6 Music Schedule Changes

I’m failing to see an issue, none of the presenters are in any way contentious, they’re not really doing anything that they haven’t already been doing, so enlighten me as to the perceived problem.

Enquiring minds want to know.

Just today I explained to a friend I can no longer stand the daily schedule, but what I do enjoy is Marc Riley at 7pm.

Oh well.

The Riley and coe show should be good. The new music fix might even be good.

2 hours of Mark Riley followed by 3 of Gideon Coe is the highlight of Radio 6 IMO.

Gideon Coe is fantastic so to lose any of his time on the radio is just bollocks.

BBC seem intent on trying to fix something until it's broken.

The issue is that the presenters are flipping brilliant in their own right, and should be given the amount of time they have presently; Deb Grant and Tom Ravenscroft are superb and deserve their own slots, not a makeshift Evening Session. Marc Riley & Gideon Coe both lose their shows; that's originally 5 hours of radio condensed into 2 hours from 10pm-12am - it's often the most vital part of the remit for 6 Music, both in regards of new and live music, but also in terms of eclecticism.
In short, right presenters, wrong shows to change. In my opinion, of course.

Even though I like pretty much everything he plays, I just can not listen to CC in the afternoon. Or any other time for that matter.
MR,GC,TR & JSN are all enjoyable and play some great stuff. Far more exciting than many.
Weekend line up is decent. Giles disappears up his own hole sometimes, I’ve got a crush on Cerys, and enjoy Huey.
CC & Lamaq have run their course.

If I was Riley or Coe I'd be feeling a bit hard done by here.

Personally I don't care for Marc Riley's show and I really like tom ravenscroft so that's an improvement. I do enjoy Gid Coe tho so it's a shame to get less of him. I'll miss the Mid Point of the Programme!

You do wonder what comprising Polaroid photos Lamacq must have in a drawer somewhere tho. I don't often catch much of his show, but my goodness the radio is back off again within about 5 minutes if I accidentally do.

I’d just wish they’d move Chris Hawkins, can’t stand him! Not a great start to my mornings.
In contrast I love Radcliffe and Maconie at the weekend.

Currently laid up with covid so listening to the radio.
Had to switch to radio 2 as it was non stop drivel from Annie mac and jam today. More suited to radio 1.
6music managementf@#£ing things up again.
Only really listening to Marc and Gid on a normal day.
Time to find another station.

2 hours of Mark Riley followed by 3 of Gideon Coe is the highlight of Radio 6 IMO.
Gideon Coe is fantastic so to lose any of his time on the radio is just bollocks.
BBC seem intent on trying to fix something until it’s broken.

Exactly. Marc Riley is a must listen for me, he is so enthusiastic about what he does. His show must be one of the most listened to shows on any radio station in that ntime slot, he has so many people emailing and texting in. I despair with the way the BBc is run, that dork Steve Lamacq stays on air with his dross, yet Riley and Coe are relegated. It’s worse than being sacked, the Management have bottled sacking them, but given them a token show, which wont keep anyone happy. Coe has gone from 12 hours to 6, and has to co-present for 4 of those hours. It’s a kick in the nuts.

There was a truly alarming alteration to Craig Charles’ show the other week.
Alarming for me because I get out of work at 15.00 on a Friday afternoon to begin my bloody dull 50 mile drive home.
‘Trunk of punk’ used to be broadcast at 15.15 on Fridays. Not any more, oh no, the bunch of funk or something like that, has replaced it. I can now either pop on radioX or drive home underwhelmingly buoyed up for the weekend.

It's a shame. I say it every time this happens, but I don't get how the other more....ahem...seasoned presenters get moved further to the peripheries, but Lamacq keeps clinging on.

Ravenscroft and Grant will probably be alright, tbf.

Meh MR is good and that, he's genuine and authentic, obviously plays what he likes and likes what he plays.

But TR is good too. It means in an inevitable and circular way, him and DG are the new Peel.

SL will still be doing the indie guitar 6th form common room fanzine stuff in that slot when he's in his 90s it seems. Either he's more popular than you think or hes got incriminating pictures.

BBC seem intent on trying to fix something until it’s broken.

I think they are trying to crush anyone who plays guitar music. We have radio 1 ,1 extra ,why the **** does 6 need to be another dance music station?

People ran out of interesting things to do with guitars decades ago. There's plenty of exciting new ways to make music.

Middle aged listeners of Middle Aged radio in don’t like change shock.

Stations change, music changes, stations move with the times.

Personally, I’ll be glad if there’s less full guitar stuff and lots more dance stuff. Be good to have some newer music too.

