BBC Radio 3's mixtape in a tangle as audience plunges 8%


Those who read my recent post BBC Radio 3's big mixtake will not be surprised by today's news that the classical station's audience plunged 8% during a 12 month period when the total UK radio audience grew by 2%. I was certainly no fan of Nicholas Kenyon and Roger Wright during their tenures at Radio 3. But at least they dumbed the station down with flair. Current incumbent Alan Davey's mixtape-led dumbing down is not just 100% flair-free, it is positively cringe-inducing. There is nothing else to say other than repeating the final paragraph of my earlier post.

The livelihoods of five leading orchestras and a choir, and the future of the largest new music commissioning budget in the world depend on the healthy survival of BBC Radio 3. You only need to listen to Radio 3's daytime programmes to understand that the patient's vital signs look very bad indeed, and to realise that drastic and painful surgery is urgently required to provide any hope of survival.

How many more times does this have to be said before action is taken?

Header image comes from ABC Australia's love affair with mixtapes - it is not just Radio 3 that is knee-jerking in reaction to Spotify. Any copyrighted material is included as "fair use" for critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Also on Facebook and Twitter.

Comments

Unknown said…
I don't recognize my daily listening to Radio 3 from the above bilious outpouring. I really value most (not all) of the presenters, (and am missing Rob Cowan) because they are very knowledgeable without induling in intellectual snobbery which I would find very irritating. I regret the loss of the second broadcast of Composer of the Week in favour of the Mixtape. Too often I find the mixtape trying too hard to patronize me by including (under the disguise of the description 'eclectic') music I am not especially interested in. A tiny touch of something unexpected is fine , provided it is inspired, but I sense an arrogance behind some of the choices . I still want Radio 3 to sound like Radio 3. It is the only Classical radio programme. We can listen to other stations if we prize eclecticism above what we call 'clsssical'. I like you the way you are/were. Tighten up the mixtape. A lot. The rest is just fine.
7:25 pm
Helen Carpenter said…
I also don't recognise the negative comments regarding what was nigh perfect in the terms it was introduced. I say was because what was 30 minutes of back to back music, often unusual, always interesting sometimes surprising. For me idylic. But the BBC programmers have to impose their branding. My pleasure is now interrupted by asinine announcements that I am listening to radio 3. No longer. A huge disappointment.
7:17 pm
Martinoton said…
"My pleasure is now interrupted by asinine announcements that I am listening to radio 3"
My sentiment exactly: a wonderful dreamy 30 minutes of musical exploration in the Mixtape is now wrecked by the insertion of an announcer's soppy words.
We know what we are listening too: we don't have to be told. Just about every device on which we listen to the radio now TELLS US what we are listening to on a digital display.

Otherwise, keep up the good work.
7:28 pm
Alantb said…
Tonight's commentary on the bbc3 mixtape is absolutely out of sync with the music Scheherazade carries on for several minutes after the music has changed and after this who knows what is playing?
regards, Alan Braddock 07857081296 text preferable.
7:54 pm
Alan Oke said…
Mixtape has been ruined by the needless announcements. Tonight they actually said " back to back music" which it isn't any longer. Why has this happened?
8:23 pm
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