A case study by Jo Tyler
BBC 6 Music has discovered that there is indeed a fertile gap between Radio 1 and Radio 2. A station which cares about its music - whether recorded, live or archive, and one that takes the time and resources to offer well-produced features.
(Sony Radio Academy Awards 2003, Judges' citation for Digital Terrestrial Station of the Year)
Introduction
In 2002, following a period of development that had covered the latter part of the nineties, the BBC launched a suite of DAB stations that were developed to appeal to new audiences and broaden BBC output.This case study focuses on the launch of BBC 6 Music, one of a 'suite' of radio stations created by the BBC to substantiate the corporation's move into digital radio. These stations evolved alongside significant developments in multi- platform and interactive media, including websites and facilities for interaction with an audience who was becoming more familiar with use of media technologies. The launch of 6 Music was significant in many ways: it was the BBC's first new music station since the re-organisation of BBC Radio 3 in 1970 and; it was the first to utilise the extensive BBC music session archive, derived primarily from BBC Radio 1 recorded sessions.
As a station that also had to cater for a broader and more diverse audience, 6 Music provided challenges for managers in terms of management of the cross platform content. (Multi-platform is often used as a description for radio content in other media, however cross platform better describes the way that we access, receive and consume radio programming today and reflects the convergence of audio and visual media online)
Focusing on the lead up period to the launch of 6 Music in 2002, this case study provides a brief historical background to the planning of 6 Music, outlining issues raised from the convergence of the BBC media environment. It explores the production techniques and formats adopted when launching a new station whose audience interact on many platforms.
Background
The BBC had broadcast test transmissions via DAB since 1995, so these had been projects long in development. The Director General of the BBC at the time, Greg Dyke was keen to move forward with the key programming in this area. The launch of BBCi and the opportunity to expand existing radio output were underlined in his speech to the Radio and Television Society in Edinburgh in 2000:We've started our digital journey. We've changed the structure inside the BBC, we're making considerably more money available for programming and we've got a coherent plan for our channels.Up to then digital media had been in the realm of commercial media and in terms of investment were in control of many of the multiplexes transmitting digital media (see Section 1.2). Sky was overall the most important cable, or EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), platform and commercial television and radio networks had subscribed to channels in advance of placing content. It is of note that up to this point it could be argued that there had not been a robust financial model for digital radio in the commercial sector and commercial stations were able to retain their FM licences for a longer period if they subscribed to DAB.
(Dyke 2000)
Licensing at the time was also in transition. The DCMS Communication White Paper of November 2001 cited the changes that linked to the new regulatory body Ofcom and the way that it was to be managed. Ofcom were keen to develop digital media but also had to manage licences for stations in terms of content and audience reach. A licence and review structure was put in place and this process was closely monitored for developing stations, including those at the BBC. The then Culture Secretary Chris Smith stated in February 2000 that:
...the BBC had a key role to play in driving the take-up of digital services with the provision of (what he described as) "a strong and distinctive schedule of benchmark quality programmes."The licence fee settlement in 2000 was made up in part conditional upon the BBC creating a suite of digital services. BBC digital radio projects were part of an operation that was an independent part of the Radio Division, alongside the Radio New Media team. Prospective projects ‘The Works’ and Network Y’s ‘Audio Harvesting Project’ formed the foundation of research used to develop the new station. This became 6 Music eventually via other name experiments – Oxygen was one mooted at the time, these were managed under this division. Digital Radio then joined New Media in 2000 to become BBC interactive (BBCi) who have subsequently developed features such as the BBC 'Listen Again' and BBC iPlayer applications linked to broadcast. Editorial responsibilities for digital radio at this time went to 'host' networks and the Net Y project was initiated.
