Latest news about BBC Radio 6 Music

Radio 1 makes Stay Home Live Lounge to raise money

BBC Radio 1 is to record its biggest ever Live Lounge for charity amid the coronavirus crisis, featuring Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, AJ Tracey, Rita Ora, Ellie Goulding and more. The Stay Home Live Lounge will be broadcast for the first time across Radio 1, Radio 2, 1Xtra, 6Music and Asian Network from midday on Thursday 23 April and will see some of the music industry’s biggest stars collaborate on a cover of Foo Fighters’ ‘Times Like These’ to raise money for charities, with the accompanying video to receive its world exclusive premiere during BBC One’s The Big Night In...

Virgin Radio to air Pete Mitchell tribute this weekend

A special show to celebrate the life and career of radio presenter Pete Mitchell, hosted by Chris Evans, will be broadcast on Virgin Radio UK on Sunday evening. Pete died suddenly last month, aged just 61, while out walking near his home in Stockport. His 34 years in radio as a presenter and producer had seen him work at stations including Piccadilly Radio, Key 103, Virgin, Radio 2, 6 Music and Absolute Radio. Perhaps most famous for his partnership with Geoff Lloyd on Virgin Radio in the 2000s, he’d most recently been making ‘Revolutions in Music’ documentaries for the new Virgin Radio...

BBC Radio stations unite for Great British Singalong

The BBC’s national music stations are uniting on Thursday for the Great British Singalong designed to lift the nation’s spirits. BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music, 1Xtra and the Asian Network will come together at 9am this Thursday, with each station bringing along one song that they think the public will love to join in with, wherever they are. Greg James will be leading the singalong on Radio 1 with Dermot O’Leary (who is covering for Zoe Ball) on Radio 2, Lauren Laverne on 6 Music, Dotty on 1Xtra, and Harpz Kaur on the Asian Network. Ahead of Thursday morning, each station will be asking their listeners which track they should bring to the singalong, but the final song choices will lie with each of the presenters...

Temporary weekend schedule for Radio 6 Music

BBC Radio 6 Music will operate with an amended, streamlined weekend schedule, with longer shows starting this Saturday. The BBC says it is having to make temporary changes in order to keep schedules and stations going whilst dealing with unprecedented pressure on our resources, as a result of COVID-19. BBC Radio 1 and BBC Local Radio stations have already announced measures to streamline their schedules, whilst 5 Live is sharing programmes overnight...

Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020 – Winners

The winners at the Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020 have been revealed at an event at the London Palladium. The BBC took home 17 awards including Emma Barnett for Best Speech Presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live, Radio 1 Breakfast with Greg James for Best New Show, The 1Xtra Breakfast Show with Dotty forBest Music Breakfast Show and Elis James and John Robins for Funniest Show on BBC Radio 5 Live. Bauer Media radio brands were recognised on the night with Absolute Radio winning Gold for their coverage for Mental Health Awareness Week as well as their regional station Forth 1 who won Best Local Radio Show...

RAJAR Q4 2019: New record for digital radio listening

Digital listening share has increased by 11% to a new record of 58.5%, up from 52.6% in Q4 2018 in the latest figures for Q4 2019. They were boosted by the launch of new national commercial digital stations, and the growth of listening online via smart speakers in home and DAB listening in car. Overall digital listening grew by 43.4 million hours or 8% year on year. Listening via online and apps grew by 28.5 million hours (or by 30%) to now account for 12.5% of all listening and 21.5% of digital listening...

RAJAR Q4 2019: London and national brands round-up

Coverage of the general election helped 5 Live, Radio 4 and LBC each add half a million listeners across 2019. 5 Live is up from 4.9m to 5.4m in the Q4/2019 RAJAR listening figures, while Radio 4 has added a similar amount, rising from 10.4m a year ago to 10.9m now. LBC, including new digital station LBC News, posts a record high of 2.7m listeners (up more than half a million year on year), while talkRADIO is up more than 40% from 12 months ago to now have 433,000 listeners a week – another record high for the Wireless station...

Shortlist out for Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020

The shortlist for this year’s Radio Academy’s ARIAs have been announced at an event at News UK headquarters in London. Presenters getting nominated include Chris Evans, Greg James, Stephen Nolan, Zoe Ball and Frank Skinner. Bauer leads the Commercial Radio nominees with just over two dozen, whilst we count that News UK has around 15. Global isn’t mentioned due to not submitting any entries once again this year. The rest of the shortlist includes newspapers, independent podcasts, independent producers and presenters, along with a few local radio stations including...

Steve Lamacq goes on tour with BBC Radio 6 Music

Steve Lamacq is taking his BBC Radio 6 Music show to five UK cities during Independent Venue Week 2020. The programme will be live from a tour bus in Newcastle, Sheffield, Cardiff, Exeter and Brixton, and Steve will be welcoming Mercury Prize-nominated Anna Calvi, Nadine Shah and Gruff Rhys, and Self Esteem and Frank Turner on his show from Monday 27 to Friday 31 January. Also appearing on the show are venue owners, movers and shakers and music fans, talking about the importance of independent venues in supporting new, emerging and more established artists and for local audiences too...

BBC Radio 6 Music Festival 2020 to be held in Camden, London

Lauren Laverne has announced on her BBC Radio 6 Music Breakfast Show that Camden, London will host the 6 Music Festival in 2020. The festival will take place from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 March. Many of 6 Music’s much loved presenters will be broadcasting their shows live from Camden, as the station takes over some of the area’s most iconic venues for the weekend. Highlights will also be shown on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. There will be events in the day as well as at night, with activity including a series of live performances, spoken word, poetry, Q&A sessions and DJ sets...