From Alternative To Icon And Back

Michael Hedges March 12, 2012 Follow on Twitter

The fearful truth about the digital age is that advantage goes to those willing and able to exploit a hot spot. While some in digital media see every breath taking moment as new and brilliant, the longer view shows a more consistent and real world. The spirit of the times needs lots of spirit while times change slowly.

That BBC Radio 6Music reached its tenth anniversary (March 11) at all is testimony to public broadcasting’s inherent advantage in developing specialty services no commercial broadcasters would touch. The digital-only radio channel carves out a niche with “alternative music” aimed at 30-something listeners presented by music-savvy show hosts adept at speaking the language of its target audience. Its GBP9 million annual budget is far more than a commercial broadcaster would stump up for a music channel but considerably less than the BBC invests in its mainstream channels.

Two years ago 6Music was doomed to the bin of BBC budget cuts. Then through the magic of listener response and music industry lobbying it was saved. In the latest RAJAR audience survey (Q4 2011) the channel’s national weekly reach had risen to just shy of 1.5 million, up by more than a quarter in a year.

Digital radio platform listening in the UK continues to edge up, albeit at a slower rate, over a quarter of all listening hours but under a third. Traditional analogue FM continues radio listener’s platform of choice.  FM shut-off in the UK is decades away if it ever happens. The BBC produces several digital-only radio channels, Radio 6Music being, arguably, the most high profile. Digital brand extensions of Radio 1 and Radio 4 attract sizeable audiences but 6Music is the public relations success for the BBC and digital radio advocates.

For radio junkies – this one included – Radio 6Music is, as all radio should be, a stunning piece of work, deserving of its success and an important component in the UK media landscape. The digital radio platforms – DAB, internet, mobile and the rest – expand the vitality of the entire radio category even if the divide between public and private sector radio grows as it has in the UK. Platforms matter to consumers who must make a conscious decision to switch between or among many. Posing the right combination of program elements and marketing message makes all the difference.

Long ago and in a far away place a then relatively new radio platform became mainstream due, in large part, to broadcasters willingness to take chances. BBC Radio 6Music is, in several respects, remarkably similar to the “progressive rock” radio of late-60’s America.  Prior to those experiments with free-form broadcasting the FM band in the US was very sleepy, dotted with easy listening background music channels and a few student stations. The AM platform had big signal channels making loads of money for owners. The style and context of 6Music – new platform, highly targeted, music oriented – brings to mind San Francisco’s KSAN, Los Angeles’ KMET, New York City’s WNEW FM and notable others in American big cities.

The US broadcasting company Metromedia owned its statutory limit of AM and FM radio stations. In late 1960’s America the FM platform was, at the very least, underutilized and big broadcasting executives had better things to do than spend one second – or one nickel – on something new. That changed when the US regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that owners must stop simulcasting AM programs on the FM platform. The first choice, since ad buyers rarely owned FM receivers, was automated easy listening – “beautiful music” – programming. Eventually Metromedia owner John Kluge was persuaded that there might be a little more money targeting young people – remember the Baby Boom – with rock music presented wholly different from the mainstream Top 40 stations. The Metromedia FM stations – KSAN, KMET, WNEW FM, et.al. – made the switch between 1967 and 1968.

None of these stations were immediate financial successes but all were immensely popular among young listeners embracing, to one extent or another, the counter cultural spirit of the times. The formats were ostensibly free-form, show hosts picking a wide range of rock music, often long form, and presenting it all in a low-key style. The style of 6Music borrows, at least genetically, from these stations.

The money did start to flow as the music industry, itself benefiting from Baby Boomer economics, supported these “alternative” channels. Every new album and concert tour was an advertising opportunity. Record artists began “hanging around” these new FM stations, adding to the cache with live performances. And a good time was had by all.

Within a decade radio platforms in the United States had shifted from AM to FM, aided significantly by liberalized licensing requirements bringing hundreds more channels to the airwaves. Quintessential progressive rock band Steely Dan offered the title tune to the 1978 movie FM. The movie was a turkey, the song was a minor hit and the FM band had arrived.

Those iconic American progressive rock radio stations were dead and gone by the end of the 1970’s. Many of the legendary programmers and performers drifted into the music business. In 1980 KSAN changed format to country music as the spirit of the times changed again.

BBC Radio 6Music is as good as the new digital-only radio channels get. If it and others expand their reach the shift to the digital radio platforms will be insured. But a radio channel’s life cycle is ever so short.

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