The next head of BBC Radio 3
NewsThe names that will go straight into the hat are:
1 Tom Service – broadcaster, passed over last time
2 Suzy Klein – head of classical music on BBC TV; could combine the roles
3 David Pickard – runs the Proms, poorly
4 Gillian Moore – retreating South Bank boss, not done yet
5 Chi-Chi Nwanoku – orchestral diversity activist (pictured)
My money’s on No 5. They strike all the right notes!
Either Tom Service or Gillian Moore would be a great choice.
Exactly – So you can bet they will not get the job. My money is on 5.
If she is well enough, you should add Clemency Burton-Hill.
She would be perfect. I sincerely hope that she is well enough. She is an absolutely incredible person.
I love Tom Service, and for that reason I wouldn’t want him doing a job that takes him away the other side of the microphone, I’d miss him!
Good point! But he’d be an adventurous and bold programmer, I think.
Chi-Chi shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near this. Shocked she makes your top 5
The BBC will want a diversity hire who will advance its agenda of pretending that all types of music, indeed all types of art, are of equal value and quality other than those created by white men.
Chi-Chi shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near this. Shocked she makes your top 5
Hope you’re right but it wouldn’t surprise me if the BBC double down on their progressive stance.
Seconded
‘Orchestral diversity activist…’?!?! PLEASE!
She is simply a very fine MUSICIAN. Someone has had the effrontery to put forward her name – no doubt without her knowledge – just to agitate the fevered minds of the ‘anti-woke’ nutters who have infested this site.
I despair!
What about Myleene Klass or André Rieu?
You are joking, aren’t you? Oh, you’re not. Every organisation gets the head it deserves, or so many people say.
Or better yet, E.V. Rieu
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._V._Rieu
Excellent candidates, Herbie. Perhaps add Paul Gambaccini. And even Eugene Quills, who must surely by now be back in Balham from “Italy. Or Vienna. Or anywhere…”. But not, please, even for purposes of satire, Sarah Walker.
(As to the downticks you’ve garnered. Looks like we still need those extra punctuation marks: to be called ironics, perhaps, or satirics? For truly is it laid down in the Third Law of Twitter: there is nothing somebody can write that somebody else will not take literally.)
Heaven help us.
Does it ultimately matter? It’s hard to see what more damage a new controller could do.
Tom Service – A great enthusiast and very knowledgeable but would he be able to stand up to the onslaught of the suits?
Suzy Klein – Great presence in public, also very clever and like Tom, seemingly a thoroughly nice person.
Pickard and Moore – I don’t feel qualified enough to judge.
Chi Chi Nwanoku – For crying out loud don’t even put the idea in anyone’s head! With her reverse racism she is capable of huge destruction and disruption. Just look at her ETO result and multiply that by 1,000. Any white, apparently middle-class member of a BBC band would be quaking in their boots worrying about where she’d be looking next. And that’s before the enforcement of new repertoire.
For god’s sake, she’s simply a very fine musician. Where does all this hatred come from? What is wrong with people these days that such vitriol is thrown around with such casual, cruel abandon?
This thread has finally succeeded in persuading me to give up on this rancid site – I’ve better places to go to satisfy my love of music.
You have read the recent comments under articles on this about about this, regarding the mass exodus of trustees and reported bullying of staff and musicians? I suggest that you take a look.
None of these inspires. Whoever is selected will no doubt change the remit of the station. More dumbing down is inevitable. But not as bad as recent dumbing down of Classic FM
CFM was dumbed down from day 1 – and has remained at the bottom of the pool ever since. R3 seems intent on joining them, of so it would seem.
Personally I always enjoyed Rob Cowan on radio 3 and his knowledge of classical music is encyclopedic. He would be a good choice, but like the replacement for Jeremy Paxman we know where this is heading …
Couldn’t agree with you more, Matt. I would add Sarah Walker to the list too.
Ah! Skin colour is such a trigger for rank nastiness to belch forth from some people on this site. As the father of a ‘mixed’ son, comments like this make my skin crawl.
Remember, the majority of humans on this blue planet are not white, yet quite a lot of them know and revere the Mozarts, Mahlers & Mendelssohnsof this musical world.
Grow up, become decent.
The initial idea of the Third Programme (R3) was that it would be the jewel in the BBC crown, supported by the Home Service (R4) and at the bottom of the pyramid the Light Programme (R2). These high-born,educating aims gradually shifted as the BBC realised that audiences could not necessarily be drawn to ‘elite’ broadcasting. R3 today is still in some ways the pinnacle of the output but it has had to evolve and, whether we like it or not, it has to confront the challenges posed by commercial stations and by changing audience tastes. Who would want to tackle this challenge in the face of current ‘woke’ attitudes and a government that seems hell-bent on constricting both the budget and the output? Good luck to the chosen candidate – personally I don’t think Chi-Chi is appropriate but I hope whoever gets it tries to preserve both quality and freedom – and I guess those are both as changeable as the individual presenters!
Suzy Klein…brilliant broadcaster, much missed on Radio 3 in the morning…gets my vote!
How about Norman Lebrecht. – he seems to loathe the BBC, disparages regional music making and finds more to complain about than praise. Just the sort of mean-spirited carping for this mean-spirited age…..
How about Stephen Maddock, CBSO chief, ex BBC/Proms
Typical BBC. No new blood. Musical chairs for existing BBC staff who appear to have jobs for life.
Well, whoever it is must be able to reach out to the next generation and address the financial state of a country now hugely in debt, not the die-hards of today who perpetually enjoy knock the BBC Proms as being dummed down, and don’t
want any change. The BBC have to meet the younger generation, not just music students, but all of them where they are, not where we think they should be but aren’t, or we lose both them and eventually lose Radio 3. A radio or telly presenter is not good enough.
No doubt nepotism will determine who gets the job.
BBC Radio 3 has been dumbed down since it changed from the Third Programme! Why can they not show concerts & opera on TV BBC 4 or 2 simultaneously, the cost of travel etc, makes attending London concerts & those elsewhere quite impossible. Staying in Salzburg for example, will empty your bank account! Last time I stayed in a wee farm house outside it with the sound of a wee pig sweeaking.
I do not rate any of the five at all. They are just diversity box tickers.
Lunchtime O’Boulez in Private Eye should get the wee job.
We have to put up with folk like Alan Titchmarsh at the Proms who knows all about manure and Roses, but zero about music.
They need someone like Hans Keller. Not any of these folk at all.
Ed seckerson
I was thinking Darren Henley would be good, although the ACE to BBC jump was one that Alan Davey did…