R2OK!

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject: YHBT - Last one Sunday

Let's give RB a good send-off. I doubt that Lesley D has organised a leaving party so thanks to Richard for his efforts since Alan Keith passed on. It's a real shame that this institution will soon be consigned to history. Sad

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gfloyd · Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: Re: YHBT - Last one Sunday

Lady Boil De Spudswell · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 429 Location: Location, Location

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:21 am Post subject:

Lady B, if you promise that by listening to Mo and SW they will be removed - go ahead!!

I believe YHBT started in 1959, so it's lasted 48 years. I wonder how long it will be, given current form, before Russell Davies will be replaced by the other R2 Russell?? Crying or Very sad

Alan Dell /Sounds Easy takes me back to my growing up days, what a marvellous voice he had. Gerald Harper reminds me of Sunday mornings doing homework, listening to "My Sunday Affair" on Capital all those years ago - we loved that show.
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Lady Boil De Spudswell · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 429 Location: Location, Location

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:40 am Post subject:

You're right about ageism...can it be long before David Jacobs and Desmond Carrington are forced off R2? By the way, how old is Lesley Douglas? Idea

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Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

Behind Geddon's Wall · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:55 am Post subject:

Old enough to know better?
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You simply mustn't blame yourself -- the days were perfect
And so were exactly what I was born to spoil
For I am the Rider to the World's End
Bound across the cinder causeway
From the furnace to the quarry
Through the fields of oil

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:59 am Post subject:

It would seem that she is not, BGW!

Still, her tenure must be coming to an end, how long has it been now? They don't tend to stick around for long!
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howard66 · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 43

iwarburton · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland

Let's give RB a good send-off. I doubt that Lesley D has organised a leaving party so thanks to Richard for his efforts since Alan Keith passed on. It's a real shame that this institution will soon be consigned to history.
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The BBC haven't exactly bent over backwards to publicise this or lend it the significance that it deserves. There's only a very oblique reference to it in the article re Alan Titchmarsh at the start of the radio pages of the Radio Times.

Ian.

Lady Boil De Spudswell · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 429 Location: Location, Location

Tis incredible that one of the longest running shows on British radio can disappear so unceremoniously! They haven't even allowed Baker to say on air that it's going!! I'm sure there are many loyal listeners for whom RB's sign off for the last time on Sunday is gonna come as a huge surprise!
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Who Can Take A Sunrise, Sprinkle It With Dew...

Cherskiy · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:43 pm Post subject:

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:50 pm Post subject:

It's obvious that Radio 2 care not one jot for the feelings of listeners who have been loyal for years - they just want to grab the younger audience by fair means or foul, hence Evans, Brand, O'Leary etc.

And I am by no means old, CONSIDERABLY less than 50!!
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gfloyd · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:53 pm Post subject:

Lady Boil De Spudswell · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 429 Location: Location, Location

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

And give Stuart Maconie back the half hour that was savagely cut from his Saturday show less than a year after he was given that show.

iwarburton · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland

Although it's not exactly my cup of tea, I did listen to some of it last week (references to Annitsford and Tynemouth, Ian), and plan to listen to some at least of the last one.
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That would have been connected with Owen Brannigan.

Do call in if you're ever in Prudhoe. I don't think I'm allowed to put my address on the site but as a long-time resident I'm sure you'd find someone who could direct you to me--and I'm so modest with it!

Ian.

Cherskiy · Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:58 pm Post subject:

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

gfloyd · Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:18 am Post subject:

from The Sunday Times January 21, 2007

Radio Waves: Paul Donovan: End game

Your Hundred Best Tunes ends tonight. Long before Classic FM was even dreamt of, it was busy popularising Bizet’s Pearl Fishers, Pachelbel’s Canon and Verdi’s Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. But Radio 2’s bosses — if not all its listeners — now regard it as past its sell-by date. Sheridan Morley’s Melodies for You has already been axed (last month, very quietly). Replacing these shows from next Sunday is two hours of Alan Titchmarsh, who even now will be getting used to cheap jokes about turning over old sods and uprooting hardy annuals. In addition, Pick of the Pops gets an extra half-hour.
Plenty of people will welcome these changes. The audience for Your Hundred Best Tunes has fallen from 570,000 in 2002 — when its creator, Alan Keith, was still hosting it in that uniquely upholstered voice, reminiscent of Bakelite and wing collars — to 390,000. Its radio listening share between 9pm and 10pm has dropped from 19% then to 13%. The presenter, Richard Baker, a former naval officer, is a little brisk.