Gid starting his show with Stereolab - We're Not Adult Orientated & Pearl & The Oysters - Read The Room. Very pointed.

Personally, I’ll be glad if there’s less full guitar stuff and lots more dance stuff. Be good to have some newer music too

I'm not sure that makes sense; the playlist is dominated by new music. Huge amounts of it aren't "guitar stuff". There's Absolute Rock for all that.

On Sunday I was listening to Radmac in bed and they played Star Man by Bowie and talked for a bit about how great he was.

I went out for a bit, came back and turned on the radio to hear Guy Garvey saying "our next tune is Star Man by David Bowie. But first here's Queen's Roger Taylor talking about how great he was".

That evening I turned the radio on while I was doing my stretches, just in time to hear Don Letts play David Bowie's track Soul Love. Which comes 2 tracks before Star Man on the album.

I mean yeah Bowie was great and all, but for a station that goes on about new music so much, they don't half play a lot of his early stuff! You'd think he died in 1979!

I struggle with Marc Riley personally, but like most of the other shows. Having said that, although I like Craig Charles’ Saturday evening Radio 2 show I’m less bothered about him in the weekday afternoon slot.

Giles, RadMac, Huey and Guy Garvey are highlights for me.

Love Riley while I'm cooking dinner.
Gid is great, what little bits I hear.
A fan of Ravenscroft and Anne Frankenstein(Deb Grant) but, I enjoy them all separately.
It'll be a shame I think, although the duo of RadMac are sublime.

I'm increasingly favouring podcasts over six during the day now.

2 hours of Mark Riley followed by 3 of Gideon Coe is the highlight of Radio 6 IMO.

Gideon Coe is fantastic so to lose any of his time on the radio is just bollocks.

BBC seem intent on trying to fix something until it’s broken.

One hundred per cent this.

I quite often put Gid on catch-up in preference to listening live during the day, I'm not up late enough on a weeknight anyway.

I’ll be glad if there’s less full guitar stuff and lots more dance stuff. Be good to have some newer music too.

Tomorrowland OWR for you 😜

In London we used to have Greater London Radio which was mostly people talking. Slowly more decent indie music crept in to a point where it was actually quite good.
Then they rebranded it as something else and made totally certain that guitars were never heard again.
What is it with the bbc and their hatred of guitar music?
Thank god for Radio Caroline and NME 1. I can happily jump between the 2 of them.

Sad for Riley and Gid's pruning,but they should give the 4.00 slot to Huw Stephens, (IMO) he is always excellent.
Lamac needs chucked.

It's nothing to do with fear of change. Riley & Coe play excellent music from emerging artists and they are both great DJs who deserve their own shows. The live shows that Riley does are excellent and the interviews are always good.

There's plenty of room on R6 for a broad genre of music but sadly R6 seem hell-bent on narrowing this down to a particular style.

I love Marc Riley. So do his listerners. Really disaapointed BBC are at it again! Just leave it alone ffs.

I find TR dull/smug. Marc the polar opposite.

The move is to clearly attract a younger audience but people in their 20s & 30s don't consume music the same way as the middle-aged IT nerds on here.  Their new target audience have grown up with mp3s, internet radio etc so they have so much choice of stations with music more aligned to their taste. I don't think it'll work.

What is it with the bbc and their hatred of guitar music?

Young kids just aren't growing up aspiring to be Jimmy Hendrix or Kurt Cobain anymore and this is a station focused on new music. 90% of new music is made on a laptop. People don't even use modular synths anymore! Let guitars go. It's OK.

Let guitars go. It’s OK

...out of my cold dead hand.

Then let 6 Music go. Electric guitars are nearly 100 years old and everything that's ever been recorded with them is on Spotify or Youtube.

Spoiler alert, there's been nothing new since grunge.

I'm not sure I like any of them that much. Which is wherein the problem lies. Getting rid of keavenaugh was the start of the problems. The rest take what they're doing to importantly. Did you know Steve Lamaq is solely responsible for indie?

Still plenty of life left in guitar music.
Don't worry ,there's an electrified keyboard to keep all you youngsters happy!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Za9eAjpdKDI

Spoiler alert, there’s been nothing new since grunge.

You sounds *just* like the fuddy duddies you're railing against, but looking in the opposite direction 🙂 There's plenty of new, (*new* new) guitar music, same as there's plenty of new, exciting bleepy and bloopy stuff. Grunge wasn't even remotely new, FWIW.

That's a strong Rasputin look

You don't need to give me music lessons I'm just being a bit facetious for my own amusement.

There are people on STW though, who just want a radio station that plays round the clock Peel Sessions.

