It was back in the late '90s when I first visited a little office in the BBC’s Henry Wood House and heard and saw what a small team of music producers and researchers were doing.
The team were listening to and digitising session tracks from the BBC archive. I was visiting them as the then head of music for BBC Radio 1. Part of my remit was to help develop a music policy for one of three new digital (DAB) only networks. One network would be a black music station, one would be a speech and drama network built on the BBC’s archive of classic comedy and drama and one would be developed based on the popular music sessions archive.
It was clear from my visit that our original vision of an album oriented rock station, plugging the gap between Radio 1 and Radio 2, might not be where it was going.
The research into the archive hadn’t delivered the traditional adult oriented rock radio set of artists but instead a treasure trove of alternative rock and pop from the likes of Siouxsie and The Banshees, XTC and Nirvana. These were artists recorded for various BBC Radio 1 session programming over the years.
As producer of Radio 1’s Evening Session from 1990 I’d been responsible for commissioning a few of these sessions and I could hear how a smarter pop radio station built on these musical foundations could evolve. In fact in 1991 when Mark Radcliffe deputised as presenter on that show we talked about building on the Evening Session and his show Out on Blue Six to establish what we loftily then described as “an intelligent pop music radio station”.
I returned to the BBC in 2007 as head of music for Radio 2 and 6 Music and found the station building a reputation but not exactly clear on what it was. We focussed the station’s music policy on music with an “alternative spirit”. This means that on 6 you’ll hear those more established artists who still lean towards the alternative in what they record - including their classics and deep cuts - alongside those newer artists who are building careers on those foundations.
For instance alongside XTC you’ll hear Field Music, alongside Siouxsie an artist like Anna Calvi and Nirvana’s influence is building new alternative rock bands like Howler, all supported in daytime music programming and across the network by 6. We’re also building more on the genres we cover so you can hear an Orb classic juxtaposed with SBTRKT or a deeper Bill Withers cut alongside that of Michael Kiwanuka .
I think that policy is typified in the live music moments that are my highlights of 6 Music's first 10 years. Those highlights were when we helped arrange for heritage names to work with their musical progenies or admirers i.e. Heaven 17 and LaRoux, Gary Numan and Little Boots, Paul Weller and Adele. These are the most difficult things to get together but they can also be the most exciting.
6 Music is very lucky to have a very creative and passionate editor in the shape of Paul Rodgers. Our week of celebration in Maida Vale and the South Bank is the latest manifestation of his vision of the station and continues Paul’s latest initiatives that include 2012’s monthly “6 Music celebrates…” features.
Paul intends to continue these through the year and I think these ideas and other new concepts that we have to take 6 Music beyond our London and Manchester bases will help increase the awareness of the station and digital radio in general into 2013.
We know 6 Music listeners also consume digital music services (subscription music, blogs etc) with the station often giving them their cue to discover music in other ways. We intend to keep them doing that by further embracing ours and their digital future as we re-imagine radio for the future and continue to be the UK’s biggest digital-only music station.
Finally I should add that in our first ten years 6 has also made its own and substantial contribution to the BBC sessions legacy with a unique commitment to broadcast over 300 new sessions by musicians every year. These sessions then take their place in the same vault that gave birth to the station and help it continue its work celebrating the alternative spirit in music.
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