by London's dancefloors.

???

And this Music Planet:

Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara is in session with Kathryn Tickell for Radio 3's new world music show.

Fatoumata Diawara is one of the younger voices that has recently emerged from Mali, one of Africa's most musically-rich countries. She has now settled in France, but regularly performs back in Mali as well as across the rest of the world.

Also on the programme, singer and BBC Radio 6 music presenter Cerys Matthews presents a mix-tape of two selected African artists - Senegalese singer Mar Seck and Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko.