I don't think either Radio 3 or Classic FM are perfect but, on the whole, I prefer Radio 3. The main problems with Classic FM - for me - are that they just play "bleeding chunks" of music to fit between the ads, the ads themselves, the inclusion of film scores (just a personal antipathy) and the emphasis on the less demanding end of the musical spectrum.

The main thing I hate about it - quite apart from all that - is the constant harping on about relaxing with "cool" classics - "relax! relax!" It's as though their view of classical music is to see it as a deep, comfy sofa, thick pile carpets and soothing wallpaper. Nothing wrong with that now and then, by the way, but no sense that music can be demanding, stimulating, infuriating, complex, fun, quizzical, whimsical, etc.

If you try the experiment of listening to the programme solidly for a week, you'll hear the same soothing, bleeding chunks endlessly recycled. If you phone in a request for Bartok's String Quartets, don't expect to get any of them played - the station has advertisers to think off. What other programme would - every time - play the first part of Britten's "Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra" and then fade it out just as the wonderful fugue at the end is about to make its appearance... Classic Crap!