For those who love music, save 6 Music! Info on emailing the BBC Trust

[admin_exported]

Hello everyone,I apologise to those who saw the original thread about the planned closure of BBC 6Music but this news has been confirmed by the BBC today and I have new very important info on how to help save it.

The current best way to save it is to email the BBC trust at the addresses below:srconsultation@bbc.co.uk and trust.enquiries@bbc.co.ukEmail to both addresses if possible but the first one is the most important, just a few words will do. This is by far the best way to help.

6Music is simply the best station on radio (unless you're after classical), if you've never heard the station you're missing out. Have a listen, it's a digital only station so you'll have to listen on DAB, or your TV box, or on-line http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

This station is the only station that carries any of the spirit of the late, great John Peel and the music can be anything from 1960 up to the newest bands around.It has great presenters who know their stuff (now George Lamb has gone) and a fantastic range of new and old music from just about any genre, it manages to champion new bands without the juvenile attitude of most stations. There are great sessions recorded at the BBC over the last 40 years that you just won't hear anywhere else.

For anyone who thinks it's not good value check these figures...According to the latest RAJAR listening figures, the BBC commands a total figure of 33,264,000 listeners. 6 Music listeners account for 695,000 of these i.e. 2.01%.The BBC's total expenditure on radio (2008-09 figures) was £587 million. 6 Music's cost for the same period was just £9 million – or 1.53% of the total.2.01% of listeners for 1.53% of the total cost sounds like good value to me.

This petition may be worth a go: http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/1000/

There's a facebook group too http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27...7586582..1

Pass it on to anyone you think might be interested.

Cheerio!

 

[Dave_]

Have just fired off a couple of emails to the addresses you provided,so thanks!!!
Your original thread is still alive ,BTW.

 

[Anonymous]

I think I must have deleted it on a different forum, I've put the same post on a few, no harm done though.

Everyone who was interested before please email the trust, it's more effective than any of the other stuff.

 

[Anonymous]

To lose the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show is a capital offence!

Email sent

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Consulation survey here - please fill in! http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consultations

 

[Anonymous]

Yup don't forget, go to the consultation website (above).

 

[The_Lhc]

I've got admit I don't listen to 6 Music, if I had DAB in the car I might do but even then it'd only work for half my journey (no DAB coverage where I live), however there were a couple of things that Mark Thompson said that I found truly bizarre:

1) Listeners of 6 Music should go to commercial radio for their requirements.

Can anyone tell me of a (nationally available) commercial radio station that would go anywhere near the stuff played by 6 Music?

The second point is more general, on two occasions Thompson singled out a section of society that should look to a commercial broadcaster instead of the BBC. They were:

a) Teenagers, who should look to Channel 4 for their TV programming and

b) 30 - 50 year olds, who should now look to commercial radio for their music wants.

Now, call me old fashioned but I thought the BBC was a public service broadcaster that was supposed to reach out to all sections of society (hence creating Radio 1 Xtra and the Asian Network in the first place) and yet here Thompson seems to be implying that the BBC is now only interested in serving 20-somethings and those over 50?

This also seems to be completely contradictory as Thompson seems to be saying that the BBC want teenagers to listen to their radio stations but not watch their TV (although BBC Switch does cover both TV and Radio). Furthermore he's said Radio 2 needs to become "more distinctive" with 50% of talk programming instead of music, yet Radio 2 is the most popular station the BBC has and (sweeping generalization alert) has a large percentage of its audience made up of the over 50s (or possibly did until Chris Evans turned up), a group which the BBC appears to want to hang on to as they haven't been told to ****** off to commercial radio. So why change the one Radio station that is most popular with your target audience?

It's just not logical and some of the "justifications" that Thompson has given seem to fly in the face of the facts of the matter.

It also seems to be a little absurd to use listening figures to justify closing down digital stations, given that the majority of listeners aren't using it at all (regardless of the possibility of listening to digital radio through freeview/satellite most people still use a separate radio), the figures are going to remain relatively low for a while yet.

