BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
Thu, Apr 22 2010, 11:11PM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7616484/Radio-3-boss-in-32...
Roger Wright of BBC Radio 3 Proms receives a salary of £215,322, plus £7,959.83 expenses for the last three months of 2009. £3,561 in licence
fee payers' money for an 11-night hotel stay.
As parties committed to listening to recorded music from multiple sources including CDs, SACDs, downloads, commercial free-to-air radio and licence-fee BBCR3: how many Gramophone readers think this sort of remuneration is too little, about right, or too much of an overhead for us to pay out?
Thu, Apr 22 2010, 11:45PM
#2
RE: BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
BBC Radio 3 is a great resource and I listen to it every day here in Lubbock, Texas. But I think that salary is excessive.
Fri, Apr 23 2010, 9:17AM
#3
RE: BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
This report of a high salary for a BBC exec is merely part of a wider trend, the way the incomes of top figures in the public sector have converged with those in equivalent posts in the private sector, at the expense of lower paid staff and (of course) the taxpayer. We are told that if they are not paid a 'competitive' wage, they will go elsewhere.
Fri, Apr 23 2010, 10:43AM
#4
RE: BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
I frequently enjoy listening to Sean Rafferty on 'In Tune' at tea time, and mostly find the discussion enlightening and informative.
Radio 3 is great, and should be preserved at all costs. But we'll have to agree to differ about "In Tune". I find Sean Rafferty's interview style sycophantic and cringe-inducing in its banality...and the sheer mimsiness of it all (everything is "delightful"....and count how many times per broadcast he uses the word "delights", as in "among the further delights we have in store....") must be really offputting to people who don't want classical music associated with this sort of vicar's tea party tweeness!
Replace him with the great Rob Cowan (who really does know what he's talking about!) and I might tune in again.
Fri, Apr 23 2010, 11:58AM
#5
RE: Home
Of course his hotel expenses are obscene in these times.
The money would be better used on the front line. Radio 3 is the best source of good music out there I would hate to lose it.
Fri, Apr 23 2010, 1:11PM
#6
RE: BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
I agree that Radio 3 is worth every penny. The salary and expenses of Roger Wright however are obscene. Perhaps he is planning to stand for parliament and needs to get some practice on how to work the system. I would gladly meet my own expenses if I were able to attend the whole of the Proms season for free and pass it off as going to work.
Fri, Apr 23 2010, 6:20PM
#7
RE: BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
The same is happening in Canada where the CBC would have its listeners believe there is a direct correlation between its tepid programming and government funding restrictions. Nonsense. While not denying that our government, most governments worldwide in fact, is dominated by philistines, programme cuts and changes owe far more to misallocation of money than lack of it. Add that to a dumbing-down process that the CBC started long ago of its own accord and you have a double-wammy for classical music lovers. We get it in the neck as listeners and as tax-payers.
The siphoning of funds into the pockets of public servants instead the services they are supposed to be providing is a practice not confined, unfortunately, to Radio 3.
Sat, Apr 24 2010, 3:27PM
#8
RE: BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
I frequently enjoy listening to Sean Rafferty on 'In Tune' at tea time, and mostly find the discussion enlightening and informative.
Radio 3 is great, and should be preserved at all costs. But we'll have to agree to differ about "In Tune". I find Sean Rafferty's interview style sycophantic and cringe-inducing in its banality...and the sheer mimsiness of it all (everything is "delightful"....and count how many times per broadcast he uses the word "delights", as in "among the further delights we have in store....") must be really offputting to people who don't want classical music associated with this sort of vicar's tea party tweeness!
Replace him with the great Rob Cowan (who really does know what he's talking about!) and I might tune in again.
I agree with you in some ways but I do enjoy the lighter nature of 'In Tune' at the end of a long day at work. Not everything on Radio 3 needs to be quite as involved as Rob Cowan's work (which I agree is excellent) and I think you have to take it as the magazine programme it is undoubtedly intended to be.
Mon, Apr 26 2010, 7:10PM
#9
RE: BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
I admit this is only tangentially relevant, but when In Tune is on I always seem to be cooking. So when I would most appreciate some transforming music I tend to hear lots of guests talking without cease about their latest venture. That said I always seem to be cooking when Breakfast is on too. Perhaps I just prefer Rob Cowan...
Mon, Apr 26 2010, 7:30PM
#10
RE: BBC Radio 3's value to Gramophone readers
BBCR3 is still the flagship station; however, the salary this chap gets is not commensurate with what he does surely! Tell you what I'd do the job for half the amount. And scrap the licence fee!
Radio 3 is wonderful and I think it deserves all the support it gets. They have maintained a high standard of presenting and musical selection and I regularly find something of real interest in the station's programming. In terms of regular programmes, I frequently enjoy listening to Sean Rafferty on 'In Tune' at tea time, and mostly find the discussion enlightening and informative. I particularly value the mixture of recorded and live performances and find it a great way of keeping up-to-date with what is happenning.
Without R3 the classical music landscape would be considerably poorer in my view.