Classic FM underestimates public, says Proms chief

THE DIRECTOR of the BBC Proms and former head of Radio 3 poured scorn on the Classic FM radio station yesterday as he launched this summer's season of concerts.

Nicholas Kenyon, who in his time as Radio 3 controller was constantly challenged about Classic FM's superior ratings, gave his first public criticism of the rival station. He said the Proms showed that the BBC had a seriousness and commitment to innovation that Classic FM did not possess.

Speaking to journalists before the official launch, Mr Kenyon said: "I don't have to be so elaborately polite about Classic FM any more. I can say they are never going to push on the art form in a month of Sundays.

"It wouldn't be in Classic FM's nature to do the Proms. Classic FM does an excellent job of providing a narrow selection of classical music to those who want it. And we all know nobody ever lost money underestimating the taste of the British public."

Classic FM is now run by Roger Lewis, the former president of Decca records. Responding to Mr Kenyon's remarks, Mr Lewis said the station had just formed a concerts division and was putting on 12 live events this year, starting with Nigel Kennedy playing his Hendrix Concerto.

He said: "We do not have access to the multi-million-pound budget the BBC has access to. But what we do have is a real dedication and commitment to creating access to as broad an audience as possible for classical music, and a commitment to work off air with a variety of education schemes."

Mr Kenyon, who is also in charge of the BBC's millennium programming, said that with this year's Proms, "we are being deliberately serious. There is a reflectiveness about this period at the end of the millennium." He has dropped the "gimmicks" of last year, which included playing Beatles and Bob Marley tunes.

There is, though, an innovation at the Last Night of the Proms. The actor Jeremy Irons will perform Noel Coward songs to celebrate Coward's centenary. Mr Irons is having singing lessons.

The Proms director also announced that the BBC is taking the concerts out of London for the first time. Regional events - in Birmingham and Swansea - are to be staged at the same time as the last night concert of the annual season at the Albert Hall in London.

This year's two-month-long season, beginning on 16 July, will include concerts dedicated to film music and Irish music. And for the first time the "Last Night" will not actually close the season. The next day a children's event, the CBBC Proms In The Park, will feature the singer Charlotte Church, 13, performing with the BBC Philharmonic, an event being introduced by Blue Peter's Katy Hill.

A highlight of the concerts will be "One Thousand Years Of Music In A Day", with selections from every century of this millennium. Tickets are on sale from 17 May.