I'm going to miss Tom Robinson on a Sunday evening, and replacing him with MAH is not my cup of tea
Given the choice of replacing feral cats fighting at 3am with MAH and I know what I'd choose
🤣
You're woken at 3am simultaneously by the radio blasting MAH and two foxes energetically yelling outside your window. Do you stay in bed listening to MAH, or walk into the garden to be closer to the screaming foxes?? 🤔
Do you stay in bed listening to MAH, or walk into the garden to be closer to the screaming foxes??
Are the foxes whispering about the latest Nils Frahm release "from the year 2025", in between barking?
If not, I'll sit in the garden.
bbc radio presenters flowchart
Are you getting too old to present a show on Radio 1?
yes
do you actually like music?
yes - we'll find a spot for you on 6 music and probably just shuffle some 50plus white men around
no - we'll find you a spot on Radio 2 (Scott) once we've shuffled some deadwood around unless you can get a better deal on XFM (Moyles)
It's probably time for 6Music Xtra or something.
Thanks. That's a real shame about Tom Ravenscroft. As disappointed as I was when they replaced Marc Riley's slot, I think they work really well together and enjoyed listening to them, even if there's often quite a lot of music I have little interest in. I'm not a huge fan of Nathan Shepherd, but I wouldn't actively turn off.
Now Playing is hit and miss, but we're always careful to switch off before the Freak Zone comes on. We'll just have to wind that forward a couple of hours.
Agree about the smart speaker thing. Presumably if you have one, you know how it works or how to find out? My oven doesn't give me instructions on how the microwave works.
The hidden gold in that press release, as a fully paid up Bon Iver fanboy, is the Justin Vernon artist in residence. Get in.
Now Playing is hit and miss, but we're always careful to switch off before the Freak Zone comes on. We'll just have to wind that forward a couple of hours.
Given it's now going to be Iggy Pops' Oddball Mutterings followed by MAH's Breathless Wonderings followed by Stuart Maconie's Tuneless Weirdathon, the radio will be switched off once Guy Garvey is done for the afternoon...
the radio will be switched off once Guy Garvey is done for the afternoon
If you haven't already nodded off listening to him 😉
I will miss Tom Robinson for sure. Music might be patchy but I feel like I've been with him since GLR in the 1990s (just like Gideon Coe) and his voice feels calming and reassuring.
I'm going to miss Tom Robinson on a Sunday evening, and replacing him with MAH is not my cup of tea I'm afraid
I hadnt heard about that. Another real big loss for R6. His show was one of the better ones, it is always on here on a Sunday, his old Saturday show was also good, I cant see why the Management need change, it must have been one of the most popular shows (Sunday), I certainly wont be listening to MAH, cant stand her voice.
His show was one of the better ones,
I liked him as a person, his politics and his music, but I could never get past his presentation style on that show "jumbo 6872 on twitter said" just grated. When other people did the same show they managed to make it less annoying to me.
Christ on a bike, she's getting another gig on there. For the love of God. She's a moonbeam of the very highest order, she should be directing spaceships into land not taking control of another show on there.
I'd rather have Nemone.
I'd rather have Nemone
Little know fact if you didn't know, she's a psychotherapist. She keeps it quiet though, you'd think she'd bang on about it a bit more with that on her résumé
Now Playing is hit and miss, but we're always careful to switch off before the Freak Zone comes on. We'll just have to wind that forward a couple of hours.
Given it's now going to be Iggy Pops' Oddball Mutterings followed by MAH's Breathless Wonderings followed by Stuart Maconie's Tuneless Weirdathon, the radio will be switched off once Guy Garvey is done for the afternoon...
Fair point. I'm not a big fan of Guy Garveyfromelbow and his endless name-dropping either, but he does play some interesting music, so worth suffering for.
His show was one of the better ones,
I liked him as a person, his politics and his music, but I could never get past his presentation style on that show "jumbo 6872 on twitter said" just grated. When other people did the same show they managed to make it less annoying to me.
My thoughts exactly. I hate to criticise Tom, but yeah, it does just grate sometimes.
Love Tom Robinson and am mostly meh about MAH so that's a huge disappointment but he's getting on so it may be his decision.
Re Tom Ravenscroft - that is a shame but sounds again like it is his choice. I do listen to the show a lot as R6M is just on in the kitchen most of the time but I'm not a fan of a lot of the stuff they play. I guess that's the problem with a show that only plays new music - most of the time a huge portion of it is crap and curating it gets hard. At least I get to hear things I wouldn't normally do. I would rather havea more rounded programme in that slot though.
I just want them to put every copy of that stay with me stay with me tripe in the bin
I do love the Freak Zone, but my god he makes it hard sometimes!
<sits down to dinner>
Stuart Maconie: Here's a great meloodic psych-rock tune
<nice>
Stuart Maconie: Our featured album this week is WEEWAAWEEWAA: a wonderful compilation of field recordings of East German car alarms, painstakingly record and curated in the late 1980s. Re-released this month, it amounts to 3 hours of really remarkable listening. Here's the breathtaking centrepiece; Trabi. The harmonic overtones towards the end as the battery runs down really are something to behold. It's a challenging work, to be sure, but one that undoubtedly rewards the committed listener.
<sigh>
I just want them to put every copy of that stay with me stay with me tripe in the bin
Nah, I think it’s ace, 👍
meanwhile Im happy to see getdown services being played a lot,
Has anyone tried listening to MAH's Now Playing replacement?
I did give the first one a go but between some biographical sh*** about moving to London, living in a squat (or something), having to use public loos, some link to Iggy and the god awful noise - I turned off.
I thought I'd give it a fair go but it was just the worst bits of the MAH mid week slot writ large.
It isn't Sunday listening to my mind and as above, I think the radio will go off after GuyGarveyfromElbow. I might stick around for the Ig as he plays some decent stuff occasionally but it's a bit of a write off for a Sunday evening now. Shame.
Has anyone tried listening to MAH's Now Playing replacement?
Fortunately I've so far managed to avoid it.
With 6 Music being the self proclaimed 'home of Glastonbury' and the beeb repeatedly telling us not to worry if we haven't got a ticket, because their coverage will be as a good as being there - why do some of the live recordings sound like they were recorded on a phone from the back of the crowd?
True, compared to the live sessions 6 Music puts out they aren't the best.
I still yearn for the '94-95 Channel 4 coverage. It was so much better than the Beeb have managed over the last 30 years.
Can anyone explain what's happened to Craig Charles (I think I may have mentioned him previously in the thread)? I used to like his show, but I now find his presenting quite irritating at best.
Thing is, I can't put my finger on what I liked about him before that I don't now, or what I dislike about him now that I didn't before.
Maybe he's not changed?
Maybe it's not him, it's me?
Which of his shows did you previously like?
I always loved his House Party (R2, Saturday nights) and obviously still listen religiously to the Funk & Soul show - but even that doesn't have quite the magic that it felt like it did, and I even slightly prefer when Maconie's standing in.
Honestly, I've wondered if the 6-day a week grind is just a bit much to keep the enthusiasm going. You could tell he loved doing his Saturday shows, but doing 5 scripted/ playlisted shows each week would be enough to sap the magic from anything I guess.
Another one I enjoy is Huey on Saturday mornings; his is another show I think really benefits from him having the week to curate it
Honestly, I've wondered if the 6-day a week grind is just a bit much to keep the enthusiasm going.
Also the presenter is the only voice you hear but the 'show' is a team production - His production team(s) aren't working six days a week - the people behind his weekday shows and weekend slots will be different people putting together different packages for different briefs.
Can anyone explain what's happened to Craig Charles (I think I may have mentioned him previously in the thread)? I used to like his show, but I now find his presenting quite irritating at best.
...same for me - hardly listen to 6 Music now.
Yeah, I think I must just have fond memories of the odd weekend show - as has been pointed out, the weekly rinse and repeat is probably a contributor
Another one I enjoy is Huey on Saturday mornings; his is another show I think really benefits from him having the week to curate it
I like Huey's show too. But why does he feel the need to comission a weekly medley megamix bollocks from DJ Bobafatt? They're awful? What incriminating images does Bobafatt have of Huey that he gets such a prime chunk of airtime??
The really annoying thing is, I've heard Bobafatt's radio shows a few times on Soho Radio and they're actually really good. It's just that he seems to have been ordered to do a tribute to Jive Bunny every week for Huey.
The next two weeks are going to be pretty well unlistenable for me, courtesy of Worthy Farm.
Great songs played badly.
...and dribbled over relentlessly through radio, DAB, TV and online by otherwise fairly sensible presenters...
Sounds like Huey is leaving his Saturday show - not a great loss as he stopped doing it live some time ago
I'm not the biggest fan of his Noo Yoicker schtick, but the music on his show is probably the best on R6M to my ears.
Any word on the replacement?
Yeah i generally like his tastes in music although I'll be glad to see the back of those awful megamixes he commissioned from Dj Boba Fat every bloody week.
Really enjoyed Gideon having the evening show to himself last week. Just like the old days...
Shame about Huey, I'm not a huge fan of this style, but the music's good.
Is George Lamb coming back?
Hopefully they'll get rid of two old men and their crisps next
Hopefully they'll get rid of two old men and their crisps next
🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬
i'll have you know i won the teatime theme time 2 weeks ago....
I'm joining the pile-on; Team RadMac for the win.
i'll have you know i won the teatime theme time 2 weeks ago....
Very well done. Every time I ever hear that, by the middle of the first tune I've completely forgotten I'm supposed to be linking the 3 songs that they play. 🙄
Very well done. Every time I ever hear that, by the middle of the first tune I've completely forgotten I'm supposed to be linking the 3 songs that they play.
i was so sure id won it a few months back. *saddo alert* i always have the email ready to send, just needing an answer typing in then boom off it goes with an early guess.
so, few weeks ago, i guessed right within a few seconds, i was sure id won it, but not even a mention! two weeks ago, bob dylan came on as the first song and i sent the email off within a few seconds with an answer of 'characters in the magic roundabout'. you can imagine my excitement when 'brian' protheroe and 'florence' and the machine were the next songs 😀
sure enough, i was read out as the winner.
I remember finding 6M one Sunday morning, first two songs straight off the bat were pearl jam and dinosaur jnr. That was years ago.
Last week I picked my mum up from the supermarket market and on the way there not a tune played just a one man smashy and nicey tribute. Deezers algorithms are my new music finder, flawed as that is.
sag to hear Huey going.
Looks like Deb Grant is taking over Huey's slot. Still xmas specials today with Beastie Boys for 2 hours then an extra hour for Jamz, but Deb from next week.
Works for me - I enjoy her presentation but still think the New Music Fix show is too restrictive a format - a mix of new an old music is always going to be more varied and *some* familiarity is a more comfortable listen.
Works for me - I enjoy her presentation but still think the New Music Fix show is too restrictive a format - a mix of new an old music is always going to be more varied and *some* familiarity is a more comfortable listen.
+1
I don't dislike most of the stuff but a more mixed format generally works better in the regular slots - NMF feels a bit forced.
I miss Huey already, he had a good mix of genres and I liked his style. Jingles were good too - I will miss "Hey Huey, play something"
Love a bit of Deb Grant so not a bad replacement.
sag to hear Huey going.
Ah shame, but not wholly surprising. His shows have been pre-records for at least 2 years now, right(?), and I have wondered how much longer he'd bother. Shame though, there was usually a good hour or so of great tracks I'd not heard before in his show
Huey is going to be back on Virgin
https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/huey-morgan-virgin-radio-bbc-alex-james-sunday-times-b1264866.html
Unless Virgin Radio has changed a *lot*, I'm not sure he'll find it better than the BBC for "limitations". But interesting that they've also got Ana Matronic and Alex James - not that they're great DJs as such, but obviously Virgin's on a push to snap up bigger names
Unless Virgin Radio has changed a *lot*, I'm not sure he'll find it better than the BBC for "limitations".
Did he have to play some stuff from the playlist or not? I remember him introducing stuff as 'heres something from the playlist' and being very clear that he didn't rate but don't know if that was recent. Big chunks of his show certainly aren't. And he's a long history of bad mouthing other presenters on the station - I seem to remember some 'beef' with Lauren Laverne and other DJs after he didn't get an award years ago.
I don't think he's what you'd call a 'team player'.
My guess is that one 3 hour show a week isn't enough income and he wanted more hours.
he's a long history of bad mouthing other presenters on the station - I seem to remember some 'beef' with Lauren Laverne and other DJs after he didn't get an award years ago.
I don't think he's what you'd call a 'team player'.
No, he's a bit of a mardy bum really. I remember the Lauren thing too. Just don't let him near your mugs.
What a tool. Handled very well by the presenters.
Interesting start to the Saturday morning Deb Grant show, 30 seconds of dead air then starting in the middle of All Along The Watchtower. Should make the Hueyistas happy.. Seems she's not phoning the show in unlike her predecessor.
No, he's a bit of a mardy bum really. I remember the Lauren thing too. Just don't let him near your mugs.
What a knob Morgan is. Although the presenters are bloody dire which probably didn't help his mood.
Don't mind a bit of Bowie. But this week R6 has been a bit OTT with the ten year anniversary.
Agree on the F&S show: it's a must-listen every week, but it definitely doesn't feel quite as compelling as it used to, perhaps because CC has 5 weekday shows to handle each week as well. When Maconie sits in there's a wee bit more energy, and a different mix of tunes, refreshing.
Don't mind a bit of Bowie. But this week R6 has been a bit OTT with the ten year anniversary.
It's OTT on Our Merciful Lord and Saviour David Bowie at the best of times!
