Minor 6 Music Shake-Up

[Harry Badger]

I find I'm listening less and less these days to 6music but will definitely give Blessed Madonna a listen, she's done some excellent guest spots and plays my kind of tunes. These days if I have the radio on (I've got one of those Roberts Internet Radios in the kitchen) it's tuned to FIP all day and I've even started listening to some of the late night shows on Radio 3.

[The Mollusk]

The bouncy up-and-down tone of Don Letts' voice makes me want to fill my ears with jam and stick my head in a wasps nest.

[lazyhour]

Having had a whinge earlier in this thread, I feel I should add that I listen to 6music almost every day, and there's lots to like about it. I'm glad it exists, but there's not many radio stations that couldn't be improved upon.

[popcorn]

I fucking love 6music.

[good times]

On the subject of 6 music jingles, I used to fucking hate the period around the turn of the year where every fucking ident was one/a bunch of their DJs earnestly going on about the "healing power of music" in these "troubled times" etc blah blah blah

It's like - I'm making fucking breakfast mate, I wasn't depressed before but I sure as shit am now you've reminded me at length about how terrible everything is.

[Brundle-Fly]

What I don't understand is how the scheduling is worked out.  Why does it suddenly get mid-40s/ over 50s friendlier in the afternoons? Old TV theme tunes, parlour games, puns, trivia, nostalgic observational humour, Undertones et al records, were you at Glasto '95, man!... etc?

Or it used to. I stopped listening regularly a while ago because I've gone back to my record collection and also getting sick of hearing the news discussing Brex-Vid.

[Camp Tramp]

I find Kid Critics on Lamacq totally hokey and pointless. Everything about that segment is designed to irritate me.

[Chicory]

I really detest those stings/trailers as they just seem to me to be trying to enforce a "We're all part of the same big cuddly 6 Music family" atmosphere, which feeds into the thing of shows not really being allowed to have an individual identity as everything has to be part of the same "brand". Stuff like of every daytime DJ having to play "Album Of The Day" tracks even when it's music they clearly aren't interested in and wouldn't usually play. You can sense some of the presenters chafing against that, I'm sure Radcliffe & Maconie have made a few sly remarks about it over the years.

It's definitely become more evangelical in recent years. We have to be reminded that everything ever recorded by Sleaford No Mates D.C. Cleaning is fantastic and must be hyped up to the max. Hobbs is at the absolute vanguard of that gushing "all music is amaaaaazing" style of presenting.  There's a sense that the daytime schedule has mutated into something that's less about DJs playing random stuff they're into and more to do with just flat out doing the bidding of record companies.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I would have to echo the complaints about the playlist. I started listening to the station after it was saved from closure and, at first, it seemed great. After a couple of days, however, I was already finding the daytime shows rather boring.

I mostly tune in while I'm in the kitchen, so I only tend to hear the odd ten minutes during the day, then an hour or so of Marc Riley in the evenings.

The stings can chuff off as well. The way that one goes "At 9:00, Giideon Ceeyoe" is smugger sounding than the actual Sting.

[Sebastian Cobb]

"Hello music lover!"

fuck off.

[Joy Nktonga]

Nemone for two weeks. Get in.

[earl_sleek]

Nemone's great. Would love her to have the breakfast slot, or any regular daytime programme.

Gemma Cairney has been fairly good covering for Laverne as well - not a radical change, but a bit less gushy, and better music choices.

I like Mary Anne Hobbes, but that is partly down to goodwill I have for her for her past work, it's hard to argue she's doing her best work at the moment and I can understand why she annoys people. I do find her inappropriate song choices funny though.

[poodlefaker]

The bouncy up-and-down tone of Don Letts' voice makes me want to fill my ears with jam and stick my head in a wasps nest.

He sounds as if he has spent hours writing out his patter and is reading it off a sheet of paper.

[Norton Canes]

Nemone for two weeks

For who?

[Joy Nktonga]

For who?

Lavern.

[greencalx]

Radio 6 in the kitchen. 3 in the dining room. Except when the latter goes into one of its "let's talk about one chord in broken English for 45 minutes before playing an excerpt of said chord and then talking some more" moods which seems to be increasingly often in lockdown. Then it's over to 6 or an internet station.

This means I mostly get the Peterson / Charles handover on a Saturday evening, Lamé / Now Playing on Sunday, plus Lamacq if I'm unlucky during the week and Riley if I do anything at the computer after dinner during the week. We quite like Now Playing over dinner on a Sunday, when 3 is being obnoxious with Words and Fecking Music. Taught us the difference between reggae, ska, rocksteady and two-tone, and introduced me to Leonard Cohen. Quite like Robinson's schtick in that - will he still be hosting that, or has this been put out to pasture too?

Can't be dealing with Keaveney. Too Moylesy for my taste, and not in a good way.

I met Steve Lamacq at a charity do once. He was surprisingly thin and VERY weedy.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Despite its flaws it's still streets ahead of the other mainstream alternative music stations. Have you seen the Radio X playlist? https://www.radiox.co.uk/radio/playlist/

That said, the 6 Music playlist is its main problem. The Rajar figures show that more people are listening for longer, so they should either put more songs on the list or reduce how much they play the songs. I adore Dry Cleaning, but I'll hear Strong Feelings 10 times a week if I have the radio on every day while I work. Over a month that's 30 plays, which is more plays than whatever my most listened-to song on Spotify will get for the year. It's enough to make me never want to hear to the songs I love again.

They should certainly bin off the playlist at weekends once Radcliffe and Maconie have been on, at least for Huey's sake who introduces every song he hasn't picked with a dismissive "Here's one from the playlist."

