Inside 6 Music's Glastonbury Coverage

"Who booked our transport to Glastonbury during the England game?" lamented 6 Music Editor Paul Rodgers. "Who cares?" came the reply.

So the 6 Music Glastonbury team were clearly in two camps - those desperate to follow a crucial game and those who say, "Well, it's not like, you know, Radiohead in '97. It's not like it's important."

Being an ex-pat Canadian I lay somewhere in between. I wanted to see the game, but wasn't that bothered. I just enjoy the spectacle. Which is what is fun about Glastonbury - the spectacle.

Not that we see much of it. As 5 live's AM frequency pumped through the bus tannoy, Paul and I shared the headphones of my DAB radio and got, if not crystal clear sound, then certainly something we could hear, I wondered if I would better my total of ONE song I saw at last year's event (Born To Run, since you ask, as soon as we went off air at midnight because Springsten ran over), then resigned myself that with an increase of broadcasting hours this year, that was unlikely, and the only real spectacle I would witness, would be the hard work going on in the BBC Compound.

This is a big operation, involving the skills of an essential team of broadcasting experts - from riggers, engineers, to producers, presenters, and editors, to interactive webheads, camera people, and those who support us through the 16 hour days of seemingly endless programming. And as someone who has worked in radio for a long time on both sides of the Atlantic and in commercial radio, I can say that no one covers and conveys a spectacle quite like the BBC.



Glastonbury, as a physical space is enormous. And I mean enormous. It's something like 16 trillion square acres. It's essentially a town the size of Oxford that springs up suddenly, and instead of studious academics strolling around, you have 150,000 odd space cadets, in fancy dress, body paint, and a little 'ahem' chemically enhanced. Trying to cover all that (or indeed even navigate your way through it) is a Herculean task. But simply covering the Pyramid stage is not enough. So someone has to go to the other side of the site (a good hour's walk in decent weather) and have the technology to report back. So Tom Ravenscroft, who has a long history of seeking out the weird and the wonderful, is scouring the fringes of the festival site catching up with small and vibrant bands who play the smaller stages and tent and talking to the people who don't realise that there's actually music going on.

Julie Cullen and her team of journalists are covering the Other, Park, Peel, and West Holt stages with wrieless radio mics to let you know via us at 6 Music base who provided this year's "Glastonbury Moment".



So rest assured as you sit at home listening to our rolling coverage during the day with Lamacq, Lauren, Cerys, and Gideon, to the evening offerings of Tom Robinson, Craig Charles, Jarvis Cocker, Adam & Joe, and the exciting 'seat-of-the-pants what's happening next' showcase that will be the Headliner shows (2200 Fri - Sun), that we are toiling tirelessly, beavering away not only making sure that the generator doesn't give out and knock us off air, but that what you hear is the best radio anywhere in the world.

If it sounds effortless, then we're doing our jobs properly. If it doesn't, then, well, blame the "Magic of Glastonbury". Enjoy the spectacle coming out of your speakers, If only you could see the spectacle going on in the 6 Music broadcasting truck.

Mike Hanson is the Assistant Editor at 6 Music

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• Keep up with all of the BBC's coverage, including live video streams of the 6 Music studio, on the Glastonbury home page.
• Follow @BBCGlasto on Twitter for news, retweets and links from the festival.
• We'll be scanning Twitter for use of the #BBCGlasto hashtag and publishing some of the tweets we find so use the hashtag when you're tweeting about the BBC's Glastonbury coverage.