I had a R3 spell in the late 90s when I was trying, with limited success, to acquire a taste for Jazz. Included the request programme with the (for an American) disappointingly-named Geoffrey Smith.
The reference to the place of drama on a station ostensibly devoted to music brings to mind the carping, usually aired on Feedback, whenever Radio 4 broadcast music documentaries. Complainants were essentially highlighting duplication across the network. The schedules of R1 and R2 were replete with comparable features.
In contrast to the plainly infantile but hard-to-suppress sense of deflation when a respected obscurity went mainstream, I felt mildly triumphant when music I'm a fan of got the R4 treatment. John Peel often remarked that records first played on his show always sounded better when he heard them on Daytime R1. The satisfaction is possibly akin to that derived from seeing an unsung hero receive an honour from the State.
My favourite R4 music doc was about Judee Sill. In it, Andy Partridge said something along the lines of "Everybody else liked Joni Mitchell and Carole King, but I preferred Judee Sill". Same here.