HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET 6!

11th March, 2002 marked the beginning of a new national radio station, the first in 32 years. BBC 6 Music was the first of the BBC's digital stations to be launched as part of the gradual switch over from analogue broadcasting. But it was far more than that. 6music was a station with a different attitude. Not only was it dedicated to playing a broad spectrum of alternative music from punk to indie to soul to jazz to trip-hop to electronica and dance, from the past and present, but the presenters were people who were genuinely passionate about the records they played, and were given far more free reign than usual. Amongst the presenters were several musicians: Suggs, Bruce Dickinson, Brinsley Forde. The rest of them were well known music writers and seasoned DJ's such as Stuart Maconie, Janice Long, Bob Harris, Liz Kershaw, and the guy who would open the station at 7am, Phill Jupitus, who had spent many years as a punk poet, compere, DJ on LBC, comedian, tv personality and well known lover of music. Indeed, Jupitus interest and passion in what music he wanted to play would result in him locking horns with management more than once during his tenure! The first song played was "Burn Baby Burn" by indie-punk band Ash. Listening figures were low initially, due to the low availability of DAB sets, but over the last 15 years 6 has pulled in 2.33m listeners at last count. With the stations' unwavering passion for alternative music in all its guises, and access to the Radio 1 sessions archive, they have got such a dedicated listenership that when it was earmarked for possible closure in 2010, a huge campaign was started to Save BBC 6Music, with groups on Facebook and Twitter and over 180,000 people signing up. In fact, the publicity boosted the listening figures! There have been ups and downs over the years - the signing of cockney twat George Lamb to the mid-morning show in order to "boost female listening figures" caused some considerable controversy - but 6 has endured. I started listening to it in August 2003 when i first bought a DAB set, and haven't stopped since. It's often been described as a station that the late and much missed John Peel would have created (his son Tom Ravenscroft is one of the current presenters) and there could be no higher praise. BBC 6Music, happy 15th birthday.