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| World Routes presenter Lucy Duran at the Dutch Jazz and World Meeting 2012 |
In the BBC Radio 3 autumn schedule announcement – which we covered here for its impact on jazz programming – is the following paragraph:
Drama On Three will now be at 10-11.30pm on Sunday night following the new live concert slot. This is an established drama slot and will replace World Routes. World music will be represented in the schedule through the existing programme, World On 3’s eclectic mix of international sounds, with exclusive sessions and concerts from leading world music artists presented by Lopa Kothari and Mary Ann Kennedy on Friday nights between 11pm and 1am.
We checked the precise semantics of this with Radio 3 who confirmed end of World Routes presented by Lucy Duran (above). They also confirmed that World on 3 will continue. FULL STATEMENT HERE
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World Routes will be sadly missed as it is a fantastic show. This show was especially important as it went out to the musicians and was so fantastically diverse in being made outside the studio and by going to different communities and to some remote and historically important parts of the world. World Routes was playing a vital part in giving the varied cultures and music a voice while bringing those sounds to us which we would not otherwise have had the opportunity to hear. Shame on the bbc for axing this amazing and culturally important programme, more dumbing down to pander to who? I don't know.
This news is so saddening and frustrating! I live in an inconvenient time zone for catching the show when it originally airs, but I adore the archives and use it heavily. Some shows I can practically repeat from my memory having heard them so often. I agree with the above: shame on BBC for dropping what has been one of the most informative, scholarly and entertaining world music radio shows hosted in English.
Well, if it has to be cut I suppose there's nothing that can be done — but as a gesture towards long-time fans, perhaps the archives could be expanded to include more of the shows which aren't currently available?