Radio 3 Unwind launches on DAB radio today. The unthinkable has happened: mood music has a permanent (or as permanent as any BBC property or talent can be nowadays) place on a broadcast channel. That’s a big deal for the BBC. Little wonder its press release oozes pride.

This milestone — the firming up of a proposal that didn’t land well initially among the long-toothed faithful — comes after a year or so of the station existing on BBC Sounds and being trailed within an inch of its life on parent station BBC Radio 3. The intervening period has made the idea a little more palatable, maybe even acceptable. It’s unlikely vociferous critics will ever be convinced. Yet, even Thoroughly Good has come around to the idea and does, from time to time, find the promise of a well-curated classical musical mixtape (sometimes) exactly what is needed.

The BBC claims it’s a station that hasn’t been heard elsewhere. Not strictly true. Bauer Media had a stab at something approximating the Radio 3 Unwind vibe on Scala Radio with its In the Park programming. Radio 3 Unwind has a higher bitrate and a keener eye on the transitions, though like Scala, the links between tracks recorded by presenters whose accents have the ability to both seduce and infuriate feel hamfisted. Scala Radio is no more, now rebranded and folded into the ‘Magic’ family. Over at Global Radio, there’s a similar ‘calm’ channel mixing light classical with piano arrangements of rock classics.

Musically speaking, Radio 3 Unwind does (based on a very quick comparison) have more sticking power because the range of compatible choices is narrower, meaning there’s less that is likely to jar or irritate.

Wizened critics with an editorial agenda to meet clutch their pearls and point excitedly at John Reith turning in his grave at this new development, yet they miss the point. Radio 3 Unwind (and Classic FM Calm) are evidence of a segmented audience whose needs have hitherto gone unmet. The BBC press release highlights that 13.6 million under-35s still turn to radio for music discovery (this would be across all of their networks, not simply Radio 3). Given that 16–34s amount to 18.5 million in a total population of 67.5 million, that’s a surprisingly high figure of people in that age group still coming to radio. Ofcom says that 85% of 16–34s (around 15.7m) are using online music services weekly. Given these healthy comparisons, the question isn’t why is Radio 3 launching Radio 3 Unwind, but why hasn’t it done it before if it needs to build new audiences? You might as well. It can’t be costing that much money to make.

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