Tom Hodgkinson on why 3 really is the magic number

A few weeks ago Victoria turned off Radio 4 in the morning. Instead she turned on Radio 3. And she says her mood has soared ever since. Radio 4, and the Today programme in particular, seem expressly designed to make you angry about matters over which you have absolutely no control. The news, as Morrissey pointed out, tries to frighten you, to make you feel small and alone. Discussion programmes are all about arguing. They may be entertaining, in the same way as watching gladiators was entertaining. But they’re hardly edifying and certainly not transcendent.

Radio 3, on the other hand, lifts you up to otherwordly planes. (Overseas readers who may not know what I am talking about: Radio 3 is the BBC’s classical music station, and you can of course listen to it via the Internet).

Here is the world’s most beautiful music, chosen by lovely knowledgeable presenters, emerging for free from the radio in the corner of the room. It’s a blessing, nay, a miracle. It’s a spiritual experience.

Your companions on weekday mornings are Petroc Trelawny and Georgia Mann, both very amiable hosts. There’s a little bit of news, so you don’t feel completely out of touch. But very little.

Save yourself on analysts’ bills. Tune in to Petroc, Mann and the Radio 3 crew. Big up all of them.

We now just leave the radio on all day, so whenever you walk into the kitchen, you will hear Vivaldi (this week’s Composer of the Week) or Bach or something more obscure. I think how miraculous the people of the 18th century would have found the wireless: an entire invisible orchestra playing for you!

Radio 3 is experimental too and never afraid of the avant garde, as any listener to Night Tracks will attest. You can hear some really weird sounds coming out of the radio late at night.

Then there’s their brilliant words and music strand, where seemingly random bits of poetry and prose are read by actors and interspersed with relevant music. There’s no commentary or explanation. It’s like a work of audio art. It’s called simply Words and Music and goes out on Sundays at 5.30pm.

And then there’s my favourite of all, The Early Music Show on Saturdays at 2pm, when the presenters go back to medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. Lutes, harpsichords and viola da gambas galore.

Now these presenters, what a great job they have! I can’t think of a more idle occupation than “Radio 3 DJ”. The job involves only the tiniest bit of chat: “That was a lovely recording of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 5 in A Major with Arthur Grumiaux and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted there by Sir Colin Davis.” Then you just press a button and drift off for another 20 minutes. And the show lasts only two or three hours. Nice work if you can get it.

It’s the anti-work radio station. While Zoe Ball and Chris Evans are all about cheering up and distracting the workers for a day of picking and packing in the warehouse, Radio 3 takes you to sublime worlds which make you question the need for work at all.

Some of the titles of the shows, it’s true, strike a bum note. Music Matters must be the worst name ever for a programme about music. And some are sweetly innocent and 1950s-sounding: In Tune, for example. Though this is an excellent show where Sean Rafferty interviews young stars of classical music.

Its listening figures are not massive. Radio 2 gets nearly 15 million listeners a week. Radio 4 nearly ten million. 6 Music (also great) gets 2.5 million, and Radio 3 gets two million. Still, that’s an awful lot of people.

Truly, I repeat, Radio 3 is a blessing from the gods, and I beseech the poets to compose an ode in Latin to its joys.

Radio 3 can be found at 90-93 FM or online here.

SELECTED COMMENTS

These comments were mailed to us after an earlier version of this piece was sent out as a newsletter. We like to publish a selection and reserve the right to edit them for clarity. Feel free to drop us a line with your thoughts.

Sir:
Totally agree
about Radio 3.
But can’t we

write our verse
in our first
Language? Worse

Than wanting to howl
With news and all
Making us feel small

Would be tryin’
To write in
Latin.
John-Paul Flintoff

Sir: I also quit the Today programme for good a few years ago, having relied on Radio 4 as the intelligence network it was intended to be under its original Reithian principles for many years, and have never looked back. Sadly, even the outlets at the better end of the mainstream media axis have fallen into the same traps in desperately trying to win the attention culture war which they have already lost irretrievably. The only (minimal) news I consume now is from sources I choose to pay for (and not including “the unique way the BBC is funded”) – as well as the Idler’s output of course. I accept this is a privilege that not everyone can afford, to avoid being dragged into the permanent state of catatonic fear and outrage that the rest of the news media is designed to inculcate, in order to try and survive. I actually prefer Scala Radio to R3 – they have a solid two-hour block of uninterrupted instrumental music every morning interspersed with excerpts of dawn chorus, under the programmatic name In The Park – you should give it a go (you can even listen to previous days’ output at any time of the day through their app, to extend the pleasure).
Giles Beswick

Sir: Isn’t Radio 3 bloody wonderful? Through the Night is a personal favourite, but I listen to it in the afternoons on BBC Sounds. Sleep is this Idler’s greatest pleasure. By the way, if you think Radio 4 is a wind-up, try LBC.
Steve Bithell

Sir: I agree with you wholeheartedly. I got fed up with the self-importance of the presenters of the Today programme a long time ago and switched to Radio 3 instead. Then I found I was listening to it all the time. Perhaps a shame to relinquish the humour and verbal agility of Just a Minute, but for my taste the balance is easily in favour of Radio 3.
George

Sir: At age 79 I’d forgotten how much I was moved by classical music – ancient like Vivaldi and contemporary like Messiaen – so I switched on Radio 3 after I got this and have left it on ever since… Even now while I’m chopping my supper!
Clive

Sir: Wonderful newsletter, thank you. I do disagree somewhat about Radio 4 though. Once you get past the news and politics it too can seem miraculous. Intelligent documentaries on all day: like a hidden, secret world to those trapped at work and unable to listen but marvellous for those who are not. Good for mental health too as it reminds you that there is an alternative to the mindless energy of, say, Radio 2, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth like a cheap energy drink.
Andy

Sir: I couldn’t agree more about reducing time spent listening/watching and reading the news. We made a switch away early in December and are not feeling low-level anger/sadness and frustration quite so much. I will give Radio 3 a whirl.
Bridie

Sir: Totally agree!
Lucian Phipps

Our January/February issue is available in bookshops as well as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, WHSmiths, Booth’s and Easons.

Subscribe to the Idler here and get 26% off the cover price plus a free copy of An Idler’s Manual.

Buy single issues here.