Radio 3 needs to stay relevant, and world music is just the ticket

When my colleague Charles Moore first began accusing Radio 3 of becoming ‘babyish’, and talking down to us as if we’re too ignorant to understand anything complicated, I had to agree. The constant twittering between items, the gimmicky brainteasers and Classical Top Ten are irritating. Those emails and texts from clever-clogs listeners determined to show off what they know, or have performed themselves, or seen on stage are as annoying and pointless as Christmas round-robin letters. But these are all merely sideshows, not the main performance. The real test for the station is whether our musical palates are still being tested, educated, stretched. What we really need to care about is whether it’s still possible to hear on 3 something so amazing, so unusual, so different that we stop what we’re doing and stand still, thinking, ‘Wow! What was that?’

To argue against the transformation of 3 into a station fit for 2014 is like taking on the mantle of Canute and trying to hold back the tide.