Classic FM turns in worst-ever listening figures
NewsThe commercial station is making virtue of necessity by proclaiming it now has 4.4 million weekly listeners.
This is historically its lowest-ever reach. It marks the continuation of a long-running decline resulting from a failure of imagination.
BBC Radio 3, by contrast, is doing rather well. It is up 3.3 percent year on year and 12.4 percent on the quarter to just under two million. R3 is under new management, and it shows.
Well, Radio 3 has been parking its tanks on CFM’s lawn of late… It’s the new go-to if you only want to hear symphonies one movement at a time.
True. I can remember a time R3 played something relatively obscure as a Raff symphony early in the morning. You’d be lucky to get a single movement, now. Also, am I the only one annoyed about the move of Record Review?
For years never heard RR live since I was always working on Saturday mornings. Then, last month I finally moved my working time to the afternoons
And then they moved RR to the afternoons.
So back to BBC sounds for a catchup then.
R3 is little better than CFM, except that it has no commercials; seems like the two stations are fighting each other, a bit like Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, locked in mortal combat at the Reichenbach Falls. In that case, only one of them survived; which of the two stations will be the ultimate winner?
At stake is an increasingly older audience; the younger generation don’t listen to the wireless. Others, fed up with the inane prattling that both stations offer between snippets of music, stream complete works on Spotify and YouTube. Far more satisfying and a massive selection of works available.
I usually have to turn R3 off owing to the talking. It would surely be feasible to offer a version which simply silenced the announcements, and left us with only the music, for those of us for whom that silence would be golden.
I absolutely agree. Sam Jackson was the man in charge when Classic FM went downhill. Now he is working his magic on Radio 3 doing away with complete longer works during the whole of the daytime schedule. Just short works and snippets of this and that and increasingly promotions of other programmes. Just like ads on Classic FM. I can remember a time when you could hear a complete Shostakovich or Mahler symphony in an afternoon concert on Radio 3. No longer. There was even a mid week opera on Thursday afternoons. Despite what he has said this is dumbing down for those of today with very short attention spans and I don’t like.
I’m not an expert, but isn’t 4>2?
Four is greater than two but only by two. Just barely.
Statistically insignificant!
It seems yo be missed by the reporter. I would, however, add that in recent times on Vlassic FM, you often hear the same works, played at around the same times daily. Perhaps it’s me, but a bit more variety and the occasional “oddity” or expansion to repertoire, would likely refresh interest and develop the audiences breadth of interest. However much you like major works, without variety it loses interest.
I’m really pleased to hear this news. In spite of the protestations from a lot of probably older listeners (and I’m 75) I remain convinced that R3 is mostly heading in the right direction and also that Cfm is now a lost cause.
The BBC mustn’t rest on its laurels though. There is an increasing amount of Cfm style advertising of their own programmes and it’s becoming more and more irritating. Being in easy reach of a mute button was always a prerequisite on Cfm but now inanity is creeping in at the Beeb. I do wish they’d stop advertising their equivalent of Cfm’s ‘Relaxing Bloody Classics at All hours of the Day and Night.’ We don’t need a pseudo-sophisticated voice over for this type of output or indeed adverts for Doctor Who.
I remain convinced though that BBC R3 is a gem of broadcasting and should be treasured but let’s not let them get away with too much either.
A lot of people say that they find the ClassicFM commercials particularly irritating, even as commercials go.
My last experience of the station tends to support this – a small number of commercials, apparently recorded by clowns with silly voices, frequently repeated.
I tried out CFM shortly after it first started (yes I am that old). That night I remember drifting off into the beautiful silence that followed Faures Pavanne only to have it brutally interrupted by a commercial for hemorrhoid cream.
It was years before I tried CFM again.
Spot on, Prustage, but did you try the cream too? If I had been producing that programme, I would have followed the advert with Nathaniel Dett’s suite ‘In the Bottoms’.
That made me chuckle.
R3 is now so much more appealing than CFM. Much better variety and really well pitched. Glad to see this is reflected in increasing listeners.
I agree with Barry silly voices in commercials and far to many of them particularly annoying is AA
And a presenter called Ann Mindhall
Classic FM is obviously not sparking enough “joy.”
Radio 3 wins hands down with me. I hate the inane adverts on Classic FM. I like it how it was but also after the changes. Still the station for the serious music lover. BBC sounds is a great bonus
Dan tone deaf Walker
I have to agree with @ phil fraser.
I’m sure Dan Walker is a terrific bloke but he is no Tim Lihoreau.
He doesn’t have the requisite voice, charm, wit or classical music knowledge I’m afraid.
After 20 years listening to CFM, I have reluctantly switched my morning listening to another station.
The change to DAB plus means I can no longer get them on my radio.
Radio 3 heading down the populist route after taking in Friday Night Is Loud Music Night.
I don’t listen to either but prefer RTE Lyric FM from Dublin.
Well if they will switch off DAB transmission & force you to buy a new DAB+ radio if you want to listen, what does Classic FM expect?
Radio 3 is still intelligent, has some ace new presenters, and thank heavens has less obnoxiously modern “music” than it used to. Classic FM seems to imagine we all want to be lulled into a stuporn all the time AND hear the Lark Ascending every five minutes. Radio 3 wins hands down.
