Radio
This time it’s political
Threaten to take away his favourite radio station, and this blogger gets angry
Steve Lamacq is among those who host popular radio shows for BBC 6Music
It’s Saturday evening and I’ve got the radio tuned to one of my favourite programmes: Craig Charles’s Funk and Soul Show on BBC 6Music. You might know Craig Charles from Red Dwarf or latterly as Lloyd from Corrie, and if that’s all you remember him for you might be surprised to hear him described as a great radio DJ. Yet his Saturday evening show is the perfect soundtrack to the weekend, whether you’re planning a big night out, a cosy meal in, or – as is more likely at this point in term – an evening catching up with essay-writing. The tunes range from to the classics (James Brown, Bettye Swann) to the more contemporary (DJ Mischief, Heala Selecta) and include a great number of live sessions. Despite the wealth of toe-tapping, upbeat funk this listening experience is twinged with sadness; if rumours are true, I might not be able to listen to 6Music for much longer because the BBC is pandering to political pressure to cut its output.
Earlier this month 6Music came under review by the BBC Trust who praised the station for its “distinctive approach”, but argued that it needed to grow its listener base and increase its profile. One might rightly argue back that the two goals of remaining distinctive and becoming more populist are somewhat incompatible. As far as the statistics go, with listener numbers of around 700,000 some commercial radio stations would die for those figures. The Trust also reinforced the need for 6Music to include presenters with “musical credibility”: it’s almost as if nobody on the Trust has listened to the shows presented by Guy Garvey, Jarvis Coker, Stuart Maconie and Steve Lamacq.
So the Trust criticised 6Music but it appeared safe. Then, last week The Times leaked reports of the BBC’s forthcoming strategic review, which included plans for sweeping cuts, 6Music among them.
The main factors driving this change are cost and political pressure. Yet the annual costs of 6Music (£9 million) appear value for money when placed alongside Jonathan Ross’s recent three-year pay deal (£18 million) or the thousands of pounds the Beeb has spent commissioning new sculptures or the massive overspend on the redevelopment of Broadcasting House (£100 million). Yet what hurts most is that these rumoured changes are no more than knee-jerk politicking by the “bloated” BBC in the hope of appeasing its competitors. The BBC is readying itself for a new government who’ve already signalled that harsh cuts and large-scale reforms will be coming its way. Of course one mustn’t forget that Rupert Murdoch, and The Times (who leaked the story), has its own agenda in reporting this matter.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of 6Music – I’ve given mostly positive reviews to some of its show on this blog before. 6Music is public service broadcasting at its best: through the station the BBC is offering something not catered for by commercial radio, or even by its own Radios 1 and 2. It’s no wonder that the music industry is concerned that the closure of 6Music will shut off a valuable avenue for new, unsigned bands to gain airplay.
Since the rumours of closure have been announced, 6Music’s group of small, but passionate fans (myself included) have been quick to leap to its defence. There have been impassioned pleas from Phil Jupitus and Davie Bowie and a promising campaign organised by the same couple responsible for taking Rage Again the Machine to the Christmas number 1 slot. The problem with 6Music is symptomatic of a problem with digital radio as a whole: low take-up figures, even smaller growth, and a lacklustre backing by the radio industry.
Let’s end on a positive. If the BBC sometimes makes you angry, why not try the Backdoor Broadcasting Company, or BdBC for short? Thanks go to Elizabeth Mahoney from The Guardian for directing me towards this; it’s not really radio, more of an ‘audio project’ which brings together experimental sound recordings and lectures. Dip into talks with titles such as “The Dis/Order of Things: Predisciplinarity After Foucault” or listen to excepts of contemporary jazz. Random but rewarding.
Topics: BBC, Media, Music, Radio
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-%26-entertainment/bbc-angers-fans-of-the-idea-of-6-music-201003032520/
James
I don’t really know what point you’re making by posting that link – without any comment from you it makes it difficult to engage in an argument really, but I’ll my best.
If you’re implying that I’m jumping on a bandwagon of similarly outraged non-listeners of 6Music then you’re very wrong. I’ve been a listener to 6 since the days when Phil Jupitus was on the breakfast show and that’s quite a while ago now. If you check back through my previous blogs you’ll see that I’ve been referencing 6Music way before it hit the headlines.
If, however, you are merely implying that others are jumping on a bandwagon that may be so. That’s as much the case with our politicians who are making judgements without actually listening to the service. Are Mark Thompson or Tim Davie regular listeners to 6Music? I dout it or they wouldn’t be making such a poor decision to close the station.
Yet this issue gets the heart of the BBC’s direction and strategy – the corporation is in a mess really and the recent Strategic Review is simply tweaking at the edges and not getting to the heart of issue – in radio terms that would be Radios 1 and 2 and their relationship to commerical rivals. Mark Thompson would have you believe he’s slimming down the BBC but he’s not, he’s merely diverting more money into ‘high quality programming’ – exactly what 6Music provides, I would argue, and what a service like BBC Three often doesn’t.
The BBC’s obsession with demographics and its dodgy political positioning is clouding its judgement, and that’s the reason I feel so passionately about this review. Especially when it means that 6Music could be shut down.