music & society
October 2010 » Those two reputable 'pressure' groups, the Voice of the Listener & Viewer (VLV) and Friends of Radio 3 (FOR3) have at least two things in common: one, their supporters only read musoc.org's sordid pages in the privacy of a locked room, and two, their submissions to the BBC Trust's recent 'public consultation' regarding BBC Radio 3 are cut from the same cloth.
Readers may recall that musoc.org submitted and published its own response on this page (now archived); VLV have done the same thing and their document, its affected language aside, makes for interesting reading - in that its responses to the Trust's questions bear absolutely no resemblance to musoc.org's.
Naturally, VLV has to be (and is) as nondescriptly middle-of-the-road as possible, so as not to upset the sundry Lords, Ladies, vice-chancellors and archbishops who patronise it. But, like musoc.org, FOR3 doesn't have this consideration (even though it doubtless shares many of VLV's supporters). Yet with regard to the consultation, FOR3's blog has recently been discussing jazz programming on BBC Radios 2 & 3 - in particular, how provision of lighter fare on 2 might complement more serious ("specialist") jazz on 3. They contend:
"jazz is an essential part of what Radio 3 does and we do not want to see it cut."
Oof! This is VLV's unequivocal position also. In their submission, they insist, for example:
"A great strength of the network is the wide range of musical genres that can be heard in any week."
By this they don't mean they appreciate hearing Renaissance polyphony, mid 20th century serialism, Classical opera, Medieval chansons, Baroque concerti, Romantic cantatas and 21st century symphonies a-plenty - there's precious little of any of this on Radio 3.
No, what they're effectively saying is they rather like the bits of jazz, musical theatre and pop thrown in all over the weekly schedule to attract younger punters. The watering down of the greatest art tradition in the world with vapid fluff in the name of populism is OK by the VLV.
FOR3 may not go quite that far, but because they have jazz enthusiasts among their number, who, they claim, "get a raw deal" on Radio 3, they say other things which must send a shiver down the spine of anyone who sees jazz for the offshoot of pop music that it is:
"A quid pro quo of a couple of daytime slots for jazz [...] A subject which, though controversial with some listeners, might be worth revisiting."
Musoc.org is the only organisation in the world fighting for art music - all and only art music. It's the only one that says, unequivocally, there should be no jazz on BBC Radio 3. Nor, come to that, anything else which isn't art music. (And that goes for every other remaining 'classical' music radio station, few though they now are, in the world.)
Where should the jazz go?
Anywhere. There are a million other radio stations playing pop where it could blend in much more comfortably. Even with 168 unique broadcasting hours a week, BBC Radio 3 would barely be scratching the surface of a vastly deep mine of beautiful and profound art music; as musoc.org said in its own submission to the Consultation, it shouldn't have to share those hours, in a reasonable and intelligent society, with anything else.
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