BBC 6 Music may be axed?

Quote :

BBC has responded to rumours that it's alternative digital station, 6Music, is about to be axed.

Rumours have been spreading on the Internet over the last few weeks that the digital-only radio station, which costs over £7m per year to run, could be sacrificed to appease calls for the corporation to reduce costs. Over 36,000 people have registered their support to the Save 6Music Facebook Campaign.

On it's homepage, the BBC Trust states: "The BBC Trust is about to publish a review into the performance of both 6 Music and Radio 2. There are rumours that the station, which has 620,000 weekly listeners and costs £7 million a year to run, could be closed in a meaningless sacrifice to politicians demanding BBC savings and a limit on the corporation’s digital ambitions.

"The Trust could argue that 6’s audience reach doesn't justify its expense and that its core audience be served in the margins of a tightened-up Radio 2."

It certainly sounds ominous for the station, but the final review is expected to be published at the end of February and no decision on the future of 6music will be made until after that time.

I'm wondering if they'll keep Guy around on a different radio station or if he'll continue his show elsewhere if they end up axing the radio station.

AAAARRGH!!! I hope they don't stop it, it's one of the coolest stations I know! Where else do you find shows that play old progressive rock beside punk and classic orchestral music

Would be gutted if it got axed.

Lauren Laverne, Chris Hawkins, Shaun Keaveney, Lamacq etc.......all great shows that have got me into music I'd never have found myself.

However, it would mean no more George Lamb on the airwaves.......

My Bury Vest wrote:

Would be gutted if it got axed.

Lauren Laverne, Chris Hawkins, Shaun Keaveney, Lamacq etc.......all great shows that have got me into music I'd never have found myself.

However, it would mean no more George Lamb on the airwaves.......

I'm not fond of him either - definitely more suited to Radio 1. I thoroughly enjoy Stuart Maconie Freak Zone - not exactly the sort of music I would listen to usally, but there's always something very interesting amongst it.

There is some sort of petition you can sign on the book of stalk.
It came out last week.
https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=278123313911&ref=nf

I am not sure what I would do without it.

It's dreadul to think that the BBC would consider scrapping 6Music to save £7 million. Consider the fact that Jonathon Ross was on a £6 million pounds a year deal.

How much more money is the beeb wasting on overpaid "talent" that they don't really know what to do with once they've been signed up to lucrative deals? What are Graham Norton, Chris Moyles and Chris Evans fleecing us for? What are Wogan and Forsyth being paid BY US to top up their pension funds?

Offer these egomaniacs a tenth of what they're on now, and if they don't like it, let them go to commercial radio and TV. Why should the licence payer give two hoots?

The BBC simply shouldn't be in the marketplace trying to compete with commercial television by bringing in big names and pandering to ratings. It should be nurturing new talent.

Nobody in the BBC is worth a million pound a year salary: especially when services are threatened.

According to the news last night, Forsyth and Norton have taken voluntary pay cuts. Ross has said he will not be renewing his contract when it runs out later this year.

The reason why they're all paid so much is that they help create revenue in other areas - book, cd, dvd and other merchandising.

Bah. I've only just started listening to 6 Music (I was put off by George Lamb previously).

I do wonder whether radio in its current form has that much of a future in this age of Spotify. These are interesting times...

Hotblack wrote:

The reason why they're all paid so much is that they help create revenue in other areas - book, cd, dvd and other merchandising.

A fair point, but the fact that these people are taking pay cuts or not having their contracts renewed suggests to me that this supposed knock-on added value isn't working. If the talent is generating more money than it's beng paid, why take a pay cut?

Respect to those artistes who have volunteered to take less cash for the greater good, but I can't help but think that there are plenty of others keeping quiet about what they are earning and hoping that this thing blows over.

I hope 6Music survives. If not, I have to question what value I'm getting as a licence payer. I don't watch Eastenders, Strictly Come Dancing or any of the hospital dramas.

Mr Woman wrote:

I hope 6Music survives. If not, I have to question what value I'm getting as a licence payer. I don't watch Eastenders, Strictly Come Dancing or any of the hospital dramas.

Ditto. I don't watch much TV. A bit of news, the odd comedy quiz or documentary and virtually never watch the commercial channels (too many adverts too often, and condescended to like I'm a brainless idiot with no attention span). Pi$$es me off big time. BBC4 is about the only station that treats people with intelligence.

