The future of 6 Music may be decided later this month; a recent survey suggests that keeping the station alive should form part of the BBC’s duty, regardless of whether recent publicity has engaged a sufficiently large enough audience to justify its existence to the number crunchers.
Over the last few months BBC 6 Music has successfully managed to do something it previously had not been notable for; namely commanding a significant share of radio listeners and attracting correspondingly high levels of media and public interest. (According to recently released RAJAR figures* the digital station was up 47% on the previous quarter and 50% on the year, bringing it to a total of 1.02m listeners in Q1 2010.)
The catalyst for this growth certainly appears to be the leak back in February that the BBC was considering shutting the station down, officially confirmed by a Mark Thompson announcement in March; a move which has resulted in public outcry, a protest outside Broadcasting House, with another planned for 22 May and huge media publicity.
As an aside, given that the news broke with only a month of the first quarter to go, one could argue that 6 Music’s listening figures might actually be higher than RAJAR (who calculate an average across the quarter) have reported. If the leaked closure of the station is indeed the catalyst to huge growth, it will be interesting to see what the figures look like in Q2 – can we expect the ‘save the station’ campaign to drive the station’s listenership up to as high as 1.5 million, perhaps?
Either way, the corporation has certainly achieved the recommendation of the BBC Trust that 6 Music should increase its profile (albeit accidentally.) In many ways, this whole episode has been similar to a parent dealing with a stubborn child who refuses to eat its dinner; people only became interested in the station when it was threatened to be taken away.
While only a small number of people actually listened to 6 Music before, it seems what has really captured public interest is the principle behind the announcement, which is felt to run counter to the BBC’s remit. Indeed, a number of campaigns to save 6 Music are championing the station’s minority status as a clear justification why it should keep running. As, BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Chris Addison was quoted as saying: “6 Music serves a minority interest, does it? Then it’s heartland BBC.*”
Recent data from a GfK NOP Technology survey amongst a representative sample of UK residents with internet access further supports this case.
The survey revealed that the majority of UK adults were not specifically concerned about the closure of 6 Music (or the Asian network, another threatened station); with only around a fifth (18%) stating they had any direct interest in the closure. This is not entirely surprising, given that 6 Music is very much a niche station (in comparison, Radio 1 attracted approximately 11.7 million listeners in the last quarter.)
However, what does emerge clearly is a view on what the public feel the BBC should be delivering: 53% of adults agree that the BBC “has a duty to fulfil the needs of niche interest groups in the UK”, a figure which rises to 60% amongst 16 – 34 year olds.
Furthermore, 64% agree that the BBC’s roster should be diverse enough to “satisfy all wider ranging interests, both mainstream and niche”. Again, amongst 16-34 year olds, this rises to almost 70%.
These wider ranging interests are exactly what the likes of 6 Music deliver; a place to get to new, exciting music that will never be covered by mainstream stations. Of course, as the Trust pointed out in its review last year, the BBC has to prioritise expenditure and in order to justify its existence it is not enough to simply broadcast, the station must deliver an audience to the content. However, I can’t help but feel there’s a middle ground here – why should ‘popular’ (as opposed to classical) music stations always have to resort to lowest common denominator playlists? – in my opinion, removing such diversity is against what we pay the licence fee for and I would hope there would be room for both.
Furthermore, although it was somewhat accidental, the BBC has in many ways done what it set out to do (cater to a niche market, enhance creative offerings and engage a bigger audience.) So, while listening figures tell one story, this episode also highlights the importance of the BBC to engage with audiences, in order to stimulate debate, campaign and a greater sense of ‘civic-ness’ first.
While it’s perhaps not the best time to be quoting Gordon Brown, the ex-prime minister recently summed up quite eloquently why I feel the BBC must accommodate 6 Music in its budget once the BBC Trust consultation exercise comes to its decision on 25 May.
When asked whether he was in favour of keeping the station, Mr Brown stated: “Yes because it’s the next stage you worry about. A lot of things that the BBC does are incredibly creative and quite risky…
…But this is a necessary means of us being a creative society.”
Want to read more?
There are many excellent, heart-felt articles about this issue. Here are a selection:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/feb/27/bbc-to-cancel-6-music
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/07/6-music-asian-network-review
* Sources for used figures & quotations:
http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/feb/26/bbc-6-music-opposition-closure
http://www.nme.com/news/lady-gaga/50636
RESEARCH NOTES:
GfK NOP Technology conducted a survey among 862 UK adults in March 2010. The interviews were conducted online and are representative on UK adults who have access to the internet.
