pezholio

Fired off in the heat of the moment, so excuse any half-formed ideas or grammatical errors:

I am absolutely flabbergasted by Mark Thompson’s announcement today that the BBC are to close the digital stations 6Music and the Asian Network. 6Music in particular for me has been a shining beacon of light in the world of commercial radio, where we’re not subjected to the same rolling playlist of chart music or middle of the road ballads, a station where the presenters are passionate and knowledgeable about music, rather than vacuous and ironically detached. Most importantly, it’s a station for people who actually enjoy music, rather than see it as a background setting for their daily life.

The argument that these stations operate in competition to commercial broadcasters does not stand up. The only station that was remotely like 6Music was XFM, a mainly London-based station which had to water down its output to attract advertisers.

It’s precisely stations like 6Music and the Asian Network, ones which cater to minority audiences, which should be protected. Mainstream entertainment programming exists elsewhere and is provided for well by commercial broadcasters, so surely this is where cuts should take place?

Without 6Music there is nowhere for lovers of real music to go, and the radio landscape will be a poorer place without it.

Kind Regards

Stuart Harrison