And don't start me on the lack of music (of whatever genre) on normal telly.
Where is the experience that we can all enjoy at the same time?
Will there ever be a TOTP Sparks, Once In Lifetime ,Jilted John moment in a school playground ever again?
Channel 4 should ressurect The Tube rather than celebrity snowman making.

And don’t start me on the lack of music (of whatever genre) on normal telly.

I was thinking this the other day. It feels like there were always a decent amount of music shows on TV as I was growing up, maybe not always to my taste but there nevertheless. I'm not sure when it changed, maybe sometime in the 90s?

I think it's sad that they're cutting back and marginalising Lard and Gid. I do like Mark Riley a lot and some of the music on his show is great - I've caught a load of new stuff on there and his enthusiasm is off the chart which I think is admirable, if a little OTT sometimes. Gid is just sublime and while I don't always like everything, I like enough.

I think the earlier programme will be great i like both Deb and Tom and think that will do well but I will miss Riley in the time slot.

I have to say I don't get the hate for Lamacq or Charles, I really like them both.

I don't think I particularly dislike any particular presenter or show. There's the odd track here and there which irritates or grates and I don't think we're going through a particularly purple patch right now but as with everything, things change and time moves on. I love the mix of new and old and think it hits a pretty good balance. I'd hate for them to rebrand as a completely "new music" channel as that, for me, would ruin the USP.

I like the channel and am willing to put up with a bit of tinkering so long as it remains. It's on for 12+ hrs a day in our kitchen/garage/office when I'm WFH or at weekend so it's a pretty big part of my/our (family) life.

The move is to clearly attract a younger audience

Is it though? Or is it more about maintaining an age profile?

To my ears, Marc Riley plays guitar music from about 1973-83, and modern stuff that sounds heavily influenced by that era. Which is fair enough, that's his generation. Riley was in his early 40s when he started on 6. He's in his early 60s now, and so are the rest of the generation that remember that time.

I'm in my early 40s now. I'm probably just as partial to nostalgic sounds as he is, it's just that nostalgia for me is Tom Ravenscroft playing jungle.

So I'm not sure if it's about changing the age of the audience over, or just maintaining the sort of mid-ish age group it always had (not middle-aged! Ha!)

thought they might be bringing back George Lamb for a second :-/

Tom Ravenscroft playing jungle

Sounds like hell on Earth. Not for me 🤣

You think that's bad! Wait til you hear what the 20somethings like!!

Sounds like hell on Earth. Not for me

oh hang on what’s wrong with insects buzzing, frogs yelping, birds shrieking, mammals scuttles, and bats clicking. And the odd macaw.

I’m in my early 40s now. I’m probably just as partial to nostalgic sounds as he is, it’s just that nostalgia for me is Tom Ravenscroft playing jungle.

...as someone in their 30s, who grew up during during the 2000s when guitar music had another moment, jungle or dance music with piano stabs sounds antiquated, like it was knocked-up on a cheap Casio keyboard....which it probably was, tbf.

I'm sad, but as long as Ravenscroft doesn't start playing 100Gecs, we'll be alright. Hopefully they'll have bands in for sessions, as that's always been the major appeal of Riley and Coe. I wonder how many sessions they've had on Riley over the years...easily in the multiple thousands, I'd guess.

I wonder how many sessions they’ve had on Riley over the years…easily in the multiple thousands, I’d guess

Over 3,500 sessions on Marc Riley's show since it started, which is one of the main reasons I'm so disappointed at the changes. Yes, there are a lot of guitar bands in those sessions, but there are also many acts that aren't. But fundamentally it was about live new music, and I think that will be lost - I can't imagine how they'll fit so many live sessions in every week now. The impact on bands or artists starting out could be hugely detrimental.

Worse thing for me is that Riley and Gid move to a much later time slot when I tend not to be listening to the radio. I'll be sad not to hear them but plus ca change

In some ways, yep. But to refer to the full quote (plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose) the more it changes, the more it's the same thing: it won't improve the mix of music, it simply ghettoises genres into hour or two hour slots. I don't think it'll help new music.

Poor Marc.

I think his show would be better off, rescheduled to 8am.
(I’ve always harboured the suspicion that our biological clocks are on pacific time)☺️

Props to him for playing the doom metal (pigs*7).
The rest of his show increasingly became a bit twee.
It’s nice to play some sweet and wistful tracks, but it seems like the rest of the station was trying to overdo it with daytime tracklists that would be unthreatening to a female audience.
A lot of the male vocals tracks sounded like tiny Tim.

I’d rather Marc just got back to playing more psych pop: baba naga, Porsche majeure, etc.

