In a word, yes. Or at least we have to try.

There is a glimpse of hope, according to the Guardian:

BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said that if there was a big enough public response about the cuts, he would ask management to rethink its strategy.”If we find that… there’s massive public concern that we need to take account of then we will go back to the director general to rethink the strategy before it’s approved”

So if you’re a listener, please email them: trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk UPDATE: and also: srconsultation@bbc.co.uk

 (If you need inspiration this open letter by Jon Ronson should help…)

Or take part in their online consultation on the cuts,or what they are calling a “strategic review” (and this will probably have an even better effect because it’s what they are officially asking you to do).

UPDATE: Also join the Facebook group and sign the petition and keep up to date with the latest news more info at: http://www.love6music.com

I agree with Stu that 6Music is the only station worth listening to. Of course axing the Asian Network also seems, as Billy mentions in a comment over on Under the Radar, to be an ominous sign when it comes to the BBC’s supposed public service remit. But I won’t pretend that I was a listener or expert on that particular station – and there are mixed reports of how high regard it was held in by even the Asian community itself.

Of course, as a number of commentators have already pointed out, 6Music is far from perfect. It has some deep flaws, such as a propensity to play the same songs too often during the daytime, e.g. I like the latest single by Hot Chip but do I need to hear it 100 times? Steve Lamacq has the most tedious chat and musical taste outside of a Razorlight concert and clearly lives in a fantasy world where br*tp*p is still relevant.

An infuriatingly repetitive and patronising music news slot which features the pointless and smug Menswear drummer peddling management approved faux-credible crap like Ellie Goulding (whose success was apparently pre-determined by a record company memo while she was still in the womb) is another way that the head honchos have misinterpreted what the station’s audience is actually there for, as Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite commented on Twitter in his uniquely eloquent way.

So as well as emailing or filling out the online consultation, how about letting people you know that the station exists, and probably caters brilliantly for at least one of their musical preferences. If they like funk and soul, direct them to Craig Charles excellent Funk & Soul show on Saturday evenings. If they like avant garde and weird crazy music, tell them about the Freak Show. And if they like to hear some of the latest decent music, including the really good stuff from Scotland, and want the closest thing to John Peel, tell them to tune into Marc Riley on weekday evenings. Hell, then there’s Jarvis Cocker, Guy Garvey, Gideon Coe, Lauren Laverne, and of course the chance that, if we could just save the station, Adam & Joe could come back with their incredible Saturday morning programme.

In the previous installment I talked about what I got up to while I was at college (in between pub crawls). I had also managed to secure a decent bit of work experience with a radio production company called Unique. The course itself made no provision for this, but I was lucky enough to have a cousin who lived in London who could pull a few strings (though he also insisted on getting me paralytically drunk each evening in order to fully demonstrate the ‘work hard play hard’ mentality of the Big City media fraternity). 

 The company produced the Pepsi Chart Show which was networked out to 100+ local radio stations, as well as a number of BBC Radio programmes. The Pepsi Chart Show was presented by Dr Fox, a colourful character who later became a judge on Pop Idol, the precursor to X Factor (and also infamously appeared on a certain controversial episode of Brass Eye, with some dubious facts about crab genetics).

 I got some great experience sitting in on the Richard Allinson show on Radio BBC2, editing sound for a BBC World Service show (the old fashioned razorblade way, as digital editing was not yet widespread), and er.. filing demo CDs (the best of which I was allowed to keep – I came home with a bunch of Super Furry Animals singles). the only contact i had with Dr Fox though, was on one occasion when I forgot to lock the door on the toilet cubicle and he barged in on me.

From this taste of the real world of media work, I wasn’t convinced that I could cope with moving to London and fighting for short-term contracted work, plus the likelihood of a lengthy commute each day to whichever suburb I could afford to rent a room. In retrospect it would probably have been preferable to the rubbish jobs i did end up doing for the last decade, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 Before I left I did have a chat with the boss of the company who was very friendly and helpful, and gave me a lot of good info for my planned dissertation topic on the possible future of the music charts and industry as a whole. He told me to get in touch anytime if I needed anything else. I figured this was a great contact for my future career, and that the dissertation, done well, might really put me on the map.

 When I returned to college however, I was told that my dissertation topic of choice was “not academic” enough for whoever decides on these type of things. I felt gutted, as I had no back-up plan in place. Finally, I decided on the topic of music fanzines. This was apparently academic enough, and actually a very interesting subject as it dealt with issues of fan empowerment and DIY culture which are close to my heart – but in terms of leading to a lucrative media career it seemed like a nail in the coffin.

As it turned out I was one of the first people to write an academic paper on the topic – and my tutor, who was incredibly helpful and supportive, suggested I might be able to get it published, and offered to help me with it. This would have been an amazing opportunity. But where was my head at the time, dear reader? Right up my own arse as it turned out. I, like many others, struggled to discipline myself to write that dissertation and left it to the very last minute. In the end, a couple of nights of jack daniels and coke fuelled typing got it done, and it wasn’t utterly bad – but I never pursued the opportunity to take it any further. I have bolded that sentence, dear reader, because that, in a nutshell, as you might be beginning to work out, is the story of my life.

Next: The world of work = a world of pain (don’t worry, just a couple more installments left!)