Alternative rock and post-punk, sixty years deep.
BBC 6 Music went on air on 11 March 2002 as the first national music network the BBC had launched in 32 years, with Phill Jupitus presenting the opening breakfast show. Eight years later BBC management proposed closing it to leave more room for commercial radio. Listeners, musicians and the station's own presenters campaigned against the plan, Jarvis Cocker among the loudest, and in July 2010 the BBC Trust turned the closure down. By the end of 2012 it was the most-listened-to digital-only station in the UK.
Daytime runs on a shared playlist with plenty of room for the presenters' own picks, mostly indie and alternative rock, post-punk old and new, and electronic music. Evenings and weekends go to specialists. Gilles Peterson and Mary Anne Hobbs cover jazz and leftfield electronics, Riley & Coe range across every decade, and Craig Charles's Funk and Soul Show is the longest-running programme on the station.
Indie's home address since 2002.