The main problem with 6music is that they’re still reeling from having their tenure up for debate, back in 2010?
There’s a lot of very safe listening choices, borne out pension-fright.

I’d still like to hear an extreme metal slot, between 12-2pm on a Sunday. If only to break up the monotony of near constant pop music.

Realistically, the beeb should do more to promote other genres, such as folk and jazz.
Maybe they need their own channels?

If I was a uk jazz/ folk/ metal musician, I’d be fuming at the lack of support to promote my music on the radio.
Gilles Peterson/ Jamie cullum and Mark Radcliffe do a great job, but we need more to get uk bands on a global stage.

That’s my two cents.

They need to drop that boring disco type retro stuff they play on saturay.

If I was a uk jazz/ folk/ metal musician, I’d be fuming at the lack of support to promote my music on the radio

It isnt just that, other genres have lost their slots too over the last few years for more bland everyday pop music.On R2, Clare Teal was very popular with her Big Band (not just big bands!) slot on Sunday evenings, that was dropped for more of the same as the rest of the week, Paul OGrady was very popular, but was kicked off at half time to allow Rob Beckett to present his show half the time, The Rock show was popular on a Saturday at 8pm, I was told listener input was as high as any evening show, but it was dropped for Gary Davies 80’s pop show.
Marc Riley and Gid Coe are definitely not happy with their changes. Listening to them this week, it is quite clear they are well and truly pissed with it. I’m not sure why they are staying, I’d be out the door if it happened to me. Marc is sorting something with Rob Hughes, possibly podcasts for their joint presentation shows, that is a ray of sunshine through the crap, as their slots are really good. If you’ve never heard it, listen to their ‘A-Z of Punk’ also,A-Z's of prog and rock, and of course, ‘The parallel universe' twice a week, which never fails to give a good insight to the week featured that show.

I started listening to 6M when on a Sunday morning while mildly hungover they played pearl jam followed by dinosaur jnr and there seemed to be lots of interesting music. Now it's turning into smashy and nicey. With Craig Charles's and Chris "the hawk" Hawkins, honestly what adult would refer to themselves in such a way?

what adult would refer to themselves in such a way?

Two adults. RadMac call him that.
Not sure it's self-anointed.

Listener since Jupitus did the breakfast slot, used to have it on all day everyday, I have seen some good bands off the back of it, Wave Pictures through Riley, Glass Animals when they started out, quite a few others too but it's just turned into samey repetitive mush, the only thing I'd actually want to listen to now is Ravenscrofts Friday night show, I bloody hate the same news popping up every hour too.

Moved to NTS, it's not for everyone but the morning slots are perfect for me and the rest suits my tastes most of the time. They've just replayed a few old Weatherall shows for his 60th.

Ideal morning would be Keaveny followed by Charlie Bones in NTS though, both sadly moved in to other things.

Is that idiot still on Lerpacks show who tries to guess how old people are by random facts like how much loose change people were carrying? That was a sure sign to switch off...

Maybe this is a topic in its own right, but ‘missing music genres’:

Surf

Skatepunk

Goa psytrance

Metal

In the latter case, despite 6music claiming to support grass-roots live music venues, they forget that it’s the metal bands that pull in the crowds.

Even Carcass bring home the (vegan) bacon.

I’d like to support my local music venues, but without a radio station announcing when sepultura, etc, are in town, my attendance is a bit hit and miss.

Is that idiot still on Lerpacks show who tries to guess how old people are by random facts like how much loose change people were carrying? That was a sure sign to switch off…

Took me a while to work out what you were on about. Robin Ince I think. No. One of the few things that's gone from 6 that I don't miss.

Side moan... Thinking about it, without this thread, I wouldn't have known about these changes til they happened, same as with previous ones. I don't follow any of their social media, which is presumably how they announce it. Why don't they announce it on the platform that, by definition, reaches the most listeners? Is it because they know it's going to be unpopular, or is that conspriracist thinking?

Whatever you do, don't turn on now, it's continual 'dance music'. Something to do with some dead guy called Weatherall. Honestly!

Here is what NME1 have played this morning.The adverts do my ****ing head in but thanks to alexa its easy enough to swap channel for 1 minute.
I'd definitely pay for an ad free version.
https://onlineradiobox.com/uk/themusicmachine1/playlist/

Nah, there's only guitars on 6 Music though.

Is it because they know it’s going to be unpopular, or is that conspriracist thinking

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. The reaction from Marc Riley and Gideon Coe has been pretty clear; it's not what they want at all.
There's also the announcement that the 6 Music Festival will be held annually in Manchester from now on. The one a few weeks back was a pale imitation of previous events, so I'm assuming cost cutting.

