Waynster

So since the news has broken about the planned closure of 6 music, this undiscovered little gem of a station has suddenly been thrust into the media on a huge scale.  Public outcry and response has been amazing – a facebook group with just shy of 130,000 members, many of whom seem active and vocal and are busy complaining to anyone with an ear (myself included) which I am sure simply reflects the type of listener to 6 – a station hosted by people who genuinely love music (see how many are actually musicians themselves – Lauren Laverne, Guy Garvey, Huey Morgan, Bruce Dickinson, Tom Robinson and Jarvis Cocker for starters) and who play to people who are genuinely passionate about music.

In a way, this whole debarcle has brought out something wonderful – I am reminded of a rather daft film called airheads where the lead guy from the bands outs himself as a nerd in front of a baying crowd, whereupon many also admit to their geekiness (including a wonderful cameo from Lemmy who admits to ‘editing his school yearbook’) and thus a unity is discovered and being different is cool. 6 Music is just like that – we are all the musical geeks with more CDs and Vinyl than sense should permit, we hurl abuse at ‘chart shows’ on the TV (I once threw my Pizza at the TV as I was so disgusted with the banality of acts on Top of the Pops) and we tend to go to ‘gigs’ and not ‘concerts’. We are the uncool kids who could quote lyrics ad-infinitum, who study every album sleeve on purchase and the people who can love a piece of music so much it hurts. And 6 Music is our home – a place we are accepted and a place we can unite – and that makes us – and it – cool.

Whilst it is unjust to place judgement on the listeners of Radios 1 & 2, I do get the impression that surely a large percentage of their audiences are the more unenthusiastic and surely less discerning. Certainly with radio 1 to an extent, it is a station akin a canteen where you are fed whatever is on the menu that day – aka the playlist – not of course ignoring that 6 has a playlist also but the difference is 1 abides by its playlist, almost depends on it, whereas 6 has a more relaxed policy – just a few tunes played sporadically throughout the day and virtually no repetition. So thus we can maybe deduce that listeners to 6 are likely to be more radical, free thinking, adventrurous and enthusiastic whereas possibly your radio 1 listener is more happy to accept what is given, more obedient perhaps?

In light of this talk of a public demonstration are rife with many offering to attend. Many are also spending their time making logos, planning action, spreading the word which is all good stuff and I am quietly confident should a planned demo go ahead, just by the nature of the average 6 music listener (if indeed one should exist!) that a strong turnout could be achieved. I guess the passion the listeners have for music they have for the things they hold dear so could be the very thing that makes this campaign successful – I certainly hope so.

Anyway so far so good – just be interesting to see how strong the support is after the weekend, though I hope it remains as strong as ever. Also great is that this publicity is suddenly bringing in a boat load of new listeners which can only do good!

Just a last observation of 6 music listeners – passionate, adventurous, loyal, enthusiastic – I guess that makes us better lovers too!