to be fucked off and actually really quite sad at what has happened to Radio 3?

[cruikshank]

It used to be my go-to station: not only for the breadth of music they played, but also for the incisive and intelligent commentary that opened up that music. Now, it's all bitty - single movements of concerti - including even Vivaldi concerti which are only about 25 mins long in their entirety so hardly taxing on the brain in the first place. And on top of that, instead of having people who actually know about music talking to us, we get witless, endless fucking parp from listeners about 'Ooh I like this one because it reminds me of a picnic I once went on' etc - I don't fucking care. If I wanted to listen to Classic FM I would kill myself tune into it. That's not what Radio 3 is supposed to be for. There are endless radio shows with thoughtless meaningless audience participatory aspects to them. There is a whole radio station (Crassic FM) devoted to rehashing middle-brow supposed 'culture'. So those aspects of broadcasting are already more then adequately catered for elsewhere. Why then do we need to have them encroaching on the one radio station that offered something truly different, something properly thought-provoking and elucidatory?

Agree very much. The BBC seem convinced that their entire audience is nine years old and that every programme must be done in the style of Blue Peter.

Yup. I agree too.

It's (partly) pretty awful these days and I keep wondering if it's me.

Far, far too many bits and pieces randomly thrown in, far too many "interviewers" who are quite besotted with the sound of their own voice. (To be honest I don't even like hearing composers explaining their pieces - the length of such explanation is invariably directly opposed to the quality of the composition.)

The very worst thing though is the stupid, noisy jazz violently flung at me a millisecond after the end of Hear and Now. I don't have remote controls for the radios and I'm sick of the undignified scramble to turn off at that time on a Saturday night.

The newly renamed Record Review is generally excellent. Composer of the week can be. Opera on 3, Hear and Now, the Sunday drama slot all brilliant. But so much rubbish.

OhGove said "if there is discussion then I want it to be informed discussion with participants who know what they are talking about."

This. This to absolutely everything on the BBC. On every single channel of TV and radio.

When I am dictator, I will ban all programming that has a USP of allowing drivelling idiots to speak endlessly. This will mean an end to the One Show, Question Time, and all audience-voting competitions.

You are spot on Cruikshank.

I think Classic FM does what it does very well - but it's not what I want to listen to. And I don't want to listen to it on R3!

What happened to Discovering Music? That was a gem.

The show at 4:30 on my drive home is such a mishmash, it's awful. Yes, and the fucking jazz. I HATE jazz.
And it's still too quiet; my hearing is getting worse, I'm aging, surely all their other listeners are too? TURN IT UP!

I actually feel quite sad for my ds who is 15, as he will never experience the Radio 3 I grew up with. He plays percussion, has recently got into the county youth orchestra, and is at that stage where he is experiencing lots of new repertoire. When I was his age I listened to Radio 3 a LOT, and bought many of my records based on things I had heard on the radio and enjoyed.

I just don't think he would want to wade through all the programmes with endless interviews of "celebrities" and inane witterings from presenters and members of the public. He already gets annoyed with dumbed down documentaries on the tv.

Oh, yes! Yes! Yeeeees!!

God, when they read out tweets, I just can't bear it. Dd insists on listening to Radio 1 if we are in the car. It's not the music I hate at all (very catholic taste, moi) but the inane comments from Caitlin in Bishops Aukland, "Lovin' the show!" or the dj saying "Tell us on the text what you're up to this morning!" Like I care.

I must admit I do enjoy cringing at the Classic FM participants. "Hello, Barbara and Roy here, just relaxing in our conservatory. We'd like The Lark Ascending for our son - he's a doctor working in the States and we're off to visit him on the Queen Mary next week" etc etc

So glad I'm not alone in this, although I feel sad that other people have been switched off from R3 as well. This morning was a case in point - Essential Classics (ie single movements of 'that one off of the advert') interspersed with the presenter encouraging us to text in with which country we think they're all about. I am not five years old. Please don't talk to me as though I am.

Agree about what the generation growing up will have lost - it's all very well that they've got YouTube, but you've got to know what you're looking for on there. What was wonderful about R3 for me, coming of age in a small town with no access to western art music at all, was being able to switch on the radio and hear things that opened my mind to all sorts of possibilities, to hear things I wouldn't have even known where to begin finding out about otherwise. This is not going to happen for young people now.

at Barbara and Roy though. The fuckers.

I used to love the one that took one piece and did a kind of literacy criticism of it. Was it Discovering Music?