The reaction from Marc Riley and Gideon Coe has been pretty clear; it’s not what they want at all.

Absolutely, not at all. The joint show will probably work - why wouldn't it - they're clearly good pals and have a great deal of respect for each other. But we're going from 5 hours of great radio into just 2.

Also, as mentioned above, there is very little metal on 6 music which is a shame. Pigs * 7 are the only ones that spring to mind who have been pushed by certain DJs on 6. Appreciate that Pigs probably span more than just one genre, though.

Do agree that there's a bit of a metal shaped hole in 6music. I'm not a huge metal fan but they could use a bit more!

The closest you'll get is stuff like Neurosis, Amen Ra and Sunn))0 on Maconie's (usually excellent) freak show, and maybe Huey playing one track of 80s hair rock a week.

Oh, and MAH playing Tool and the Deftones!

Choon!

For balance, just listened to Gid's Thursday show on catch up in the garage, and he does mention the "announcement", though not the details (possibly mentioned in Wednesday's show?). I couldn't detect any disappointment, but then he's a seasoned professional who's job involves sounding a certain way, regardless of whether he feels the same, so that's not surprising.

Oh, and MAH playing Tool and the Deftones!

Maybe she genuinely likes it, but there's something that irks me about MAH inserting metal tracks in the middle of a playlist full of house, as if to say "I like guitars too, me, honest". Either way I find it discordant rather than endearingly eclectic.

Teenage Fanclub on CC just now too!

The last two nights have been planned specials, so not really the platform for discussing it; just look at the start of Tuesday's show however:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001kd2d

There are people on STW though, who just want a radio station that plays round the clock Peel Sessions

Shit, I'd listen to that

Will there be less Arlo Parks as a result? It’s inoffensive, but still…

No - there will be much, much more. And that's probably the issue. As inoffensive as her music is, it's dull as ditchwater. Also contains guitars though, so maybe it'll be culled.

Will there be less Arlo Parks as a result? It’s inoffensive, but still

She's wetter than a glass of water.

Whatever you do, don’t turn on now, it’s continual ‘dance music’. Something to do with some dead guy called Weatherall. Honestly!

Thanks, would have missed that!

One off breakfast special from DJ Python on NTS right now, people were asking for more beats yes?? 🙂

Superb. I'm listening to Yo La Tengo on NTS-2 at the moment, so later it is then.

Will there be less Arlo Parks as a result? It’s inoffensive, but still…

I actually quite like some of her music, but I could really live without her inane ramblings and that way of speaking that goes up at the end of every sentence and makes everything sound like a questION? 😖

The more this sinks in, the more this feels like one of 6music's biggest mistakes, and they have quite some form 😞

The more this sinks in, the more this feels like one of 6music’s biggest mistakes

Indeed. Listening to Marc Riley last night explain the wkeely schedule from next Month, it really did hit home how much we're losing in terms of output: Riley on Monday night solo; him & Gid Tues/Wed, then Thurs is a Gid solo show. It's even worse than I first thought.

Someone has started a petition to try to get the new schedule changed. I cant see it making any difference, but it may make a minor point when the Managers hear of it.

Petition link

Someone has started a petition to try to get the new schedule changed. I cant see it making any difference, but it may make a minor point when the Managers hear of it.

Ah, that'll be the one that was mentioned in an article in The I on Monday called "The battle for the soul of 6music". It's behind a paywall, and I meant to get a paper copy, but didn't.

My thoughts on petitions are the same, but no harm in doing it anyway. Interestingly, I'm pretty certain it's a made of a mate that's set it up.

Another mate's brother is an assistant producer at 6music, and I was going to see if he could suggest a route that might get listened to, e.g. a particular person at the BBC to contact. I'll post if I get an answer.

You do wonder what comprising Polaroid photos Lamacq must have in a drawer somewhere tho. I don’t often catch much of his show, but my goodness the radio is back off again within about 5 minutes if I accidentally do.

Every time these threads come up about schedule changes it's clear that one persons poison is another's favourite tipple. but I really wonder about Lamacq. His musical taste has always seemed so narrow compared to almost anyone else on the station and I find his worthy interviewing style tiresome.

Presenters come and go. They need to move people on/around to keep the station fresh (although Sounds means you can listen on catch up to anyone who's been moved to a slot that doesn't fit your listening times).

More Tom and Deb is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, but not sure I like the idea of an every evening 'new music fix'. The reason most of us listen to 6 is that it *is* a new music station but mixing new with archive - as Tom does on his Friday shows - feels better to me than all new stuff.