Being a cabbie most of the week I get to inflict all sorts of music on deserving souls. Some customers have the cheek to ask me whether they can have Heart on or some other monstrosity, and I usually tell them they can if they can find that said station. Most don't bother after that.
I tend to flick a lot between R4 and R3 and occasionally Classic FM. Have to agree with Glow Worm about the advertisements but it is much more accessible to those who enjoy classical music than R3, but for me I prefer R3. You forget there's anyone there at times whereas with Classic FM you get that stupid '....and now, time for more music on Class...' and on goes R3. I like the requests and the idea of the charts because even for a massive fan of classical music, there's sometimes odd pieces that I haven't heard and others that I'd happily listen to again and again. They also play shorter pieces which is what the radio is about. I mean most pop tunes that make it high in the charts have a radio edit version that's even shorter than the original, which is generally shorter than a very short thing.
I recently bought some Ravel and Debussy (La Mer by the LSO with Simon Rattle) and will be ordering a very nice piece, amongst others by a chap named Vincent D'Indy. Einojuhani Rautavaara has been a very recent discovery, a contemporary composer, very old man now, and this morning me and my two-week-old son were listening to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Tomorrow night the punters can have Mozart for their troubles, and if the party really gets going then some Sibelius.
Downfader, I honestly think classical music bores people because there's so much more to it, and isn't an instant hit like some 2-bob piece by Rihanna. There's nothing for people to grab on to because they're so used to monotony and the need for instant gratification. Most classical music takes a while to seep in and a quiet, enchanting, atmospheric little section or movement is often so because it stands in contrast to other parts of the piece.
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