(BBC 2004: 1)
Antony Bellekom, already working for the department, was invited by the Head of Digital Radio to head research and development for this new project. Bellekom's experience as a BBC producer and BBC Regional Manager was complimented by his subsequent post as Managing Editor of Talk Radio, which he took, in his own words, through the 'rebranding, rescheduling and relocation' process to become the template for the highly successful talkSport (Bellekom, 2008). Armed with the brief to create a new archive based music station, he utilised his experience to position the new network in line with the commercial competitors:
You could see that you were part of a radical change to the industry as a whole. I remember doing presentations where I had cross referenced multiplex ownership with digital licences and identified how local brands were about to become national offerings, Magic, for example.
(Bellekom 2008)
Net Y - 6 Music: A Unique Proposition
Three of the current five dedicated digital radio stations - 1Xtra, BBC 6 Music and BBC7 - were developed in tandem to a parent or 'sister' station. In development, these DAB radio projects at the BBC were named Networks X, Y and Z.Network X was developed in house at Radio 1 with a remit to research the urban music community and develop an on air style that represented an underserved audience on its parent station. A crossover of styles and presentation occurred throughout development and 1Xtra had a 'soft launch' as part of Radio 1 output in 2002.
Network Z was developed initially as a Radio 4 archive project to be the home of drama, comedy and children's programming - the latter being another underserved area of BBC radio scheduling. Archive comedies (for example The Goons, The Clitheroe Kid, and other existing BBC published work) were scheduled alongside new children's output.
Network Y was set up as a development project in 2000 and from the outset was unique in its aim to launch the first new BBC music station in 32 years. Net Y was linked to Radio 2 by management: it was overseen by the then controller Jim Moir and assisted by Lesley Douglas, Head of Programmes, who was to become the Controller of Radio 2 in 2004 following Jim's retirement.
Net Y was managed by Antony Bellekom whose remit was to create a new station that would for the first time have significant BBC music archive output. This would include output like the Peel Sessions (see Garner 2007) and live music recorded at Glastonbury. With an audience profile age of 25-44 the DCMS were keen for the BBC to prove that it could have a unique proposition in Net Y (BBC 2004). The case was built on substantial research - focus groups, surveys and existing data. Anthony Bellecom described the application process:
This was a very slow process where every line of our application was considered - fought over - at length. There were days when it felt like the Somme: all your energy would be expended and you had re-negotiated two words, pretty confident that they would be altered back tomorrow.Copyright was an issue faced by all new platform stations, especially that of live music recordings. Initial research through the Radio 1 digital archiving process, The Works and subsequently Network Y was crucial in establishing the copyright guidelines and agreements for 6 Music, working closely with BBC copyright and legal departments at the BBC, plus advisory members of the major record labels and rights holders who were interested parties in the potential re use of session and older material. This was new territory for the new digital platforms and BBC copyright managers were supportive of the database tool Networks X and Z were managed in house and developed within existing 'host' networks although Network Z also experienced copyright and contractual issues when planning to rebroadcast drama.
(Bellekom 2008)
Net Y was initiated as a project overseen by Radio 2 management but was also developed as the home for research into the use on air of the BBC Music archive. Based in Henry Wood House, close to Western House in central London, this was the initial move to amalgamating the work towards a new digital music station. Geographically, 6 Music was to endure no less than three major moves in five years up until being located in its current home with Radio 2, in the purpose built studios planned from its inception. Thus 'The Works' made the transition into Network Y with the proposal to provide an editorial framework for archive speech radio content context with the view that its was 'as important to the station sound as the music' (BBC: 2000)
The archiving project had to be extended because some of the technical challenges facing a new station were to consider the practical issues in retrieving information from a cache of material still in hard format and editorial issues relating to future use of material for broadcast. The first task was how to manage a project editorially which trawled through significant events in rock music and a catalogue of significant rock and pop music artists of the last 40 years. The result was a database, RACHAEL (Raid of Archive and Electronic Log), of speech based digitised material for use in production and as a reference for research.
It soon became clear that although there was a great deal of archive material to investigate, much of it was either poor quality or didn't fit the remit. In addition, as in the experience of Network Z, copyright was a very real issue and much of the material was without the necessary re-broadcast rights for archive sessions, concerts and documentaries. Bellekom states that 'in the case of much of the content we wished to re-use, the contracts were out of date, written under superseded law or just plain missing.' (op cit) Thus a series of negotiations and contractual investigations also had to begin.
Timeline for BBC 6 Music:
1995
BBC begins digital transmission
1999
First commercial multiplex licences awarded
2000
February: Culture Secretary Chris Smith awards licence
Increase to licence fee to support BBC Digital Services
July: BBC Digital Radio and Radio New Media develops 'The Works' project to investigate use of archive audio on new music services
BBC converges departments including Digital Radio and New Media to become BBCi (interactive)
2001
January: BBC launches Network X, Y and Z projects
Net Y project managed by Antony Bellekom
September: John Sugar becomes Programme Director for Network Y
October: BBC Digital stations approved by Ofcom
BBC announces 5 new digital radio stations to launch in 2002
November: The Communications White Paper published by Govt. Includes agreement to investigate switch off of analogue radio, a framework for Ofcom and approval of new BBC digital services.
2002
11 March at 7am: Launch of 6 Music Breakfast Show presented by Phill Jupitus
2003
Antony Bellekom instated as Managing Editor BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music
2004
January: Lesley Douglas becomes Controller, Radio 2 and 6 Music
April Tessa Jowell as Culture Secretary, DCMS commissions Review of BBC Digital Services
Rik Blaxhill becomes Head of Programmes, BBC 6 Music, moving from his position as Group Creative Director, Capital Radio
October: Independent Review of the BBC's Digital Radio Services published
Tim Gardam produces report for Secretary of State
2007
April: Phill Jupitus leaves 6 Music after 5 years as Breakfast Show presenter
September: Rik Blaxhill resigns from 6 Music following Liz Kershaw show competition investigation
Paul Rodgers appointed Editor, 6 Music
Management and Staffing
From its initiation as Network Y, 6 Music and Radio 2 shared a controller, a managing editor and music manager. This dual, 'sister station' approach to managing the content, talent and music policy of both stations led industry critics to claim that the two also shared an audience that was intentionally cross pollinated from the newer 6 Music to the increasingly contemporary Radio 2. This reflected the industry concern that Radio 2’ s market dominance was in fact impeding the development of commercial stations due to the breadth of their demographic. Still managed editorially by Radio 2, Lesley Douglas was key in procuring and managing new talent for 6 Music at inception:The real requirements then (for 6 Music) were for attracting presentation talent and the support of the music industry, both areas where Lesley excelled.Staffing for the Network Y project was managed on a short-term contract basis, since during 2000-01 it was still unclear how committed the BBC and the DCMS were towards a digital future and licensing new networks. Up to seven people worked on the project in differing roles at this time including investigation into imaging, piloting presenters, naming conventions, focus groups with potential audiences and the harvesting project. Validation of future services was continuous and it was not until October 2001 that the go ahead for the new BBC services was given and a staff structure could be implemented to put a new station on air in only 4 months. Experienced programme producer John Sugar became Programme Manager and joined 6 Music in September 2001 to put together a schedule for air.
(Bellekom 2008)
BBC 6 Music programme schedule:
(Source: BBC 6 Music Press Pack, 2002)
Imaging was also in development for 6 and alongside the focus groups and research an identity was being forged sonically. Early idents and sweepers contained elements of the archive bands signposting the station: Bowie, the Rolling Stones married with Blur and Oasis.
For presenters who had for one reason or another become disenfranchised with network broadcast, suffered the slings and outrageous fortunes of Radio 1's managerial sweep of presenters in 1996-7 (see Garfield 1999), or who fancied the step up to the mikes from niche commercial stations or student output, 6 Music was an attractive project to be involved with. Those piloted in the early days of Network Y included Nicky Horne, now at the digital station Planet Rock in a format not that different to that of the original 6 Music proposition. Another pilot programme was a progressive rock show fronted by Rick Wakeman.
Shows that made it on air but were soon dropped included those presented by comedian Sean Hughes and Suggs, lead singer from the band Madness. Arguably, Lesley Douglas' management style of choosing personality presenters didn't work for 6 Music in the longer term. However, this approach created good publicity for a network whose budget was only a fraction of its established FM sister. Commercial radio managers complained that this was in fact the BBC taking advantage of existing formats for music stations. XFM, Kerrang! and Planet Rock were cited as rivals for 6 Music. (Gardam: 2004)
Programming and platforms
In the knowledge that 6 Music's budget was to cover not only on air production but also online, staff were encouraged to multi task. The development of an in house web production system enabled programme staff to take on the content management of show pages and interactive content such as message boards and chat rooms. In practice, 6 Music joined with the other new multi platform concerns meant the re- alignment of the role of Broadcast Assistant, Producer and Studio Manager/Engineer, the internet as a platform introduced the Web Producer to the staff structure. Production roles were expanded to include web, digital and radio skills, this in turn encouraged new methods of production:We were using a digital playout system and making voice-tracked programmes, both firsts for the BBC. We offered live text on DAB. We automatically recorded and rescheduled live broadcasts as repeats. We had hybrid news/music news bulletins. Self operation, rather than programmes driven by others, dominated. Presenters "hot-seated"; there was no second on-air studio.The first 6 Music on air studio was fashioned from a corner office where the Studio Managers had been storing equipment for some years on the 5th floor of Broadcasting House. The play out system was second hand, gifted until the BBC decided what digital play out system it would back network wide. So it was that 6 Music became a laboratory of digital radio practice. Bellekom is convinced that this was 'influential in the way that other stations have evolved.' (op.cit.)
(Bellekom 2008)
The procedures and outcomes for the new station were very different to those facing the new Radio 1 in 1967. In addition to the planning of linear station output, BBC 6 Music's unique proposition in 2001 was to provide multi platform content and interaction with a new demographic. A very new audience demographic in music radio was to be catered for: 25-44, music tastes covering the past 40 years. As Antony Bellekom stated on the launch day in 2002 the station 'filled a tangible gap' between Radios 1 and 2' (Gordon 2002).
Key areas in management were licensing, programme content, online (website) development, in addition to the integration of 6 Music in to the BBC infrastructure of marketing, publicity, copyright and compliance. This supported the BBC's commitment to multi-platform approach, the use of online, DAB text and cable platforms. The Works project, later to be known as the 'audio harvesting project', at Net Y was managed concurrently to develop new methods in archive use and editorial alongside new technology in broadcast.
The staffing structure of 6 Music was largely evolved as my best guess of how to use an allocation that we had been given. The structure felt much more like that of a local radio station that anything currently operating amongst the BBC networks. We made some important decisions that have stood the test of time: having a Systems Manager who had both a technical and an editorial role; employing our own Music News journalists; and not using SMs (studio managers) in the studio but building the technical strength of production staff and presenters.
(Bellekom 2008)
The launch
As part of Antony Bellekom's thorough strategic management of the lead up to the network launch the production staff were involved in a 'white network' exercise whilst new studios were being built and test transmissions made. The whole team ran to a real time schedule, producing content and interviews, even running mock obits to test the flexibility of the audio archive and systems such as digital playout and web tools.On March 11th 2002, echoing Radio 1's much anticipated launch in 1967, a new audience of music lovers tuned in to BBC 6 Music. Listening at computers or auto tuning newly acquired DAB Radios, reaction to the first show on air was just as anticipated on the other side of the dial. Greg Dyke and Jenny Abramsky (Head of Radio) were joined by an invited audience of radio commentators to publicise the launch and introduce the press to the BBC digital future. The number of emails (600 in the first hour and a half) broke the website in half an hour. The world was ready, BBC technology wasn't. As Bellekom comments:
Of course, at that time, whilst the use of interactivity and the full range of digital distribution was something we actively considered, the growth that we have seen could not have been predicted.