I'll never forget hearing the presenter explain to me just why the Jupiter symphony was such a great piece (essentially the music tries to reach escape velocity and develop but is always pulled back into the home key by the great mass of Jupiter!)

Yes, yes about switching on the radio and finding out about all sorts of things you didn't know you would like! Radio 4 is also like that, but for all sorts of things, not music.

I still listen to Radio 4 quite a lot, although even bits of that have been dumbed down, but I still love the eclectic mix of programmes on there.

I don't often listen to R3 really, and when I do it tends to be things like Choral Evensong or the Evening Concert on iPlayer.

I do, however, absolutely agree about the hideousness that it is the endless move towards audience participation everywhere. If I wanted to know the opinions of people with no knowledge or expertise, I could just ask any random friend or relation. It's no way to learn anything!

I find this particularly trying when going to talks e.g. by authors at book festivals. I always end up feeling annoyed that I've paid good money for 20 minutes of interesting chat from the author, followed by 45 minutes of "questions from the audience", which always seem to be dominated by long winded pointless rants with no real attached question. I get very cross with the chair for letting people ramble on!

Absolutely agree with PP. I don't want to hear lots of mindless box pop. Also hate Question Time and its ilk.

Witter witter witter. Surely we get enough witter in real life? Can we not have something uplifting, educating, or even interesting when we switch the radio ? Er, no, apparently we can't.

Your OP did make laugh! But spot on. I am more of a classic fm plus listener - the stuff in the evenings is generally more interesting.

Swap to Radio 4.

I love Classic FM. I tried a few times with R3 but always seemed to get a play when I really, really wanted music.

I had to switch off the interview with Louis de Bernieres earlier. "Ooh, John Williams does play a lovely guitar piece, doesn't he? And Segovia thought he was rather good, yes, "touched by the hand of God", apparently! Do you know, I've been to the Alhambra, lovely place, and as you go through the gate there's a nice café on the left.. You probably know better than me, Louis, did that start in C sharp?" (yes, yes, I exaggerate, but...)

Illustrating Jux's point rather well.

Personally, I would ban all listener participation from all radio stations.

In theory I agree. But the LBC phone-ins were excruciating to the point that it became entertaining. I remember the woman who insisted that she was smoking while pregnant so that her baby would be immune to lung cancer . . .

OP You are right about Radio 3, alas. Dumbing down.

I never got on with radio 3

I like classical music, but not all of it. I am very mainstream I guess. I like Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Verdi, Puccini, Bellini, Schubert, Schumann, Prokofiev, Tchaikovski...the usual suspects, but can't enjoy Bartok or Shostakovitch or anything "modern-classical" or anything a-tonal. I am listing all this to show I like a lot of classical music, but am not keen on radio 3. there must be more low-brow people like me.

Saying that, I don't like it when they only play the adagio's of concerts, I would prefer an entire symphony/violin/piano-concerto.

Classic FM is a bit cheesy, and I hate the banal listener comments, but it is quite good in the car.

Radio 3....I have never listened to it long enough to discover new music on it. I discover new pieces on Spotify or at concerts.

Good luck anyway, it's a shame if something is downgraded.

But I imagine their listener base must be quite small? And they try to grow?

I love Radio 4, but it doesn't have much music! Classic FM has its place which isn't in my house, but Radio 3 used to offer something for people who really like classical music and don't want to listen to just the 'popular bits' all the time. Now it seems to have become much more like Classic FM, but that has left a gap where the old style Radio 3 used to be.

Spotify, and iPlayer.

Spoitfy's not so good for the widest range of classical music, but I've found all sorts of 20C art music, and a lot of opera, and well - pretty much anything I'm looking for. I don't pay mean so just put up with the ads every 30 minutes.

Self taught/musically illiterate here. I don't play, just listen. I think Classic FM is a good intro for someone who doesn't switch on the radio to be challenged.

YouTube is good for finding new stuff. You play one of your favourite pieces and then chase down the 'suggestions'. That's how I found Taverner's Song for Athene, which I have come to love. I haven't heard that on the radio.

The Song for Athene may be old hat to those in the know, but it's a great discovery for someone trying to work stuff out.

Louis de Bernières was on just now talking about his trouser-buying habits. He provided the excellent tip that it is better to buy one pair of expensive trousers than four pairs of cheap ones.

Who needs to hear classical music when Radio 3 can provide gems like that?

maestro that sounds interesting, although I would find not being able to find out what's playing infuriating!