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The Potential Loss of BBC 6 Music

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    #26
    The Potential Loss of BBC 6 Music

    Working very long hours in an offlicence is a fairly Asian thing to do. Is it about that?

    Good to hear the youth following for the station. Is it substantial? I suppose it can't be much smaller than BBC 1Xtra but that's got a kind of developing talent brief that the Asian Network doesn't have, even if the music could be quite daring, like the stuff you describe. Probably comes down to not having enough friends in the media.

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      #27
      The Potential Loss of BBC 6 Music

      I don't know if it shows the BBC are spineless bastards. They expanded TV and radio a lot- BBC Alba is a fairly recent one. Closing one radio station down (albeit one that sounds good from what MsD says) isn't really Quisling territory yet.

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        #28
        The Potential Loss of BBC 6 Music

        Hmm, that's the first time I've tried the phrase "mashup" and I seem to have got away with it.

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          #29
          The Potential Loss of BBC 6 Music

          Oh we noticed. We just bookmarked it for a rainy day. smiley thing

          Does the Asian network only broadcast in English? I'm sure Sunrise had different language programs.

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            #30
            The Potential Loss of BBC 6 Music

            Disco Sea Shanties wrote:
            The BBC are still spineless bastards though. One wonders what else they will do when this Tory government starts applying the pressure.

            I'm still not quite sure what to make of 6 music. Some of it is good, but it does seem to be stuck in a world where Britpop is the greatest era for pop music a lot of the time. Just look at some of the presenters they have - Jarvis Cocker, Cerys Matthews, etc.
            Jarvis plays some phenomenally good stuff, way beyond the confines of Britpop. He's a great warm-up for the Freak Zone.

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              #31
              The Potential Loss of BBC 6 Music

              Thank goodness. I for one was more than happy to take all the cuts to public arts financing and the licence fee that Jeremy Hunt could dream up, as long as Lauren Laverne was free to play Elbow in peace.

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                #32
                The Potential Loss of BBC 6 Music

                Jarvis plays some phenomenally good stuff, way beyond the confines of Britpop.
                Absolutely this. The Sunday Service is one of the most extraordinary, eclectic radio programmes that I have ever heard.

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                  #33
                  Wasn't worth starting a new thread for, but 6 Music could do with a shake up. I listen to it for 30-45 minutes early in the morning, and don't mind Chris Hawkins, he can feature some interesting stuff. I get occasional spells at weekends and again depending who it is, can come across some decent listening.

                  But I've been listening to Steve Lamacq more frequently lately and his show feels tired. Every second song (at least) is an 'oldie', mostly with the usual 1977-1997 time frame. Today's show (I looked it up) included Ever Fallen In Love, Buffalo Stance, Design for Life, Size of a Cow, Eton Rifles, Even Flow, In the Midnight Hour (I know), Cars - all songs which if you hadn't heard them in ages you wouldn't mind but 6 Music has turned these and many others into aural wallpaper.

                  I know it's better than nothing and they do some good stuff at evenings and weekends but the daytime needs a refresh.

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                    #34
                    Size of a Cow? God good Lamacq, that’s just cruel and unusual. It’ll be Echobelly followed by 60ft Dolls next.

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                      #35
                      Radcliffe and Maconie remain the only really listenable programme on the station, though I wish they’d play less music.

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                        #36
                        Yeah, it's all got a bit lazy and the station needs a shake up. My main gripe with it is that on weekdays the DJ list is middle aged white men all day apart from Lauren Laverne. Most of them have been there for years too, the roster hasn't changed much from a decade ago. The shows still have individual personality but this is a station that's meant to be cutting edge and alternative. It doesn't feel very alternative a lot of the time. Get rid of Lamacq (who's been phoning it in for years), get rid of Keaveny, get some younger voices on and preferably some people who know about more than white boys playing guitars.

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                          #37
                          Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                          I've been listening to Steve Lamacq more frequently lately and his show feels tired. Every second song (at least) is an 'oldie', mostly with the usual 1977-1997 time frame. Today's show (I looked it up) included Ever Fallen In Love, Buffalo Stance, Design for Life, Size of a Cow, Eton Rifles, Even Flow, In the Midnight Hour (I know), Cars - all songs which if you hadn't heard them in ages you wouldn't mind but 6 Music has turned these and many others into aural wallpaper.
                          Bit harsh that, WFD – it's hardly "every second song (at least)". That's 8 songs in a 3-hour show, and there's only one or two more in the entire tracklist I recognise out of 41 all told. That's shedloads of much more obscure stuff, it doesn't seem too mean to also throw the casual listener a bone in the form of something they know from the preceding half-century once every 25 minutes.

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                            #38
                            The original Xfm was better, but 6Music is still the best we currently have by some distance. The station has introduced me to masses of new music over the past fifteen years: while this is usually via the evening shows, the daytime playlist is also fairly good and turned over at a speed that would make Capital's heads spin. The website is also a good back-up for those who want to learn more about what they're hearing.

                            However, I agree that the repetitious (and clearly computerised) oldies are becoming increasingly irksome: I generally switch off if they come on, but if I hear Land of 1000 Dances, I Feel Love, Uptown Top Ranking or Buffalo Stance, etc, once more - as good as they might be - I will knife somebody. (I mean, I like pizza but I wouldn't want to be force-fed it every day.) And I'll never under any circumstances understand the continued fascination with the bloody Fugees.

                            This aspect of 6Music has not been altered in years and makes for frustrating listening: sure, there are specialist shows, but the station really need somebody behind the scenes with a better, broader knowledge of black music to mix it up a bit more so that we aren't constantly spoon-fed the same easy daytime options. I suspect that the station's discerning listenership would be able to cope: this isn't Magic FM, after all. (The same can be said of Lamacq and his nineties 'indie' fixation, but he does at least stick out the odd tune you've not heard in ages.) I'm happy with most of the guitar rock - they can go even further with that, as far as I'm concerned: a good mix of post-punk and rap works for me.

                            If people just want to hear comedy, there are a number of stations doing that - the clue's in the station's name.

                            Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                            Size of a Cow? God good Lamacq, that’s just cruel and unusual. It’ll be Echobelly followed by 60ft Dolls next.
                            I'd love to hear some 60ft Dolls, personally.

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                              #39
                              Only 'Stay' surely?

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                                #40
                                Pig Valentine, New Loafers, Talk to Me and Alison's Room all do it for me.

                                They were down-the-line rock 'n' roll, but they were fun.

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                                  #41
                                  'Stay' was a wonderful song that I still listen to now but I always thought the disparity between that and anything else I heard by them was huge.

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                                    #42
                                    If weirdly eclectic is what people want, then I urge them to listen to 'Late Junction' on Radio 3 in the evenings. It's the best thing on national radio.

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                                      #43
                                      Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                                      'Stay' was a wonderful song that I still listen to now but I always thought the disparity between that and anything else I heard by them was huge.
                                      It is a good song - and, yes, atypical of their output.

                                      I'd also recommend CDNX online, if folk want to hear new-ish stuff. (Strange Fruit tried an online station a little while back, connected to the club - but when they started playing Florence & The Machine, I knew it wasn't going anywhere...)

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                                        #44
                                        Originally posted by Disco Child Ballads View Post
                                        If weirdly eclectic is what people want, then I urge them to listen to 'Late Junction' on Radio 3 in the evenings. It's the best thing on national radio.
                                        Is that the thing Toby Jones recently did a playlist for?

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                                          #45
                                          Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                          Bit harsh that, WFD – it's hardly "every second song (at least)". That's 8 songs in a 3-hour show, and there's only one or two more in the entire tracklist I recognise out of 41 all told. That's shedloads of much more obscure stuff, it doesn't seem too mean to also throw the casual listener a bone in the form of something they know from the preceding half-century once every 25 minutes.
                                          True I was a bit harsh on those terms and didn't fully articulate my whinge.

                                          I had a quick look again at what was played on my way home last night, out of 19 songs (Marcia Aitken to Kings of Leon), I made it 10 that were ten years or older; of the remainder three were new songs by fairly veteran acts (Franz Ferdinand, Superchunk, Soulwax), knock off a compulsory album of the day track and one from a couple of years ago and I make it 4/19 new tracks by newish artists (and counting Ezra Furman in that), all from the playlist.

                                          Granted some of the old stuff was less familiar (and some just obscure) but its all telling me that he's filling his non playlist slots with anything other than pushing new music, which is what he made his name doing.

                                          It's not just him, the presenters and audience are growing old together and reinforcing each other.

                                          That said, I agree it's the best thing we've got in 'proper' radio by some distance, it throws a hell of a lot of music at you, but the new music part of its remit seems to be getting crowded out, and it should really do even better.

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                                            #46
                                            Agree. I suspect that part of Lamacq's remit is to 'be' who he was back in 1995 - and the records selected to reflect this.

                                            Which isn't always in the interest of new stuff, no.