Maybe I should ditch the TV and just watch the odd thing I want to on iPlayer. The only sport I watch is rugby and I can watch that down the pub (hurrah!!)

Oh, no!!! Would hate to lose out on listening to Guy's show and I hope it'd find a home elsewhere if the BBC do decide to pull the plug on 6Music. But here's hoping they won't!

No, surely not?! Axeing 6music seems like a completely short-sighted move considering that the UK's switching off analogue radio by 2015. Haven't checked to see if it's online too, but Monday 8th's Grauniad ran an article on Digital switchover maestro Ford Ennals (man, not model of car!) and the task ahead of him. It even cites 6music as a prime showcase for this summer's marketing push.

If the 6 chop is based on ratings, there are worse offenders in failing Rajar figures. Absolute's been losing listeners steadily since Sept '08, from 2.4 million to 1.5. Granted, the Beeb aren't footing the bill for Christian O' Connell et al, but killing off one of their most ardently-listened to stations for a relatively measly £7million just doesn't add up. They could save that in a few months by banning nepotistic commissioning...

From @BBC6MusicNews on twitter a moment ago:

Quote :

A man from the BBC Trust is on Jeremy Vine's R2 show at 1pm - any questions about the review of 6 Music and it's future? Call 020 7636 2273.

It's been saved.
Phew!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iWBO-IuUsAB3nGk1B8kFuhy3nzbQ

"Get more listeners, but your presenters must be musically credible rather than popular"?

Sigh.

I posted something earlier, but then thought I should look at the review itself.

This was more of the full quote, referred to:

Quote :

Some individual shows and presenters were criticised by respondents for lacking musical
credibility and failing to set themselves apart from content on other stations. The
presenters attracting criticism tended to be those who had been introduced to give the
station a broader base of appeal

I thought these recommendations about older music were interesting too:

Quote :

6 Music’s service licence condition that half of its music should be more than
four years old establishes an arbitrary cut off date which refers to no clearly
definable musical era. It should be replaced with one that establishes a
ceiling on ‘new music’ defined as either unreleased or less than one month
since release date (physical release, not download release). This definition is
the same as that used by Radio 2 and can be monitored in the same way.
The ceiling on new music should be set at 30 per cent rather than 50 per cent
to reflect 6 Music’s responsibility regarding older music.

RadioCentre has also suggested increasing 6 Music’s percentage of archive output from
15 to 25 per cent. The archive is a key component of the 6 Music offer and makes an
important contribution to delivery of the public purposes. In particular, archive concerts,
sessions and documentaries help to explain musical developments and provide context for
more recent music.

Respondents to our public consultation praised 6 Music presenters who showed personal
enthusiasm and knowledge. These presenters make speech content more meaningful
and encourage audiences to investigate unknown music alongside the familiar.

BBC 6 was also praised for its amount of live sessions content.

Misspelt Yoof wrote:

"Get more listeners, but your presenters must be musically credible rather than popular"?

Sigh.

Well it depends how they define "musically credible" and "popular" but I see this as a good thing. It is a station for music lovers after all and it seems as though the BBC Trust want to keep it that way.

I just wonder who that aims at... Guy is a natural in moderating, they can not mean him!!
But at least they don't axe 6music

Quote :

Some individual shows and presenters were criticised by respondents for lacking musical
credibility and failing to set themselves apart from content on other stations. The
presenters attracting criticism tended to be those who had been introduced to give the
station a broader base of appeal

I read that and the words "George" and "Lamb" immediately sprang to mind.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7041944.ece

Poo.

Huh??? Didn't they say before that they DON'T close it????

This seems to fly in the face of what has been reported previously, but then again it's not unusual for a Rupert Murdoch newspaper to engage in a spot of BBC-bashing: The Times = Murdoch = SKY, so there is an inbuilt anti-BBC agenda. If they had their way there would be no BBC.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what really happens, but it will be a dark day indeed if they go ahead with this crazy idea.

The BBC has to realise that it isn't "the kidz" who listen to Radio One that pay the licence fee. Save the money by closing that down. Get rid of the insufferable egomaniacs on it and leave all the R n B and X-Factor rubbish to the commercial stations. They all play the same things as each other anyway.

Couldn't have put it better mate. 6 Music is the only station catering for this audience, there's a thousand and one commercial stations putting out that x factor shite. It all smacks of the BBC pandering to the probable next Tory government and their horrible lackeys in Fleet St.

http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/

a petition to sign here for it to stay.

I signed.