Tuesday 2 March 2010

Open letter/email regarding my love for music.

If you discard 6 Music...


...you rip the heart and soul out of each music-adoring person who loves that station, for whom it is the only station on the ENTIRE radio network worth listening to. Not just for me, 6 Music has accompanied countless nights and days, along with its sessions of such high quality, the brilliantly wide range of music-loving presenters and their obvious desire to play music THEY love, which is what WE love, too.

There are TWO Radio One stations, neither of which commands respect or attention due to its dire and repetitive playlist, and its (mostly) inane and shrilling "presenters". And there are TWO Radio Fives, when one suffices! One of each was enough, so why and how on Earth did anyone think there was a need for another? And another?

To hear the people who present the programmes on 6 Music enjoy the music as much as we do and be so excited by it, is such a thrill for us. They BELIEVE in the music, they LOVE the music and they LOVE the station like we do.
To have that incredible mix of music, the newest possible tracks with the oldest and most varied songs of decades ago is unbelievably good.
To have Guy Garvey, Bob Dylan and Jarvis Cocker presenting on 6 Music along with Andrew Collins, Shaun Keaveny, Marc Riley, Steve Lamacq, Gideon Coe, Liz Kershaw, Richard Bacon... that's not even counting the astounding shows with Craig Charles, the rock shows, the documentaries, the archives... These people are supreme in their field and the output is as varied as it is excellent. And ALL of this is on 6music. That is, literally, amazing.

It is SO GOOD. And good is not found very often these days; satisfactory is not good enough. But 6 Music is better than it needs to be, and that is what sets it apart from the rest, the less good, the not good enough.

The passion, maturity, utterly superb talent and such wonderfully eclectic music that is present on 6 Music are to be found nowhere else in, on or among this country's radio stations. I implore you to think about this ridiculous decision to rid the BBC, this country and its devoted and intelligent listeners of something which doesn't need to be hidden away in a digital world; why is it not an FM station? If people aren't given the chance to hear this wonderful and, at times, magical station, how will it ever become more popular? How will people without DAB radios ever hear it and its wonder?


I love and adore and cherish 6 Music; it's the only reason I wanted a digital radio. I don't listen to anything else on it. It's always and only 6 Music.



We love it. I love it. Please don't take it away from us. Please don't take it away from me.




Lucy Palmer.