Others, however, are outraged. On BBC message boards, they mourn the loss of a serene Sunday-evening institution that a former archbishop’s wife (Mrs Runcie) and the late Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s father, once presented as holiday reliefs. They believe it will result in less light music on the network, and regard this as particularly worrying given that Radio 3 will next month abolish its only series dedicated to light music — Brian Kay on Thursdays at 4pm. (That move will certainly disenfranchise listeners, and seems quixotic indeed in view of the resurgence of light music on labels such as Naxos, Guild, Hyperion and Chandos.) In reply, Radio 2 says that light classical music will continue to have a home on the network — on Friday Night Is Music Night, on Titchmarsh’s new show and others.

The key question is not whether one approves or dis-approves of this particular decision by Radio 2’s controller, Lesley Douglas, a controversial but astute manager who has already brought in Jonathan Ross, Chris Evans, Russell Brand and Dermot O’Leary. The question is whether any BBC radio programme controller, not just her, should have the power to make sweeping changes without any public consultation. In the time I have been writing about radio here, I have seen them turn Radio 1 from mainstream to yoof and Radio 2 from comforting to trendy, and both the abolition of children’s programmes on Radio 4 and their restoration. Last year, Radio 3 ended its only series for children (Making Tracks), apart from a Boxing Day special, and again so quietly that nobody noticed. Next month, it cuts live music for the first time in its history. Listeners get a chance to comment on this only after the decisions are made, unless there is a leak from the sort of concerned whistleblower the BBC champions in Whitehall, but hypocritically condemns in its own ranks.

If the new BBC trust really wants to show that it is more responsive than the BBC governors, it will reverse that with its new public consultation exercise, launched last week. Programme controllers spend tens of millions of pounds of our money every year: why should we not get an opportunity to affect crucial decisions before they are made, rather than afterwards, when it is already too late?
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gfloyd · Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:19 am Post subject:

Just one error in an otherwise excellent article: Lesley Douglas did not of course hire Ross. Her predecessor Moir did.
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His name was ernie ........ and he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.....

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

' — if not all its listeners — now regard it as past its sell-by date.'
Isn't this rather presumptious.

gfloyd · Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:12 am Post subject:

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

I've never had a problem with Richard Baker's 'brisk' style. Not a word too may in his introductions to tracks, not hums and eh's. Quite refreshing I thought. Titchmarsh on the other hand will yap and yap and ask the listener silly questions, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the new Melodies For You. It will be so much better than Tony Robinson's over-produced and frankly silly show on CFM last night.

Ern is likely right. Lesley appears to have an obsession with listener figures. If any show drops more than 20% she'll move it or axe it, without consultation.

Mr Donovan's report was very good, he has carefully studied the opinions of messageboards that we contribute to here and on the Beeb website, and does seem to be quoting one or two of our posters. For example he lists the same four record labels that I posted about (I picked four out of a possible dozen) and mentions Brian Kay's show in the same breath. Interesting points he makes about children's programmes, I'd forgotten R3 had dropped 'Making Tracks' (it used to be broadcast before Brian Kay on a Thursday, a sort of school-run-home show, but the scripted 'teenage' presenters were awful IMHO).

Classic FM seem to have captured the children's market (for classical music) with Simon Bates' breakfast show which seems to be listened to by all the kids in the country who are learning flute and clarinet.