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                                              #47
                                              Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post

                                              It's not just him, the presenters and audience are growing old together and reinforcing each other.
                                              Yeah, there's a telling comparison to be made in the age profiles of the weekday DJs when the station was formed in 2002 compared to today.

                                              Then: Jupitus (39), Coe (34), Kershaw (43), Collins (37), Robinson (51), Long (47), Hawkins (26)

                                              Now: Hawkins (42), Keaveny (45), Laverne (39), Radcliffe (59) & Maconie (57), Lamacq (53), Riley (56), Coe (50)

                                              Don't know who the modern day cutting edge presenters on Radio 1 are (Annie Mac?) but the BBC should surely be looking to migrate them over to 6, if only for a weekly show in the first instance.
                                              Last edited by longeared; 22-11-2017, 12:01. Reason: Can't count

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                                                #48
                                                I agree with the consensus here; it is my default station and, compared to ye olden tymes, we are lucky to have it but a lot of the playlist is overfamiliar (or maybe there just haven't been any new hip hop releases since It's Tricky) and the DJs' own choices don't necessarily help to counter balance that. Is there an issue to do with the stock of comfortably familiar tunes falling away as we get closer to the present day, due to fragmentation of audiences? While a certain proportion of people might want to listen to wall to wall new stuff, a lot will like the idea more than the reality; the universal retrospective love for John Peel is slightly at odds with his listening figures while he was still around.

                                                Lamacq is in the drive time slot which doesn't tend to be a hotbed of radical innovation on any station. His obvious glee when the opportunity presents itself to reminisce about cadging a lift to The Square from Mega City 4 or similar, which turns out to be every fifteen minutes or so, does rather emphasise his shortcomings. The general 'passionate about music' branding stuff is a bit wanky and again just draws attention to the more formulaic aspects of the station's output.

                                                I listen to Marc Riley most evenings while preparing or tidying up after dinner and look forward to and enjoy it. It is one of the slots in the schedule where something similar would have been available on Radio 1 back in the '80s/'90s though.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Originally posted by Benjm View Post
                                                  While a certain proportion of people might want to listen to wall to wall new stuff, a lot will like the idea more than the reality; the universal retrospective love for John Peel is slightly at odds with his listening figures while he was still around.

                                                  Lamacq is in the drive time slot which doesn't tend to be a hotbed of radical innovation on any station. His obvious glee when the opportunity presents itself to reminisce about cadging a lift to The Square from Mega City 4 or similar, which turns out to be every fifteen minutes or so, does rather emphasise his shortcomings. The general 'passionate about music' branding stuff is a bit wanky and again just draws attention to the more formulaic aspects of the station's output.
                                                  All (and the rest) true and fair, and I'm not advocating all new music all the time - there are places which cater for that - but the new music element has become a minority partner in the set up.

                                                  To expand on an earlier aside, and I can't get an actual list to copy without crashing my computer for some reason, but much of the new music playlist is taken up with veteran / comeback artists, which reinforces more that it's becoming a station for ageing indie kids. I fall into that category by the way but most new stuff I listen to is never played on 6 Music, and have found through other means.

                                                  To bring it back to the original thread topic, if it carries on as it is, by the time the next cut is threatened it will be an even easier target than before, cos it'll be seen solely as a station for 40- and 50- somethings who still consider themselves too cool for Radio 2.

                                                  (edit) Maybe in the end it doesn't matter - my son is 19 and massively into music, but would see 6 as being 'that station you listen to' - it offers him and his mates nothing, but they probably don't need it, they do fine without it.
                                                  Last edited by Walt Flanagans Dog; 22-11-2017, 12:47.

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                                                    #50
                                                    As well as the old stagers, a lot of the new bands don't stray too far from the indie guitar template. I mean, I like Girl Ray but they're engaging rather than ground breaking. I've always thought that it was quite a stroke of luck to have a whole station devoted to, broadly speaking, the type of music that used to be the weekday evening schedule on Radio 1. The specialist shows at the weekend do go further to find something different but a non-sympathetic observer might question whether it is enough to warrant a 24/7 station. Obviously I want the station to survive and flourish, but it does currently seem very narrowly targeted towards, well, us.

                                                    Any future threat of closure has probably been reduced by the response last time it was proposed. Like Radio 4, 6 Music has a committed listener base who know how to kick up a stink and command attention when change that they disagree with is proposed. Those charged with making cuts will probably look for easier targets. As with any other public service, the articulate and affluent are always best placed to defend their interests, even if an objective assessment of needs might find other priorities.

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