The wolves are at the door, the Beeb is ready to pull the plug and quite frankly from a commercial point of view – who can blame them? In the run up to the June 2010 UK election, the BBC have been chopping, dicing, slashing and smashing to pre-empt a brutal Conservative goverment tearing them up and hanging them out to dry.
It’s well documented that the BBC and the UK government made a poorly informed assumption that no one would really care if BBC 6Music was axed. This is rather surprising since the UK is a nation that habitually supports the underdog and consistently shows mumbling dissent in the face of misguided authority. We’re a very rarely, actively, violent people; preferring a form of armchair-boo-boys rebellion that the social function of the World Wide Web is primed for. At the time the proposed cut was announced in February 2010, Shadow Culture Minister Ed Vaizey spent approximately 5 days with his foot in his mouth after observing the cut of BBC 6Music as “intelligent and sensible”. Now no one likes a smug Conservative.. but being a very special free thinker, Mr Vaizey then decided to turn the radio on and turn the radio up and in an epihany, decided that BBC 6Music was in fact “brilliant..”. Woo Hoo! Are we safe now then? No.
BBC 6Music were an obvious and easy target. In the popular media it was joked about for its small listener base (oh yes Andy Parsons on Mock The Week) and it was relatively young at 8 years, so it couldn’t fall back on support from small artists who had made it big as a result of the station. Following the original decision to close BBC 6Music in February 2010, listener base grew such that it was 50% up on the previous March. Apparently only 20% of UK residents are aware of its existence, though this ratio has no doubt improved, and what does that statistic mean anyway? The closure announcement has been good for BBC6 Music’s business.
By making the “yay” or “nay” decision for the future of BBC 6Music, the BBC Trust will define its stance on stations and projects that primarily perform a social and cultural function, rather than a generically popularist or profitable one. The fact remains that the majority of this great nation want to put their feet up on a Saturday night and watch a reality television or chat show with familiar presenters, familiar performers and a stale format. They do not want to put the radio on and listen to bands that are outside of the Top 40 and far be it for me to begrudge them that right. It must be very hard for the BBC to tread this fine line, but tread it they must.
Chancer Records fully supports the Save BBC 6Music campaign. The station provides original programming, supports up and coming artists and has an edge that you just don’t get from other BBC or commercial outlets. Chancer Records strongly believes that BBC6 Music performs a vital social and cultural function that shines like a beacon through the vapid, generic, hit-based and manufactured state that our commercial music industry has become. The BBC should be proud to have a station like BBC 6Music and the public call to arms for its safety should be a strong cause for its redemption. Instead of tucking it away like a dirty secret and trying to put it down like a lame animal, they should be promoting and celebrating its virtues.
Do your bit and join the Save BBC 6Music Facebook Group and show your face at Tom Robinson’s 60th “Glad To be Grey” Birthday Concert on 1st June 2010.
Facebook
MySpace
Soundcloud
Twitter
Youtube