Bring back RadMac

In a moving interview with the Radio Times, Mark Radcliffe has said how he and Stuart Maconie were “surprised and disappointed” when they were bumped from their brilliant afternoon show on BBC Radio 6 Music at the end of 2018. Given that he was suffering from mouth and head cancer at the time, I doubt whether his axing did much for his spirits. Happily, he’s in remission from cancer now and thinks that, in terms of his health, being cut from 15 hours on the radio a week to six at weekends, is a good thing. His health must come first but if Radcliffe thinks that “some of the things the BBC management have done mystify me still”, as well as being a brilliant broadcaster, he’s the master of the understatement.

Radcliffe and Maconie were enjoying record listening figures on BBC 6 Music when they were moved to the weekend breakfast show. Their show was consistently intelligent and funny. Most of all, the music, which is after all the whole point of BBC 6 Music, was always brilliant. Thanks to them, I bought more records than ever in 2018. I am grateful for the small mercy that they are still on the radio at all, but more than anything else I want them back every day.

In the place of RadMac came Shaun Keaveney, a dour Lancastrian who many described as ‘an acquired taste’. Well, it’s one I certainly haven’t acquired yet. His monotonal delivery, with added silly voices and daft accents, with a heavy dose of shit novelty items on top, becomes more unlistenable by the day. Even at this late stage, would it not be possible to move him to a graveyard slot in the middle of the night which insomniacs like me could use to help us nod off again in the quiet hours?

6 Music also wanted to shoehorn more women broadcasters into the daytime line up so, impenetrably, the highly irritating and totally dull Mary Ann Hobbs moved to the mid morning show. Unlike Lauren Laverne, who on the basis of sheer talent richly deserves to present the breakfast show, Hobbs’s elevation to the weekday smacks of tokenism. So, from 10.30 am to 4.00pm, 6 Music is not what it was. To say the least.

Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie are still at their peak as broadcasters. In my opinion, they are miles clear of the rest. And also in my opinion they are victims of their status as middle aged white men, even though they have been replaced by a far less interesting middle aged man.

BBC 6 Music bosses need to come to their senses, admit they have made some terrible mistakes and restore RadMac to the daytime schedule. To persist with the current dysfunctional line up is stubborn and stupid.