save BBC 6 Music

If you’re in the UK and on Twitter, you’re bound to have seen the anger and dismay caused by the BBC’s strategy review, which includes the recommendation that the BBC 6 Music digital radio station be closed down. Everything seems to be running off the hashtag #savebbc6music.

I don’t do this very often, but in support of the campaign to save 6 Music, I wrote an email to the BBC Trust (trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk). Their response (see below) is pretty good – more considered than the bland and vacuous “thanks for your comments” replies you usually get. I think two things are noteworthy:

1. trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk is definitely the right email address to write to, and by doing so your views will be taken into account (apparently)
2. the consultation is open until Tuesday 25th May, so this is definitely NOT a done deal yet.

Anyway, I urge you to send an email of your own to trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk, expressing your wish for 6Music to be saved from the axe. And check out #savebbc6music on Twitter (I believe there’s a Facebook page for this as well) to find other things you can do (like sign one of the several petitions that have been set up).

Right, here’s the BBC Trust’s response. My original email to them is at the bottom:

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

Here’s my original email to them…

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am really disappointed to read in today’s press that the option of shutting down the 6 Music is being seriously considered.

I’m 38 years old; too old for the youth audience targeted by Radio 1, and generally too young for Radio 2 (despite efforts over the last few years to widen the appeal of Radio 2). However, 6 Music is the ideal radio station for the millions of us who fall into the 25-to-50 age bracket.

I would – given the opportunity – listen to 6 Music all the time. It’s only the fact that 6 Music is only available through the digital network that prevents me from doing so. I imagine there are millions of other potential listeners just like me.

The BBC has a history of providing broad appeal radio coverage for the whole country (and beyond); from the mainstream Radio 1 and 2, through the more specialist national audiences for Radio 3, 4 and 5, down to the plethora of local BBC stations (the point of which I’ve never really understood). The only real gap in the BBC’s radio coverage was plugged by 6 Music – which appeals to a large and important demographic.

When 6 Music was launched I was disappointed that it was digital-only. At that time I thought the BBC had missed an opportunity to create an extremely popular wide-audience station. Now that there are such strong reports that you are considering closing down 6 Music, I feel that my initial judgement was correct.

6 Music has a small audience, but we are extremely loyal. I have no doubt that if 6 Music was available to a wider audience (on FM, for instance), it would attract a large audience that is just as loyal. Digital radio in general seems to have been a failed experiment – many commercial digital stations have folded because – quite simply – not enough people bought DAB radios. I would hate to think that the BBC is mistaking the failure of DAB as a whole with a failure for 6 Music, as I am certain that this would be a mistake. If 6 Music was presented to a wider potential audience, I am absolutely convinced that it would be a big success.

Finally, as a licence fee payer, I sincerely hope that this potential decision isn’t based upon financial considerations. I have no idea how much money is poured into – say – Radio 3, Radio 4 and the BBC’s local radio stations, but I would MUCH rather see money saved in these areas in order to save 6 Music, and promote it to a wider audience. After all, Radio 1, 3 and 5 and ALL BBC local stations have direct commercial equivalents. Radio 2, 4 and 6 do not. Therefore it seems extremely short-sighted to threaten the BBC’s unique offerings in favour of more run-of-the-mill services. After all, surely the BBC’s raison d’etre is to provide broad programming to all sections of the UK.

In closing, I hope I have made it clear how disappointed I would be if 6 Music was to close down. I am certain that there are an awful lot of people who feel the same as I do, and I sincerely hope that many of them choose to write to you expressing their disappointment as well. A quick glance at Twitter should be enough to prove to you the strength of feeling this story has generated (search for #saveBBC6music).

Please reconsider.

Sincerely,
Mike Bygrave