Chanced upon this Grauniad article today.
I’ve never been a fan of this, or indeed of any other music radio station, but that’s just me.
Apparently they want to broaden the station’s appeal to the 25-45y.o. demographic. Too white-indie-50s blokey. You know how this sort of thing has generally worked out when Auntie tried it before..
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/08/bbc-6-music-radio-station
I can see how they might want to broaden their appeal but 45+ indie blokes and 55+ post punk guys are a pretty big part of the music consuming demographic nowadays. I include myself in that. No, we probably aren’t the coolest lot around, and I doubt we are on any checklist of BBC Senior Management but there it is…
6Music has lost some of its Sheen but still is the radio show I listen to most. Cerys Matthews, Iggy Pop,
Tom Robinson and Guy Garvey on Sunday are all great.
Radcliffe and Maconie and Steve Lamacq also are well liked and part of the 6music fabric.
Mary Ann Hobbs, Amy LeMay and most of the day time mob are pretty dispensable and the increase in dance and rave is pretty annoying as better represented by Radio 1. Nor do I see the need or point of specific LGBQT days/weeks.
It would be pretty controversial if there were a heterosexual week. Instead of singling the LGBQT community why not just be all invlusive?
It may not be PC but this is just box ticking nonsense.
I’ve never heard of 6Music, but generally speaking I think giving special focus on minority groups is a groovy thang. Especially with some minority groups, looking at the history of modern music in relation to their struggles is really interesting.
A day given over to LGBQT output would represent 0.3% of annual output. But too much acknowledge a community that has been treated so badly over the years? Seriously?
Hi @fortuneight not sure if that was directed at my comments but if it is then I think there is a misunderstanding.
My argument is that the LGBQT community should be fully integrated in the 6music community as a whole. Separating them makes them an entity to be targeted by the homophobes out there and perpetuates the very issues that we are trying to eliminate.
Not sure the LBQT music is necessarily different to any other music. Are we suggesting that they can only listen to their music?
Strange world if that is the case.
A 22-year-old relative of mine who is gay was very interested to hear Glad To Be Gay and Killing Of Georgie for the first time.
I’d say not separating LGBTQ (or other minority groups) for specific attention risks leaving them feeling ignored or unrepresented. Loudly celebrating their existence strikes me as a nice thing. More colour on the palette and all that. And homophobes are gonna homophobe whatever.
It doesn’t have to be either/or, it can be both. One afternoon of Pride each year isn’t going to inconvenience anyone, except perhaps homophobes. There’s nothing to stop them having a Gammon-themed march, if they are that bothered.
My cousin has recently come out as Trans, and I was astonished by my mother’s reaction. I probably shouldn’t have been, given her Brexit voting and Daily Mail reading. I ended up asking her why she was so bothered by it, and wouldn’t she rather my cuz was happy? But it was like talking to the wall. I haven’t been to see her since.
Still my station of choice, as there is precious little out there that appeals otherwise.
Not everything is a winner (Mary-Anne Hobbs annoys me a bit) and if you don’t like the current track hang about, the next one could be a doozzee. But so much music discovered can be credited to 6Music in recent years.
Plus how many other stations play Husker Du, followed by the Humdrum Express, followed by Yard Act.
Marc Riley moving in the schedules was a bit of a loss – plenty of new stuff first heard there.
6Music is fronted by people who actually listen to, choose, and like the music they play, rather than a name and a voice playing what they think will appeal. There is some form of playlist going on, but it’s not in constant rotation.
It’s never had a huge audience, and I’m not convinced that changing the focus to attract a new demographic will have the desired results – leave it be and let it organically pick up new listeners.
(yes, I know change is inevitable – I’m not fighting it just asking “do you really think that’s wise sir?”)
I wonder what a younger audience will hear on such a station if not the big mainstream acts heard elsewhere. I guess that’s the point. It’s not for me. And can a broad age span be catered for? Will it just not really please anyone? Who wants music radio these days anyway? The attraction I suppose is when you don’t know what to hear plus you can check out new stuff. My experience is that streaming satisfies the younger music fan’s needs. You can get themed playlists and new release highlights there. I thought the young listen without thought for chronology. Do those running BBC music radio know what they are doing? I think we know the answer to that one.