While the lineup's probably overdue a shakeup, I don't have any strong opinions about the weekday daytime presenters. Except Lamacq who should just be given an indie disco show on a Friday night. As Janie Jones said, Craig Charles was a treat in the his slot during the first lockdown and would be my first choice to replace him. He seemed to be having a whale of a time whether he was playing funk and soul or something off the playlist and we didn't have to put up with Lamacq's terrible features (and I'm not talking about those ears, readers!!!!).

I occasionally dip into a 6 Music Facebook group that's full of bald dads who complain about any presenters who aren't Radcliffe and Maconie. I don't mind them, but it's probably time for them to clear off too. I'm not sure the station needs more white men, but I'd hope Elis James and John Robins could move into that slot. Their 5 Live show is pretty good now after a ropey start, and I think they're bigger music fans than Adam and Joe ever were.

[Sebastian Cobb]

The change from Xfm to Radio X is so baffling, take a modernish station and fill it with a bunch of has-beens who all peaked two decades ago. Radio for tired QASHQAI dads.

[WhoMe]

Think I like the idea of 6 Music more than the reality. Gilles Peterson and Huey Morgan are generally good but I never tune in when they're on live, so if I dip in to see what's on it's usually Brit Pop, Indie or someone droning away which I can't be doing with. Surprised to hear there's a 6 Music playlist, I thought the ethos of the station was more 'play what you like' as opposed to Radio 1 or 2. NTS and Worldwide FM feel like what 6 Music could or should be, if it weren't bogged down with the institutional jobs-for-the-boys baggage.

[The Mollusk]

I like Mary Anne Hobbes, but that is partly down to goodwill I have for her for her past work, it's hard to argue she's doing her best work at the moment and I can understand why she annoys people. I do find her inappropriate song choices funny though.

I was thinking recently it's weird to consider her trajectory over the years. When I was 14 I used to love listening to her doing the rock show playing Deftones and Mad Capsule Markets, then in my early 20s when I got massively into the burgeoning dubstep scene it was great to hear her championing so much of that amazing stuff from the likes of Digital Mystikz and Horsepower Productions. I've not listened to what she's up to now but sounds like she's not suited to a morning slot at all.

I can see how her style of presenting grates on the listener. Me and a couple mates always used to amuse each other by describing any new Burial releases as "devastatingly beautiful" in her silky sexy tone.

[pigamus]

You know Nemone, when you first saw her name did you think it rhymed with 'lemony', and do you still think that would be much nicer, okay it's just me cheers

[DrGreggles]

I remember Nemone from being rent-a-stand-in on Radio 1, and generally being an improvement.
She replaced Moyles for a couple of weeks and that meant that I didn't turn off straight after Mark & Lard.

[jobotic]

Tell you who plays some right good records - Lisa Tarbuck on Radio 2. She also appears to be a bit pissed on occasion, in a fun way.

I never listen to 6 Music.

[Head Gardener]

Lavern.

. Thank you SO much!

[iamcoop]

As The Mollusk mentioned above I'll always have affection for Mary Anne Hobbs as her rock show on Radio 1 back in the day basically shaped most of my musical taste throughout my teens.

I remember being on a boring holiday in the highlands with my parents when I was about 12 listening to her show on my little radio in bed and hearing Soup Is Good Food by The Dead Kennedy's basically changed my life. She can do no wrong in my eyes for that alone.

Can I also echo what a few others have said and state I have an immense amount of love for 6 Music so my gripes about it come from a place of love really.

Keaveny being grave is a hill I'm prepared to die on though.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Surprised to hear there's a 6 Music playlist, I thought the ethos of the station was more 'play what you like' as opposed to Radio 1 or 2.

Not having a playlist always sounds like a fun idea, but mainstream radio stations need one. Stations need an identity and ratings, and 6 Music would lose both if Steve Lamacq chose the music for 15 hours a week.

And I'm going to guess that it's in the BBC's remit to make sure that the music played represents the diversity of the station's audience. A playlist helps enforce that.

[PaulTMA]

No playlist on WFMU plus I've never heard them play Field Music or even mention Record Store Day

[SpiderChrist]

And I like Don Letts as much as the next person, but the way he self eulogises his love of ALL kinds of music is such a load of old wank. All the 6Music DJs declare this 'unique' quality. You're not special; most of the station's listeners love ALL kinds of music, that's why they tune in. 

And Don? Stop banging on about being in the West London punk/ reggae scene in the 1970s. I've seen your private photo collection more than my own holiday snaps. We know. You've been reminding us since 1986.

Oh God, thank you for saying it. Don Letts is an insufferably smug prick.

[amateur]

Not having a playlist always sounds like a fun idea, but mainstream radio stations need one. Stations need an identity and ratings, and 6 Music would lose both if Steve Lamacq chose the music for 15 hours a week.

And I'm going to guess that it's in the BBC's remit to make sure that the music played represents the diversity of the station's audience. A playlist helps enforce that.

Bang on.

People who listen to a radio station all day always hate the playlist. That's because generally, most people don't listen to one radio station all day - average listening is about an hour or something.

The idea should be that you get a flavour of everything if you listen for an hour - playlist, old stuff, new stuff, features etc. It doesn't always work like that, but that's the idea. Playlists aren't designed to piss people off.

Oh, and the reason you'll hear a station name so often, and in so many different ways, is because RAJAR listening figures are dependent on you remembering what station you listened to when. Best way to do that is say the station name as often as possible, because you've got to remember it and write it down in a diary.

GOOD OLD RADIO

[poodlefaker]

I like the contrast on a Saturday evening from ultra-cool Nonrth Londoner Gilles Peterson, playing obscure jazz, moody electronica, bossa nova, speaking French; to loud scouse gobshite Craig Charles, ringing bells, honking horns, shouting AWOOGA, doing the whole Hairy Cornflake bit and playing something stupidly obvious like "Soul Man". Both highly enjoyable in their own way.