Listeners have been reacting to yesterday’s BBC announcement of the new 6 Music evening schedule, and its safe to say that not all share the broadcaster’s optimism over the new schedule, which comes into play in June.
The BBC’s announcement of the new schedule had excitedly hyped two new shows for the evening slots – both broadcast from Salford – with New Music Fix Daily, presented by Tom Ravenscroft, son of John Peel, and Deb Grant taking the 7-9pm slot and Gideon Coe and Marc Riley filling the 10-midnight slot with a new, shared, Riley and Coe show. The 9-10pm space will be filled by a rotating series of artist-curated shows.
Listeners were quick to point out, however, that the new schedule effectively meant a cut to Riley and Coe’s current slots – the pair presently host the entire five-hours from 7pm-midnight between them, with Riley taking 7-9pm and Coe continuing until midnight.
The two, who are among 6 Music’s most popular and longest-standing presenters, will find their combined weekly airtime cut from 20 hours to eight, and fans have been quick to complain:
I don’t want to be one of those folk moaning for the sake of it but the compression of Marc & Gid into one show is a terrible idea. They were the best 2 shows on the station & you should have understood that. I’m all for adding great DJs like Deb & Tom but you’ve got this wrong.
— Chöpstick (@Chops_Top_Fives) April 4, 2023
Riley, who has been at the forefront of Manchester broadcasting even before the rise of MediaCity, thanks to his regular Radio 1 shows with Mark Riley among others, was particularly staunchly defended:
This sucks. Marc Riley’s show is the best thing on 6 Music, regularly introducing me to my new favourite bands. Hiding him away on a late night slot with Gideon Coe is a massive waste of both their talents. — Nick Clarke (@NjClarke) April 4, 2023
But Coe had plenty of backers too:
@gidcoe is the only show that brings new, eclectic and interesting music to me these days. His curation of the show is amazing. I listen to every single one. Riley’s is great too, but they’re very different presenters with different musical styles.
— Gemma Hampson (@Gemolo_Gemma) April 4, 2023
Even among those who gave some support to the new line up, it was distinctly “qulaified”:
The 7-midnight slot, Monday to Thursday, has been the jewel in BBC 6music’s crown. A great source of discoveries, new and old.
Happy that Deb Grant is getting more exposure, but not at the expense of Gid Coe and Marc Riley. What makes 6 special keeps getting watered down, sadly
— DJWeaveEsquire (@DJWeaveEsquire) April 4, 2023
In the interest of balance, there were those who appeared to fully support the changes, but it wouldn’t be an exagerration to say we had to look quite hard:
I like it – Tom and Deb are great, more new music focus and you can’t get enough Jamz — Leigh B (@L6ighB) April 4, 2023
Perhaps, like previous planned changes at 6 Music, which attracts a fiercely loyal fan base, we haven’t heard the last of this.
