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BBC Radio 3 celebrates 70th anniversary looking to the past, present and future
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 30 September 2016
BBC Radio 3 has launched a series of programmes and events to mark its 70th anniversary – having been launched as The Third Programme way back in 1946. The season will run for 70 days into December, kicking off with various broadcasts and live events at London’s Southbank Centre.
As well as celebrating key moments from the station’s history, the 70th Season will also hail where Radio 3 is today. In one such example of this, the station will have a composer in residence, Matthew Kaner, working on new music and talking about the process behind it for the full duration. It will also commission various composers to create new works based on the life of the station.
Commenting on the significance of BBC Radio 3 in 2016, and after 70 years of life, Controller Alan Davey told CMU: “Radio 3 remains a source of innovation and inspiration in music and culture, now more than ever. We are constantly seeking ways to connect our audience to pioneering music, to find what is new, whether it’s new jazz, new classical, new world music, new poetry/spoken word, new drama or new ways of talking about music that was pioneering and innovative in its day. As music genres increasingly blur it offers us a chance to bring people to different forms of music in new ways and through other routes”.
“As well as launching new shows and examining the music scene on the ground, we commission more new classical music than any other organisation”, he continues. “We also have a huge commitment to jazz with four dedicated shows, and a world music show. Plus there’s ‘Late Junction’, which offers a broad eclectic range of contemporary music, and was recently at the Serpentine Pavilion with a mix of accordion soul, post-punk and electronic music. Another key part of Radio 3’s role is supporting new talent through schemes like BBC Introducing and New Generation Artists. But our commitment to music and new talent is not new, it’s in our DNA and has been true of all of our 70 years”.
Asked what pieces of archive material being revisited as part of the 70th anniversary might surprise listeners, he says: “I hope they’ll be surprised at the constant questing for the new that we’ve displayed throughout our 70 years, and our playing about with the radio form – producing remarkable things like ‘Under Milk Wood’ through to the fact that many composers were given their first airing on The Third Programme/Radio 3. We’ve been constantly commissioning and broadcasting new work”.
Other highlights from the anniversary programme include new radio dramas, a new show called ‘Exposure’ showcasing new music from various locations around the UK, and a whole day focussed on the BBC’s various performing groups on 27 Nov.
For more on BBC Radio 3’s 70th Season, click here.