But that said, I did enjoy Iggy Pop's Berlin special yesterday. He's always one of the more interesting presenters
I did enjoy Iggy Pop's Berlin special yesterday. He's always one of the more interesting presenters
I haven't listened, but I can imagine it being pretty interesting - Bowie of course helped rebuild Iggy's career after the Stooges, although it wasn't all sweetness and light, in my (v limited) understanding
Bowie / Iggy was one of those circular relationships. Ziggy Stardust was losely based on Iggy.
Quite happy with Deb Grant replacing Huey Morgan, although I always quite enjoyed his obvious flights of fancy "yeah I remember back when I used to hang out with Lou Reed and Andy Warhol down in Brooklyn back in the day man" NO YOU DIDN'T!
Other than that Scooby snack song can you name another Fun Lovin Criminals song without looking it up? Of course not, nobody can.
A brilliant quiet addition to the lineup is Femi Koleoso on a Friday evening - two hours of total gold this week.
I just wish they'd get rid of the hourly news at the weekend. Really, who cares how many migrants crossed the channel this week or what wild promise Kemi Badenoch made on Laura Kuensberg's programme that morning desperately trying to stay relevant - it's the weekend, I'm here for music and interesting chat and constant reminders to buy a smart speaker.
"Tell your smart speaker to play BBC Sounds"
Seriously lads, f off. I'm currently listening to you, on the BBC, so stop telling me what to say to my technology, ta very much.
Really, who cares how many migrants crossed the channel this week or what wild promise Kemi Badenoch made on Laura Kuensberg's programme
That is a very good shout. And I think because it's such a short bulletin, especially the weekend morning news just ends up pushing a very pro-Reform, very anti-government angle on the news.
yeah couldn't agree more with the news bulletins - surely noone wants it and it can completely ruin your high if you're enjoying some music. Plus the reform curious bent/ migrant hysteria surely pleases no-one at the station, or its listeners (apart from Liz Kershaw)
"Tell your smart speaker to play BBC Sounds"
I do wonder what it is that the BBC are getting out of smart speakers that means they have to fire this jingle out every 10 minutes. Is there some kickback they're getting?
Surely they realise that people are already listening on something, why do they feel the need for listeners to switch to using a smart speaker? Is it audience tracking or something?
"Tell your smart speaker to play BBC Sounds"
I do wonder what it is that the BBC are getting out of smart speakers that means they have to fire this jingle out every 10 minutes. Is there some kickback they're getting?
Surely they realise that people are already listening on something, why do they feel the need for listeners to switch to using a smart speaker? Is it audience tracking or something?
It is where the audience is going, particularly younger audiences
What we have found – in brief
• The number of people listening to online music services each week is now on a par with those
listening to music radio, at around six in ten adults aged 16+. Younger people are more than
twice as likely to listen to music streaming services compared to those aged 55+.
• A fifth of time spent listening to audio in cars is now to music streaming services and
podcasts. For all adults, listening to streamed music services while travelling in a car has
increased by 8pp between 2018 and 2024, taking time from CDs and cassettes (-3pp) but
especially radio (-7pp).
• Over seven in ten (71%) people who use a voice assistant (such as Amazon Alexa, Google
Assistant or Apple’s Siri) use it to listen to both radio stations and other types of audio, such
as music streaming or podcasts. Smart speakers are the most widely used device for voice
assistants, and over half of voice assistant users (54%) that listen to radio make their voice
requests using a smart speaker, compared to just one in five (20%) using a smartphone.
It's a fight/battle to stay relevant and maintain listeners in a world where there are far more options. FM radio - DAB - Internet Radio - Internet Radio + auto playlists/'radio' on Spotify/YouTube/AppleMusic.
Each of those shifts has diluted the BBC's audience so promotion focuses on the newest platforms to try to gain audience there (presumably existing listeners talk to other people about how they listen?)
But they're preaching to the converted! And there's generally remarkably little cross-channel (radio) promotion - an occasional "you could be listening to Nicky Campbell right now" in the morning, but no "did you know we have the Jazz Show every Monday night on R2" or similar on R6M
Wait a minute everyone, you're not going to believe this,
ITS 90s DAY!
again
As Nick Grimshaw put it "90s Forever! For 12 hours"
Well they do know their audience.
Nothing more depressing than a grey Sunday afternoon with Guy Garvey rambling on about his "old dear friend *insert influential musician*...." on 6.
Surprised his ego fits through the studio door.
He's been like this for the best part of a decade!
/rant over.
Nothing more depressing than a grey Sunday afternoon with Guy Garvey rambling on about his "old dear friend *insert influential musician*...." on 6.
Surprised his ego fits through the studio door.
He's been like this for the best part of a decade!
/rant over.
It's a toss up as to whether his music tops the depressing stakes tbh
George urgh
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2026/bbc-radio-6-music-stream-on-bbc-sounds
It sounds like they've invented Radio 2? #flippant