If they really feel they must cut back then my suggestion would be to merge 1 Xtra and the Asian Network as there's already too much crossover between Radio 1 and 1 Xtra (they even simulcast at certain times of the week), and "black" and "Asian" music are in a way really just two sides of the "Urban" genre (at least as far as British artists are concerned). Call the station "Radio 1 Urban" and drop the ethnic side to it. I actually feel vaguely offended by the "home of black music" tagline that the Beeb use for 1 Xtra, it almost makes me feel like I'm not allowed to listen to it (daft I know but the thought always crosses my mind when I hear them say that). This would also help reduce the barrier that seems to exist between these two categories of music, when in reality they have a lot in common. Perhaps it would encourage some Radio 1 listeners to try Asian music as well, some of which is actually really good.

In general I like the BBC and I'm on the side of encouraging them to do more, not less. The BBC is in the unique position to be able to do things that just aren't possible in the commercial sector but it seems to me at the moment that they're only hearing a section of society grumbling that the Beeb is too big and reacting to that, rather than listening to people telling them what they like about their output. Which seems a very strange way of going about your business.

I also don't understand the problem with the BBC making money, ie from BBC Worldwide, surely the more profit the BBC makes from this kind of venture the less it would require from the license fee? I don't see why this would be regarded as a bad thing.

 

[chebby]

I think the BBC is under attack from the Murdochs and the DG foresees the inevitability of a Conservative government keen to break up the BBC and give the various bits to commercial entities like Sky.

Perhaps he thinks that if he takes a knife to the BBC first, then the Murdochs and the Conservatives will leave it alone. (Of course they won't. The Murdochs won't be content until Kelvin Mackenzie is Director General and the license fee is being paid direct to News Corp.)

 

[chebby]

Listen to this and weep at the poverty of BBC radio management...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r2dp8/Feedback_05_03_2010/

Warning. You may need to thump or kick something during the interview with Tim Davie, BBC's director of Audio & Music (certainly it seemed at times that the interviewer was about to 'lose it' in frustration at this moron.)

 

[Dave_]

Got a response from the BBC Trust, to the email i sent.

"Thank you for
contacting the BBC Trust, the governing body of the BBC, with your concerns
about the future of the radio station 6Music.

As you may be
aware, the proposal to close the station has come from the Director-General Mark
Thompson as part of a wide ranging review of the BBC's future
strategy.

In July last year
the BBC Trust challenged the Director-General to address questions about the
scope of the BBC's activities, focusing on how the BBC can most effectively
deliver its public service mission and meet audience needs as well as deliver
value for money. The full strategy, which is now available on the Trust's
website, is the Executive's response to this
challenge.

As part of his
proposals to the Trust, which are focused on increasing the quality of the BBC's
output and setting a new direction for the BBC, the Director-General has
proposed closing 6Music. The Trust is now consulting on all of these proposals,
and we welcome your views.

We will of course take
your email as a contribution to our consultation. Should you wish to know more
about the overall strategy review and our public consultation, there is more
information on the Trust's website at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/strategy_review/index.shtml

To be clear, a
decision on whether or not to close 6Music will need to be made by the BBC Trust
and we will consider any formal proposal to do so very
carefully.

Our consultation is
open until 25 May 2010.

BBC Trust
Unit"

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Yep, so if you haven't already, go fill in the form!

(please!)

 

[Dave_]

fatboyslimfast:Yep, so if you haven't already, go fill in the form!

(please!)Already done so, last week

 

[The_Lhc]

The other point about this that irritates me is that part of the reasoning for closing 6 Music was that only 1 in 5 adults had heard of it and only 1 in 50 had ever listened to it, fair enough you might think, until you discover that the Rajar figures for Q4 2009 show that 6 music had an audience TWICE as big as that of 1 Xtra and yet there's no question of closing 1 Xtra down, why? 1 Xtra is the "home of black music", fine but listen to the charts for the last few months, British urban music is dominating at the moment. This isn't a niche scene, it's the mainstream now, exactly what Radio 1 should and indeed does cover all day long, every day. 1 Xtra is superfluous now if you ask me. 6 Music is the station covering the sort of music that can't get mainstream coverage any more.