Everything about Bbc Radio 3 totally explained
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the
BBC within the
United Kingdom. It devotes most of its schedule to
classical music.
History
Radio 3 was launched as
The BBC Third Programme on
29 September 1946.
(External Link
) Its name changed on
30 September 1967 when, with the launch of
BBC Radio 1, the three other national radio channels were also given numbers. The allocation of "2" and "4" to the Light and Home seems arbitrary, but the allocation of "3" to the Third has logic. At this time it incorporated a service on the Third Programme's wavelength which had been known successively as Network Three, the Third Network and the Music Programme, which played less challenging music and didn't include the Third's speech. Radio 3 also absorbed adult education material previously on the frequency under the name "Study Session", and the Saturday afternoon sports coverage which was known as "Sports Service", although this moved to
Radio 2 in April 1970.
The Third kept its separate identity until April 1970, when it was absorbed into Radio 3. Following the shake-up of
AM radio frequencies in
1978 it moved to medium wave. It left MW in 1992 but kept its FM frequency. Ball-by-ball
cricket, ere formerly on Radio 3 medium wave, are now on Radio 4 long wave and digital radio station
BBC Five Live Sports Extra.
Programming
The station has always broadcast mainly classical music,
opera, highbrow
drama including most BBC Radio
Shakespeare productions, and
jazz. The station broadcasts concerts, promotes young musicians and commissions compositions. The
Proms are promoted and broadcast by Radio 3.
A Radio 3 motto was "As long as it takes", and the station usually plays pieces in entirety. The exceptions are programmes discussing and comparing pieces or performances, or programmes with a less serious tone.
One of the longest-lasting programmes is
Composer of the Week series at noon, with a repeat at 20:45. This consists of five weekdays' worth of one-hour themed shows about a composer. Often, especially when the composer is well enough known not to need introduction, the five days have a theme; a week about
Mozart might focus on Mozart the keyboard player. This show has also served, especially on composers' centenaries of birth or death, to heighten interest in their music, with weeks devoted to
Edmund Rubbra,
Medtner, and
Havergal Brian among others.
Another long-running programme is
Private Passions, the weekly interview by
Michael Berkeley, about the musical passions of notable people.
In recent years, as Radio 2 has come to focus on pop music, Radio 3 has taken over the lead in categories such as folk and jazz. Also, the station has taken on a wide range of new music (including
electronic music and
experimental music on programmes such as
Mixing It) and
world music (
World Routes,
Late Junction and
Andy Kershaw's programme). Traditional listeners have levelled much criticism at the introduction of 'World Music', especially where this term means not traditional non-European music (such as gamelan from Indonesia, gagaku, shomyo or nagauta from Japan or traditional Indian music) but music which is can be seen as non-European pop (or pop music played by non-Europeans. Critics say that such non-classical music has come to dominate late-evening slots (
Late Junction, etc) and has caused much disgruntlement and a diminution in audiences
An arguably more successful excursion from the late-Baroque to contemporary repertoire has been
The Early Music Show. The programme typically takes a theme, such as madrigals, music of the court of Frederick II of Prussia or English viol music, and gives examples of the history, music and lives of composers relevant to the subject. Precisely what 'Early' means is unclear (probably deliberately), since although JS Bach (1685-1750) appeared to make an end to the show's spectrum, there has also been music of the French Revolution, which occurred well into the mainstream period of classical music.
Radio 3 has led the way in many fields. A number of broadcasts are experimental; for instance one play in the late seventies consisted mainly of sound effects, recorded
binaurally, to be listened to wearing headphones. Radio 3 was the first channel to broadcast in
stereo and in
quadraphonic (matrix HJ), a format which enjoyed only a brief success. To improve the quality of outside broadcasts over telephone lines the BBC designed a
NICAM style digitisation technique called
pulse code modulation running at a sample rate of 14,000 per second per channel. It later designed digital recording machines (transportable) sampling at the same rate.
In 2007, Radio 3 reduced its live transmission of concerts (one big exception being
The Proms), with the uncertainty of duration which that brings. Many evening concert broadcasts are now single-take recordings of live performances made earlier. These are often of a public concert, but some are specially commissioned studio recordings of the .
Radio 3 is now available world wide on the
Internet and is broadcast on
digital radio in the United Kingdom via
DAB and
Digital terrestrial television (Freeview).
The Radio 3 debate
The calm and informed style adopted by the majority of the station's presenters is to many of its listeners a welcome contrast to the frenetic delivery found elsewhere on the airwaves. Since 1992, the station's commercial rival,
Classic FM, has broadcast a lighter range of music, interspersed with chat and adverts. Occasionally, Classic FM's existence has led some commentators to question Radio 3's continuation, lest it interfere with the workings of the market. However, this argument would appear to apply far more to the BBC's multitude of pop stations (Radios 1, 2, 1xtra, 6 and to some degree the Asian Network) than to a station which has no direct counterpart in the commercial sector (Classic FM might at best be thought of as Radio 3 Light).
Despite early fears that it might seriously damage Radio 3, the two stations seem to co-exist quite harmoniously, and Radio 3 has largely retained its audience. It has broadcast for 24 hours a day since the late nineties, using an automated computer which requires little or no direct human control. However, many feel that the network has lost some of its gravitas, as the station has modified its approach, with more "presenter-led" programming stripped during the week, like commercial stations, and a certain diminution of its core activities, most notably an increase in jazz and other non-classical programming. A campaign group,
Friends of Radio 3 (FoR3), has emerged to argue against BBC policies regarding the network.
The
RAJAR figures released in August 2005 seem to suggest that the ongoing re-branding of Radio 3 hasn't been a success. Figures released in March 2008 indicate a further 25% year on year decline, which suggests that, even if people with different musical tastes are tuning into the station (as the BBC claims), the more traditional classical listeners are deserting at a greater rate.
Online developments
Recently, Radio 3 has been performing a trial where it would offer
MP3 files of performances recently transmitted
for download as part of
The Beethoven Experience. It has been successful, and may lead to further performances being distributed in this manner.
(External Link)
Controllers of the Third Programme and Radio 3
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bbc Radio 3'.
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