BBC Radio 3 broadcasts of concerts at 7:30PM are amazing. Outstanding performances, intelligent commentary, and great sound. They are available for listening for 30 days. I find myself playing them multiple times.
There I was thinking it is only in Australia that ABC Classic FM has gone down the gurgler. After nearly 40 years I’ve almost given up. Inane chatting. Stupid ads for themselves. Reading out endless texts from ‘amazing’ listeners. I wonder if I can access BBC 3?
“gone down the gurgler”
Is that everyday parlance in Oz?
It’s a well known colloquialism here. C.f. “down the plughole” in the Australian colonies.
I don’t know about the ins and outs in Australia but you could try BBC Sounds app. That is useful and you’d be able to get round the time difference that way. Fingers crossed for you!
You can access Classic FM from Australia if you install their app.
As for ABC Classic, I always feel twenty years older when listening to it because the female announcers sound as if they’re visiting a nursing home, and the SMS comments tend to come from someone called Wendy from Lower Ferntree Gully who says that the last item made her want to get up and dance … The male announcers, with one Caledonian exception, sound as if they’re trying to get someone to buy them a drink.
Don’t think you’ll notice much difference any more I’m VERY sad to say
I wonder if any of you has tried Melbourne Australia’s gem, 3MBS, available on the net worldwide. Whole symphonies every afternoon and chamber works in the morning. Also some jazz at 10pm some nights. The commercials are not irritating.
The range of music radio 3 put out, is stunning. Coffee and toast and radio 3
I have found music that was the fare of radio 2, turning up on radio 3.
So it goes.
Classic FM has its uses, to listen to good (ish) music when doing something else, such as driving. But why do we have to have “celebrity” presenters who may be tv star or gardening experts, but seem to know very little classical music and prattle away – why have any chat at all? Just a decent voice to announce what’s just been and what’s coming next
“But why do we have to have “celebrity” presenters who may be tv star or gardening experts”
Because there’s an all-too-common belief that the genre is elitist and this is supported by having presenters who actually know what they’re talking about. Are people really so easily intimidated by expertise?
Imagine having Alison Balsom or Simon Rattle introducing Match of the Day or Gardeners’ World. I don’t think it would go down well.
Adverts pay for Classic FM whilst Radio 3 financing is extracted from our pockets, like it or not. I put up with adverts, but why are they so inappropriate – they are cheap to make, so make ones that fit the general listener profile, please.
Ah, but the Adverts ARE paid for out of your pocket – from the hidden costs of advertising included in the price of products you buy – whether or not you listen to/watch a channel (Radio or TV) on which they advertise. I only suffer Classic FM if my other half’s been using my car and not switched back to R3 (normally), 4 or 4 Extra.
The absolutely pointless move to DAB + must have had a disastrous effect on figures. I now only listen in the car which is DAB+ compatible,but nowhere in the the house. CFM now have the unenviable accolade for single-handedly making thousands of DAB radios obsolete. The stupid comment “you can still listen on FM” is both breathtakingly arrogant and in the Shrewsbury area just wrong!!
Such unpleasant comments about radio three presenters who I find are uniformly urbane, pleasant and engaging – delightful human beings in fact.
And of course now that Scala has given up it is likely that R3 will only gain. I like the station – and I agree with many that the ads on the commercial stations are very irritating.
We listen to CFM every day but although we understand we’re going to hear the public’s most well liked music, could we not have some different examples? Each day we hear the same piece, different presenter, about 4 times! It gets a bit tedious.
I emailed the station with that very comment – far too much emphasis on the Hall of Fame which means is hardly varies year after year, same 2 tracks from Einaudi, the same piece from Paul Dukas (especially after being informed he had 19 “hits’ we still got the Sorcerer’ Apprentice) etc. not even the courtesy of a generic reply
One CFM celebrity presenter–Alexander Armstrong–is qualified to give his opinions. But the most annoying CFM innovation (at least I don’t think they used to do this) is only announcing the music every other piece. By that point you’re already out of your car and will never know. (The orchestra/performer/conductor/etc as the piece you already do, as they only have a limited selection that they endlessly recycle.)
Just download the CFM app and all the music is shown there!
Not surprising. They play the same pieces of music day after day, week after week. The presenters take too much time off and substitutes and new recruits have little knowledge of classical music. Sometimes I feel they have run out of ideas – The Hall of Fame has run its course and now we have Film Music hall of fame at at Easter Carols HofF at Christmas. They need a big shake up quickly
Radio 3 is the new Classic FM (when CFM was good 30 years ago!).They’ve even got the excellent Petroc Trelawney who was at CFM in the early days.If you want to hear Fur Elise 3 times a day,the ‘Globalised’ CFM is for you.If not,may I recommend the excellent Georgia Mann,Hannah Peel,Tom McKinney…actually,anyone on Radio 3 is worth listening to.
I knew the time had come to ditch Classic FM when I heard ex-tv newsreader Moira Stewart pronounce “Jacqueline du Pré” as “du Pree”
I used to be reluctant to listen to R3 because of the sheer amount of talking – the diatribes from someone I’d never heard of about their life in theatre production or such like but CFM has become so repetitive (and yes, the adverts are dire) i am more frequently tuning the R3 with the new ‘lighter’ touch.