I’ve never knowingly listened to any of it. If I want music I’ll put a record on.
How do you get to hear new music?
I don’t.
Eddie thinks music stopped in the 70s.
Well, there was The Smiths.
Not sure what happened after that.
Pop music moved on but I gently, and rather adroitly it must be said, hopped off the bus and waved it goodbye. I’m sure there’s wonderful stuff out there still. But I really couldn’t give a shit. I’m still buying second hand stuff from 1968 and I’m only up to April.
Thing is, it is 21 years old. The audience has grown older with it. This is always a dilemma for any radio station – if it wants to cater for the 30-40 year olds as it did when it started it will have to change and we geriatrics have to move on and not expect it to simply cater for us until we’re in the grave. We all end up at Radio 2 or 3 you know…
The problem maybe that, as far as I can tell, Radio 2 hasn’t moved on to welcome the 6 Music listeners that don’t like the current 6Music output.
Part of the problem may be that us ‘founder’ 6Music listeners became quite invested in the station in the early days and it wasn’t just another station.
Also, it’s slightly baffling that the BBC is trying to chase an audience that never listens to the radio. I know that 6Music doesn’t generally play what I like but how are the BBC expecting the average 25 year old that 6Music is an alternative to Spotify playlists?
I can’t remember the last time I listened to music radio that wasn’t Radio Paradise.
Same.
But I do remember, a few shows aside, it all just sounded like Radio 1.
God only knows what hell Radio 1 itself sounds like now.
That’s three of us then.
Four. I could put up with DJs when there was no other way to hear music I didn’t know, but now that I don’t have to put up with them, I don’t. “Midwit” is usually a gross overvaluation.
Not sure I agree with that. If you take someone like Cerys Matthews for example. Her Sunday morning show is excellent and very often features music not widely played elsewhere or anywhere for that matter. Without her presence the show would be pretty meaningless.
Also think Radcliffe and Maconie are excellent entertainment and their show is as much about the chat as about the music.
I don’t believe the day of the DJ personality has gone – yes it has changed that’s for sure but wouldn’t write them off just yet.
Another vote for Radio Paradise here.
I can’t see how live pop radio (or live radio full stop) has a future. Kids simply don’t listen to it. Somehow or other my kids know Fleetwood Mac and Van Morrison and Pet Shop Boys and Mariah’s “Fantasy”, alongside boygenius, Taylor, Olivia, Frank Ocean etc perfectly well without some halfwit burbling between the records. The only radio they hear is if someone’s mum or dad is giving them a lift somewhere. Seems to me stations like 6 might as well taper out with the demographic they already serve, or else move wholesale to on-demand formats.
Incidentally, I was taking my old dad through how to use Amazon Prime streaming the other day and he wanted to know how he could find out the times the shows were on and then record them on his DVR to watch later. He got it when I explained to him, but the thought-habit of programmed live broadcast is a hard one to get your head out of if (I suspect) you’re either 84 or work at the BBC.
I can’t understand the logic of irritating the existing audience and possibly losing them in the vague hope of attracting a younger audience that already have a multitude of access points to music and don’t want or require another one. Are they deliberately trying to reduce the audience to use that reduction as an excuse to cut it? Me cynical? Never!
Well, to be a devil’s advocate – in the bean-counters’ defence on this one, if that’s the case, if nobody’s really listening, and if there are tons of other ways of coming at this sort of content (which there clearly are), maybe it’s not a great use of public money? I tend to think pop culture needs the BBC’s help a lot less than other areas of the arts. Radio 3 is a bit like the Royal Opera House or Glyndebourne in the sense that the music just wouldn’t be heard without it – but pop’s everywhere, nobody has difficulty accessing it, it’s easier than ever for new creators to become creators, it’s not culturally endangered.
(Orchestral, choral and opera are definitely tiny minority interests which *are* endangered, but only an ahistorical philistine vandal would argue that they should just be allowed to die on the basis of market forces, because they’re such a key part of the underpinnings of the modern world. It would be like cancelling the study of history, or converting all our churches into flats. Maybe the four-piece (indie) rock band will be in the same position in 100 years, at which point I’d argue happily for subsidy on the same basis. Right now, though, even if not much notable music of that type is being made, it’s still very high up in the cultural consciousness and we’re not in danger of forgetting it exists or why it was important once.)
Couldn’t agree more. My comment about the possibility of a more machiavellian reason is because the BBC tried removing the station a few years ago and only desisted when the proposal met with some fairly vociferous dissent and because I am admittedly somewhat cynical. Can’t imagine why?
Ha, yeah. The poor ol Beeb are always in such an invidious position: too populist and there’s no point in its existence; too recondite and the populists will call it metro elite snobbery.
It must be hard to know how it’s supposed to square that circle and still enact swingeing budget cuts, and I’m sure the management were extremely annoyed that 6 Music got saved a few years back and put a pin in it until the politics of closure looked favourable again.
I never got on with 6 Music but I was glad it was there as a marker for something that wasn’t R1/2/Heart FM etc.
On another note, Stereo Underground has survived the local radio cull, sort of, but is being shunted off into a Peel slot of Wednesday 8 – 10pm from Saturday 6 – 8pm and now only on BBC Solent, rather than being syndicated. This is a show that is widely listened to on 8 local stations and I guarantee not one listener will tune in to whatever they replace it with on Saturday evening. Apparently, all the Saturday night slots are being replaced so that presumably includes Gary Crowley’s show too at some point. It’s just change for the sake of it.
A lot of recent changes in the BBC’s regional radio programming appear to me to be cost-related. Shows are being axed and shows from other channels like 5 Live are being merged-in as replacements.
FIP remains supreme in our house, partly because the très mignon presenters don’t say much and when they do it’s a joy to the ears. DJs generally irritate me to the point where I can’t be arsed to listen.
Yes, we’ve been having FIP on in the house for about the last 15 years. I use it as the alarm to wake us in the morning, and using the app is easy enough to see what they’ve just played if you like. Always great choice of music
I gave FIP a go this morning. While the music is nice enough it sounds like someone playing the records in a shed. Next door. I’m spoilt I know but half an hour was enough.
If there is a hi-res (or just a 6Music level of res) version of it then I’ll clamber aboard gladly.
I’m more likely to read a newspaper than listen to the radio. And I don’t read newspapers.
I love reading about music and that’s how I’ve discovered most of the music I love – for a fair while now. Podcasts are like the radio with the dull bits removed.
SoundHound is great when I hear something really interesting in a film or tv – which is regularly. And I stream what I like and what people here post because it’s such a simple way of accessing new music.
The Afterword is more influential to my new music consumption than all radio out together.
I like Huey Morgan’s Saturday morning show . Message ends.
For several years on the trot, I took part in keeping a weekly radio listening diary for RAJAR. So much so that the RAJAR lady would come in for a cuppa and a catchup. It all stopped in 2020 due to Covid. I don’t know how they measure radio listening now, but it isn’t me any more.
I no longer commute, and Offspring The Younger no longer plays for a football team, so my annual mileage has halved and my 6 Music listening has fallen off a cliff as a result.
Genuine question- were you listening to 6Music more back then to tell the RAJAR lady and therefore support the station? I think that’s probably what I would have done.
The listening diary is quite detailed – station, time of day, how long, what device, where you are, who is with you, etc. Anything over a couple of minutes has to be logged. I just tracked it honestly.
I mainly listen to 6 in the car, and mostly to R4 in the house. Halving the mileage I drive each year means more R4 and less 6. I only switch when there’s something unlistenable on, like Moneybox or Any Answers.
My car is 21 years old and thus the listening choice is AM/FM radio or CD only. I rarely switch the music system on as the car is a convertible and sound insulation is pretty poor. When I do it’s either R3 or R4. Can’t remember the last time I played a CD in my car.
Mine’s the first car I’ve had with a DAB radio built in, so the first time I’ve been able to listen to 6. The car’s seven years old and I’ve not driven it much for the last three and a half years. So all a relatively recent thing.
When we go up to Norfolk, I have to switch it to FM as the DAB coverage is poor.
Radio just isn’t a thing anymore. Too much music to listen to on disc/digital to have time. Plus, my car doesn’t do interweave, so can’t pick up 6. My wife’s car does, so I occasionally listen, but it’s always some hideously generic landfill indie or remix/regurge “dance”.