Music Week Pen Open Letter Urging BBC to Stick With 6 Music

Posted on Mar 9th 2010 10:30AM by Barnaby Smith
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Industry magazine Music Week has published an open letter to BBC boss Mark Thompson, beseeching the corporation to quit its plans to axe 6 Music.

Music Week editor Paul Williams called the digital service "an important and distinctive radio station" and labelled its proposed closure as a "huge error". Thompson is yet to respond to the letter.

Williams also emphasised that while he understood the financial pressures facing the BBC, 6 Music remains vital as "a platform for many hundreds of artists that would not get a look in if it did not exist". Williams went on to state that "only the BBC can make a station like 6 Music properly work."

Tim Davie, head of audio and music and the BBC, wrote on the Music Week website that, "We will reinvest the 6 Music budget in digital radio, which could result in new opportunities to showcase British music.

"Only one in five UK adults is aware of 6 Music, and less than one in 50 listens to the station. We believe the best way for us to provide this kind of programming is by looking at other ways to find it a bigger audience."

The proposed closure of 6 Music and the Asian Network must go to a public consultation before passing to the BBC Trust for a decision. In a possible sign of encouragement for Williams and others, chairman of the trust Sir Michael Lyons, has said "public concern" might mean the BBC would need to "rethink" the closures.