大象传媒

Image: French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez conducts the 大象传媒 Symphony Orchestra at Maida Vale in 1973.

Did the launch of Radio 1 in 1967 - and with it, the birth of so-called 鈥榞eneric鈥� or 鈥榮treamed鈥� radio - mean that all music, even 鈥榮erious鈥� or classical music, would soon be treated as ephemeral background listening by the 大象传媒?

In fact, newly-released oral history interviews show there鈥檇 been much deeper anxieties about the whole 大象传媒 approach to classical music for years.

One key individual in this story is William Glock, who鈥檇 become the 大象传媒鈥檚 Controller of Music back in 1959. A rising star of the British musical universe, Glock had studied piano under Artur Schnabel in Berlin, founded the magazine The Score, and run an innovative international summer school at Dartington, celebrated by many 鈥� and attacked by more conservative figures - for its warm embrace of modern and experimental composers.

When he first arrived at Yalding House, the 大象传媒鈥檚 Music Division鈥檚 own HQ, Glock sensed an organisation in desperate need of an overhaul鈥�

Typical of the kind of changes Glock introduced on air was the launch in 1960 of the Invitation Concerts. Glock believed passionately in the indivisibility of all great music 鈥� and saw the series as a way to force some highly dramatic juxtapositions from very different eras. The opening programme , for instance, had two Mozart string quartets and 鈥� sandwiched between them - Pierre Boulez. Later, there was Stravinsky with Bach, Beethoven with Schoenberg.

For the Controller of the Third Programme, Howard Newby, such exciting musical contrasts were a welcome sign of a new, visionary approach. But Newby was also soon aware of the dangers in having a man such as Glock 鈥� a man of strong tastes and opinions - in charge of a vast array of output and a large team of producers鈥�

Newby knew the audience for classical music would never be huge. But he wasn鈥檛 entirely indifferent to ratings. And he saw a greater proportion of the 鈥榗lassical Romantic tradition鈥� as the key to attracting a few more listeners to the Third.

For others at the 大象传媒 this was merely a case of re-arranging deck-chairs on the Titanic. In 1965, a new figure arrived at Broadcasting House, fresh from the 大象传媒鈥檚 Overseas Service: Gerard Mansell, the latest head of the Home Service. Mansell made an instant diagnosis of domestic radio鈥檚 biggest challenge: a need, in the television era, to concentrate its efforts on the daytime audience:

Importantly, Mansell was not just in charge of the Home Service. He was also in charge of the so-called 鈥楳usic Programme鈥� 鈥� a new addition to the 大象传媒鈥檚 array of services, and one designed precisely to give this overdue attention to the daytime listener.

The Music Programme had been launched in 1964, when fears that TV was slowly stealing Radio鈥檚 audience had first prompted 大象传媒 managers to suggest the strategy of a predictable stream of programmes on each network: non-stop pop music here, a steady flow of news there. In other words, the kind of output that could be enjoyed at home while getting on with other things - easily dropped-into and dropped-out of, listened-to casually.

This approach was easy enough to envisage for the Home and the Light. But it presented the highbrow Third Programme with a crisis of identity. Ever since its launch in 1946, its programmes were meant to be eclectic and unpredictable, its listeners were meant to concentrate.

The obvious solution was to leave its evening programmes much as they were but for its daytime hours to be stripped of distracting talk and devoted instead to a flow of classical music. This new Music Programme, it was declared, had to appeal to the so-called 鈥榞eneral listener鈥� and contain nothing so 鈥榚soteric鈥� as to frighten him or her away.

Composers, musicians, producers 鈥� all were aghast at the thought of their work being treated as acoustic wallpaper. As Controller of Music, William Glock had his doubts, too. But then, on the Music Programme鈥檚 first morning, he offered listeners a masterful explanation of why this 鈥榮treamed鈥� future might be better than they feared鈥�

There was, in other words, a delicate balancing act to be performed by the programme-planners.

But in his 1983 interview for the 大象传媒 oral history project, William Glock went even further in advancing his theory for the Music Programme. Far from being an abandonment of high principles, it had in fact created a wholly novel approach to classical music: what he called 鈥渁 new kind of musical succession鈥� in both the Proms and the regular radio schedule...

As far as Glock was concerned then, when it came to the Music Programme - and, after 1967, Radio 3 鈥� it really was a case that more meant better. Instead of 鈥榞eneric鈥� or 鈥榮treamed鈥� radio being seen as a step backwards, it could be presented as a triumphant contribution to the cultural life of the nation.