BBC shows the world how not to do classical radio


Whichever way you look at it the news is bad. Independent data released today shows that classical network BBC Radio 3 lost 4.3% of its audience year on year and 5.6% of its audience from Q2 to Q3 2011. Average hours per listener have dropped during the course of the year from 6.1 to 5.8 and the station's audience loss is the biggest for any BBC national radio station. None of which will be a surprise to Overgrown Path readers. But it will be a surprise to BBC News readers who are disingenuously told no more than "Classical station Radio 3 maintained a listenership of above two million in the new figures". It should also be noted that the dramatic audience loss occurred in the quarter covering the Proms, which as seen above, were spun by the BBC press office as "Record breaking". One again, whose hand is on the BBC Radio 3 balance control?

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Comments

Pliable said…
Interesting that even the BBC hugging Guardian has realised that there is something rotten in the state of Radio 3 -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/27/radio-3-biggest-audience-fall?newsfeed=true
2:37 pm
Andy Rubio said…
I'm less inclined to listen to R3 these days. The controllers think that using social media and having presenters with 'smiles in their voices' will attract listeners. IMHO it pushes people away, perhaps they don't know their listeners very well. Now that I've got internet radio I don't have to listen to the presenters' drivel on 'Breakfast' interspersed with a little bit of music.
3:28 pm
Pliable said…
Andy, I can only echo your view and I know many other readers feel the same way.

When will the BBC ever learn?
3:32 pm
Pliable said…
This thread is continued on a new post - http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/10/classical-music-must-come-clean-about.html
3:07 pm
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