John W

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19382 Location: Cheshire

Number Six · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 439 Location: In the village

Reading the article this morning I had this feeling that Paul Donovan was really John W Laughing

I wasn't a YHBT listener but I would have thought that nearly 400,000 listeners wasn't bad for a Sunday evening. I have no idea what Sheridan Morley is going to be doing. Any ideas? Certainly Lesley Douglas has treated him poorly.
Don't suppose she read the Sunday Times. Not much in the way of talentless reality TV hosts in there
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gfloyd · Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:46 pm Post subject:

I think it would make sense for Radio 2 to have a midweek light classical show. It could be reasonably easily accomodated by some slight juggling the schedules if the will was there. It could even be on a Friday night if the archaic "interval" on FNIMN was ended.

I do worry that Radio 2 has given classical music a bad name and that the revival in interest is despite, not because of, the airplay that the music receives on the BBC networks. I would suspect that Classic fm, however much it is disliked by the Radio 3 set, has done more for classical music in the UK than anything else in recent years. I know many are hoping that they do the same for jazz with their new venture.
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His name was ernie ........ and he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.....

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

iwarburton · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland

Classic FM seem to have captured the children's market (for classical music) with Simon Bates' breakfast show which seems to be listened to by all the kids in the country who are learning flute and clarinet.
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Comments so far very true and worth making but in my experience CFM doesn't often play light music of the Eric Coates/Robert Farnon variety. R2 hardly ever plays it and R3 is about to cease playing it. Yet the tubful of CDs of this repertoire suggests that there's a large market for it. What point am I missing here?

Ian.

Cherskiy · Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:20 pm Post subject:

Richard Baker made reference to Alan Titchmarsh's new show during his introduction and how he hoped the music would be similar. I'm still trying to work out whether there was a hint of rankle in what he said, although he still managed to deliver the words with dignity.
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John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

Ian, it's not you missing the point. It's Ms Douglas and Rajar Right over on R3 Rolling Eyes

Enjoying Richard Baker's last Y100BT, at least he is saying a proper farewell to the fans and the show.

That Kathleen Ferrier track was a bit scary though Shocked

You're needed on the Quiz thread!

Cherskiy, I think Richard was keeping a stiff upper lip, he is ex-RAF, did you know?

John W

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iwarburton · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland

Ian, it's not you missing the point. It's Ms Douglas and Rajar Right over on R3

Enjoying Richard Baker's last Y100BT, at least he is saying a proper farewell to the fans and the show.

That Kathleen Ferrier track was a bit scary though

You're needed on the Quiz thread!

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Thanks John. Shall try to get the quiz done asap.

What was scary re the Kathleen Ferrier track?

Haven't yet heard last night's show but gather that the last track was the Evening Prayer from Under Milk Wood. It's the source of Mr Baker's weekly valediction--goodbye but just for now. Is he trying to tell us something?

Ian.

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

Cherskiy · Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:17 pm Post subject:

Lady Boil De Spudswell · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 429 Location: Location, Location

I must say how hard I found it last night to listen to a programme just fizzle out and end which has been around for as long as I've been on this planet, plus another ten years!!

It felt so "Is that all there is to it?" is that how a programme that's been around some 48 years just slips away?

I also couldn't quite get over how poor old RB was being prodded with a stick to say Titchmarsh was taking over. HE ISN'T!! It's Russell bloody Davies in the hallowed 9-10 slot with fare that is very un-100 Best.

Never much cared for Davies, and even less so in this new slot. Fortunately I have many old recordings of YHBT at my disposal and I rather feel they'll be dusted off and put on the CD player between 9&10pm on a Sunday from now on.

Who'd be the controller to axe a 48 year old programme eh?
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general numpty · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 73

CFM has gone right down hill IMHO. Master Bates with his version of drivel time, and John bloody Williams every 5 minutes Evil or Very Mad

iwarburton · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland

The interview with Alan Titchmarsh in the new Radio Times has slightly reassured me re the likely musical content of his new programme--but I shall keep calling for more light music till something is done!

Ian.

Cherskiy · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:15 pm Post subject: