Let the music play

Cheeky boy Roger Wright, Controller of BBC Radio 3, claims his announcement of a return to live concerts nearly every weekday evening of the year is not a u-turn.  In 2007, live performances were cut to one a weeknight, from the previous average of three a week.  Recorded concerts - edited, trimmed and polished - featured on other nights.

The new strategy will produce around 230 live weeknights over a year, compared with the current 50 or so, and 150-odd pre-2007.

With this move, as with many others we'll see across the BBC over the year ahead, the important thing is to look at the money motive. Recording, editing and re-playing concerts rather than just opening a live mike puts another step in the process, a step which Roger now has three years' figures for. Recording, however, can save money on interval programming, and running two announcers - one standing by in the studio and one at the concert venue. In an organisation facing 20% cuts over the six years ahead, I leave you to guess at which option has turned out cheaper.  

I suspect another driver has been pressure for the BBC to "partner" more with outside organisations - so I imagine the deals with non-BBC Orchestras help both parties, in terms of cash from the licence-fee which in turn gives prime exposure, both in performance and trail terms, on the network.