Editor's note: in a comment on Tim Davie's first post here on the Radio Blog, LoudGeoffW questioned the need for a playlist at 6 Music. Here, 6 Music boss Paul Rodgers responds - SB.
As Station Editor at 6 Music, music policy is not my direct responsibility. However I'd like to offer my thoughts on the relevance of the playlist as it obviously plays such a key role in defining 6 Music's editorial.
First of all, I think it's useful to note that the playlist is a different entity to 'the core' at 6 Music. The core is the large database of tracks from which music programmers, producers and presenters select tracks to play on air. Presenters and producers often augment these core selections with personal choices, while other shows are entirely curated by presenters and producers.
By playlist, I mean the group of pre-release songs which are selected weekly by a group of 6 Music management, producers and DJs before being scheduled for rotation in defined parts of the 6 Music schedule. These songs are organised into three sections with A list songs receiving more plays than C list ones. Songs often move up and down the A, B & C lists and typically stay active on the playlist for about a month.
I do think it is appropriate that 6 Music runs some kind of playlist.
A playlist is a music playout device which expresses the station's identity. As well as offering some structure to the station's output, it also can express part of the personality of the station. It is a selection of songs which define the station at any particular moment. It also expresses the station's commitment to new music thought to be of interest to the audience.
In 6 Music's case, it's very important to acknowledge that the playlist is only one component within a broad range of music activity at the Station. It sits there in the mix alongside the core database, live music, archive music, programmes curated wholly by producers and/or presenters, specialist genre shows and requests from the audience.
It operates at specific times of the day ('dayparts'). Currently, on 6 Music, the playlist does not apply throughout most of the weekend, after 7 in the evening, or overnight. During daytime, there are agreed opportunities for producer and presenter freeplays. Producers and presenters are afforded, within the context of UK music radio, uniquely broad scope and freedom over what music they want to play.
To have a playlist in operation during daytime seems entirely sensible to me. We listen to radio during the week differently to how we listen in the evening, overnight and during the weekend. Weekday listening patterns can be restricted, with limited opportunities to listen, and then only at specific times of day. More digital listening will probably exacerbate this limited exposure. Consequently, people are often only able to listen for short periods of time, and are therefore unlikely to be over-exposed to music which is carefully rotated.
Paul Rodgers is Station Editor at BBC Radio 6 Music
- The 6 Music playlist is published on the web site weekly.
- Visit the 6 Music web site and Facebook page. Follow @Inside6Music on Twitter.
- Compare My Radio tracks and compares UK radio stations' 'now playing' information. Here's 6 Music's data.
- Media UK has a useful summary of 6 Music's public listening data (from RAJAR).
- The picture, Crate Digging, by James Hadfield, is used under licence.