(Bellekom 2008)
Conclusion and update
6 Music initiated a new generation of audio content for the BBC. The launch of the suite of BBC DAB stations was the foundation of the BBC's embrace of new media and subsequently the basis on which radio content is presented in a streaming media context.In the five years following launch, the station has enjoyed a steady increase in audience figures, a reputation for good music and unique presentation of specialist music. The management of 6 Music has conformed to the brief that it should contain informative and challenging content related to contemporary music; that of the past 40 years and the re-transmission of the BBC music archive. Within three years of launch, the reach of the network had increased by a record 49%, year on year (RAJAR, 2005). However, there was criticism from the 2004 DCMS review that the archive content was significantly lower than intended and ‘did not reflect the original conditions set out by the Secretary of State’ in 2002:
It has a more contemporary focus than the predominantly archive service originally envisaged. 6 Music should not change its focus but its remit should be rewritten to reflect its identity.The imaginative programming and understanding of the audience by staff and management have been translated on air and online; since its launch the station has collected Sony Awards,Best Digital Radio Station of the year 2005 by the BT Digital Music Awards (DMA). 6 Music has embraced from the outset a global audience and has continued to encourage this communication in music event coverage (for instance the South by South West Festival, Texas) and home grown events such as Summer Sundae festival in Leicester. Formats for shows have been challenged and a special relationship has been forged between listener and artist. You can now hear a listener present their own choices on 6 Mix, and bands like Radiohead and Oasis have curated and presented archive sessions for the annual Selector. It is this continual use of the growing database of archive tracks performed at BBC Radio events like The Electric Proms and those recorded live daily on site in The Hub (presenter: George Lamb, TX BBC 6 Music Mon-Fri 10-1) that remain the unique in the proposition of the station.
(Gardam 2004: 5)
On 10th March 2006, 6 Music opened its doors to independent production companies to tender to produce a selection of shows. The schedule on 6 has changed greatly since launch, presenters Marc Riley, Nemone, DJs Queens of Noize and Don Letts have joined the network. Management has also changed. After the launch, Antony Bellekom was appointed Managing Editor of Radio 2 and 6 Music. Rik Blaxhill took over from John Sugar as Programme Director in 2004 and resigned following the Liz Kershaw programme investigation by Ofcom in 2007.
6 Music presenters Phill Jupitus (2002-2007), Bruce Dickinson and Steve Lamacq have found themselves presenting strands or deputising for Radio 2 output. Stuart Maconie currently presents programmes on both networks. Russell Brand spent a short time on 6 Music before he was offered a Radio 2 show in November 2007.
The events relating to a Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's broadcast at Radio 2 in October 2008 led to the resignation of Lesley Douglas Controller of Radio 2 and 6 Music are well documented as a key media event, putting both the management and structure of editorial compliance systems under scrutiny (see Section 1.1). These events followed Ofcom's decision in the previous year to fine 6 Music for fabricating contributors to pre-recorded programmes. At the time of writing BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music have a new controller Bob Shennan, former BBC Radio 5 Live controller; both services are under review by the BBC Trust. The possible implications for the management and editorial structure at the stations will prove interesting in early 2010, the planned publishing date. These should underpin the next step in the evolution of BBC 6 Music and also the aspirations of the government’s Digital Britain report where by 2015 a switchover to a ‘dedicated digital platform for radio’ (DCMS 2009:92) is to be supported by investigation of the ‘next stage of DAB’ and regulatory changes. Plans for a Radio Council to be comprised of commercial and BBC managers were revealed in April this year to try and cement a relationship tentatively explored at the beginning of the digital rollout.
This provides an opportunity for 6 Music to develop existing platforms online and take on the challenges of managing radio output that now sits less exclusively on the airwaves, in consideration of the key characteristics of it’s service licence - ...to entertain lovers of popular music with a service offering music from the 1960s to the present day.
The author worked as producer on the development and launch of BBC 6 music
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