[peel] Re: Peel and 6 Music?

[Jan Buxton]

On 5 March 2010 18:39, Humphrey <thebarguest@...> wrote:
> Sorry, but I think JP was very wise not liking Radiohead and Oasis, two bands that would not have been at all famous in 1980 ! >Nothing personal, maybe it's an age thing .... The best band of the past few years was Magazine (reformed) ! When I were a lad .....

Again nothing personal but Radiohead are indisputably on a shortlist
for the greatest band of all time (to group them with Oasis is deeply
unfair and inaccurate). But anyway, this gives me an excuse to post Ed
from the bands thoughts on 6Music,

(he invokes JP as well but I think the rest of what he says is
perfectly reasonable)

To whom it may concern,
I am writing regarding the news today that 6 Music is going to be
closed, in the hope that you reconsider this decision. To be honest I,
along with a vast number of other musicians, music industry types and
real music fans, are completely shocked and baffled by this news. I
wonder if those who made this decision are actually aware of the
hugely important role that 6 music plays in fostering and promoting
new bands, as well as still playing the likes of the band that I am
in. It literally is the radio lifeblood for music outside of the
mainstream. Not to denigrate Radio's 1 and 2, but it really is the
only station that puts music first, and that's from a punters point of
view and not some bloke in a band. Nowhere else can you hear an
archived session track from T Rex juxtaposed next to Midlake's latest
release. As David Bowie, put it ... it keeps the spirit of John Peel
alive.
Please realise the impact and severity of closing this station down.
It will be a huge blow for new bands and their labels. It's not enough
to 'refocus' Radio's 1 and 2 as 6 music does a very specific thing.
What you have with 6 Music is a gem of a radio station, it is doing
what no other station in the world does or can possibly do. Remember
it is also still relatively young, give it time. You also finally have
a fantastic and seemingly settled line up of DJ's. Please get behind
it and from what I can gather about it's annual budget of £6m, it
surely punches way above it's weight in terms of cultural relevance
and importance.
Thank you for considering this.
Ed O'Brien (Radiohead)


Private Eye Number Crunching
£7m - Total content spend last year on BBC 6 Music, which Mark
Thompson plans to axe
£21m - Total salary bill of "top 100 executives" at BBC, which Mark
Thompson justifies because "we need the very best people in the world"
£172m - Total overspend on building projects by BBC which Mark
Thompson cannot justify at all

--
Jan
http://janb1982.blogspot.com/
http://rateyourmusic.com/~janb
http://twitter.com/janlbuxton