Text — An open letter to the BBC Trust
I just emailed the BBC Trust about the proposed cutbacks to the BBC. Here’s what I said:
Hello BBC Trust,
I strongly suspect that you’re getting deluged by emails, but as a happy license fee payer, I wanted to make sure that you heard my strong feelings on the proposed cutbacks.
Having lived all over the world, there’s nothing like the BBC. Nothing that delivers such consistently high standards of programming for such a small amount of cash. The website, in particular, is a bastion of excellent journalism among a global market of newspapers with a political agenda. There’s absolutely nothing like it.
But what really upsets me, personally, is the proposals to shutter 6music. The work that 6music does is absolutely invaluable to the health of British music - one of the country’s most important global exports. There’s no other BBC station that plays the astonishingly diverse range, and incredibly high standard, of content that 6music covers.
Suggestions that commercial stations could take over 6music’s output are unrealistic. A couple of stations have tried, and failed. Advertisers simply aren’t interested. But even if it did work, 6music is the only station that consistently digs gems out of the BBC’s ridiculously impressive library and reminds listeners of exactly how great British music is, and has been.
Plus, you should know that of all of the BBC’s “broad”casting output, the only sliver that I feel is remotely aimed in my direction is 6music. Don’t close it. By doing so, you’d be killing off a vital service loved by many. Ignore the official listening figures, which are hampered by the slow takeup of DAB - instead, make a proper assessment of the cultural impact the station has before making a rash decision.
Thanks for your time,
- Duncan Geere
