6Music listening patterns

Richard Bacon (The MP for South Norfolk, not the broadcasting Twitterer) raised the proposed closure of 6Music and the Asian Network with BBC bosses at the Public Accounts Committee today - saying he'd been flooded with complaining letters from constituents. Surely the BBC should consider closing something that the commercial market can provide, like Radio 2, and not a station that so clearly serves a minority who really value it ? BBC Trustee Jeremy Peat, perceptibly relieved he was off the main point of building projects, promised a "transparent" consideration of the plans.

Mark Thompson offered a new rationale for the decision, claiming 6Music had a very low number of people who listened only to 6Music and nothing else. This is an alarming way of using "solus" listening figures, which I hope the BBC will now share for every network. A low number seems to this radio consumer a commendable result. It suggests an intelligent and open-minded approach amongst the bulk of the station's listeners, getting full value from the licence-fee - as I'm sure a BBC largely built on trailing programmes to death really wants. In my experience, people who only listen to one station either have a broken radio - or some more serious personal problem.