After a year at the helm of the station, Sam Jackson has announced a new schedule for BBC Radio 3, which sees new rebrands for some programmes, while others are moved over to other stations and some are axed entirely. Morning programming is generally being extended across the board, with the afternoon schedule reconfigured, a new daily jazz show introduced and a move across from Radio 2 for the 70-year-old classic programme Friday Night is Music Night.
Saturdays will look very different on the station, with a new show from BBC Music Magazine columnist Tom Service running from 9am to midday, reporting on the topics Radio 3 covers. This will be followed by another new show: Earlier... With Jools Holland. Existing programmes Record Review and Jess Gillam's This Classical Life will move into afternoon slots, with jazz programme J to Z will be replaced by a new late weeknight jazz show, Round Midnight, presented by saxophonist and poet Soweto Kinch.
The new announcements see a further shift away from speech programming, with the poetry programme The Verb and cultural debate show Free Thinking moving to Radio 4. Drama on 3, the Sunday Feature and The Essay will remain on the station. Producer Erland Cooper is booked to host an Essay series on phantom islands and scoring music for mystical places, while broadcaster Katie Derham looks at how plants have inspired composers through the ages in a series tying in with the start of the Chelsea Flower Show. Upcoming Sunday Features include the retelling of the story of Gavin Bryars's minimalist opera Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (Never Failed Me Yet) and a retrospective of the late composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Music Matters, the programme that tells the stories surrounding the world of music, is undergoing a rebrand in a slot at 1pm with a range of series lasting up to eight weeks. One upcoming series has been flagged: an exploration of the Edinburgh International Festival, hosted by violinist and director of the festival, Nicola Benedetti. BBC Music Magazine columnist and The Times chief music critic Richard Morrison will host another Music Matters series looking at the music education system in the UK. Author and former BBC Music Magazine interviewer Clemency Burton-Hill will host a series on the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and BBC Clive Myrie will meet fellow journalists to discuss how classical music has sustained them while reporting on the frontline of breaking news.
Elsewhere in the new schedule, Composer of the Week moves to an afternoon slot, while Breakfast and Essential Classics are extended in duration (as is Private Passions on Sunday mornings), and move onto Live on 3, which replaces the lunchtime and afternoon concert slots.
Another highly talked-about new item in the Radio 3 schedule is the introduction of a Radio 2 classic programme, Friday Night Is Music Night, featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra in light music, film music and more.
Top image: Jools Holland (credit: Getty Images)
