Although I'd agree that 7am-7pm the output of Radio 1 is hardly superior to that of countless commercial stations, after 7 it begins to spread its wings. Peel may be gone, but there are lots of shows championing new music and bringing niche and under-appreciated stuff to an audience it wouldn't get otherwise

Don't forget the two lines of attacks are;
1. If it is popular it is getting in the way of commercial broadcasters, and
2. if it is niche then it is not successful and should be shut down.

The end game of all of this is the attempt to close the BBC (or at least bits of it) by people who think they can make money if it goes, and cannot make that money if it remains subsidised by the public purse.

Personally only listen to Radio 5, but then again I am 48, and should be the grandfather of Radio 1's target audience.

I don't think Radio 1 is that similar to Galaxy or any other commercial station. It does take more risks with the playlists and certainly plays more guitar based stuff, whatever that's worth. Plus it's really popular os it must be offering something different

What about people who only listen to Radio 1? Or watch mainstream light-ent on BBC1? Why should they be forced to take out a compulsory subscription (which is what the license fee essentially is) for niche programming?
It's like forcing Sun readers to buy a Word subscription. It might be nice, but it wouldn't be right.
The BBC isn't just there to service niche markets or even for 'stuff commercial stations won't do'. It's for everybody, because everybody has to pay for it.

should cut costs by axing two of the three radio threads, because although this thread meets the demand of those people who wish to see Radio 1 closed, and 'The Times Reports...' thread serves those who wish to view the issue from a more political perspective, those needs can also be met by the broader remit of the 6Music thread.

The announcement about the closure of 6 Music is a disgrace. For all of us that listened to John Peel under the bed-covers, 6music is the station we were waiting for. Whats more, as we grew up and became licence fee payers 6 music is the first thing to get mentioned when we defend the BBC. We love this station - we pay for this station, we want it to continue.

Popular music is a vital element of our collective culture - it should be celebrated and nurtured. Radio 1 and Radio 2 do not provide the service that I want and that I want to pay my licence fee to get. To state that 6music has to go as commercial radio can do its job is a lie. What commercial station plays Faust, Nancy Elizabeth, Culture, Northern Soul, the Felice Brothers, The Broken Family Band etc. etc.? John Walters said that public service broadcasting is not giving people what they want, its about giving people what they don't know that they want. That doesn't mean patronising and pushing what you consider to be culture on folk - Walters was never a punk fan but he saw its worth as a lively, vital and vibrant twist in the story of popular music -hence all the punk bands on the Peel show - public service broadcasting is about having someone (Peel), or some station (6music) there to listen to all that there is and then bring the best of it to a wider and appreciative audience.

Everyone who cares about the legacy of Peel and Walters should get on to bbc.co.uk/bbctrust and vent your spleen and show your appreciation for this truly great station. The BBC management has to be made to change its mind. I know that there is a lot of management speak in the Strategy Review - but these people are management so we should expect it - somehow they have to made aware of what an important station 6music is and waht an inportant, unique and much loved service it provides. Its roots as the bastion of the BBC archive to back to one of BBC management's most famous sons. As Ken Garner points out in his mighty book 'The Peel Sessions' it was John Birt who ensured that the BBC session archives were transferred from magnetic tape to a digital archive - a cultural legacy that remains unique in the history of not just British but world culture and that has added so much to making 6Music the magnificant station that it is. If pop music can have a multi-million pound attraction at the O2 in the British Music Experience - we deserve and demand a pubicly financed radio station that reminds us what was great about the past and keeps on introducing us to the best of the new stuff.

This decision to axe 6music stinks. The digital strategy for radio stinks. Something is rotten with the proposed transfer from FM to digital radio and 6 Music is being sacrificed. It is not expensive to run. It has never been given a chance. Its schedules do not appear in the newspapers, it has very little if any advertising - at a time when the most preposterous and expensive TV adverts were created for Radio 1. I'm a DAB fan, I#ve got loads of em even portable ones, however it is clear that it is DAB radio that has failed not 6 music. It seems that we will be waiting years until DAB is in every car. If the BBC put 6music out on FM and promoted it properly it would easily get millions of listeners.
Save 6music - the presenter line-up has never been bettered- its a rosta of the finest. For an insider view see the Andrew Collins blog 'Where Did it all go Right?' . Educate, Agitate, Organise. Tell the BBC that it cannot get away with this.

I just think offering up any bit of the BBC is self defeating nonsense. The people who would see it broken up will take everything offered and come back for more. Lots of people are offering the bits they don't like. I personally would junk radio 3 but as we know this will never happen or will it. People are largely happy with the varied bits of the BBC they consume so apart from prunning the excessive spending on mamangement etc why change anything the whole thing is a bargain.

from the letter pages of today's (Glasgow) Herald: nothing to do with me, I just thought it rather good and guessed that some of the Massive will agree:

"Alan McGibbon makes an excellent point when he suggests a major economy for the BBC would be to reduce the numbers of reporters sent to various events and situations (Letters, March 2).

May I add the reporting of, and commenting on, various sports? My bugbear is the game of snooker. During the last BBC televised competition, I counted a total of five people being paid – at my expense – to present the programmes at any one time.

Two were being employed to tell me what I was watching on the screen; one was the anchor person in the studio; and two were in the studio to tell me what I had already watched, and comment thereon. As the personnel changed from time to time, I have no idea of the total number involved in the week’s programming.

Even with indoor bowls, at least two commentators appear to be necessary to tell me what I am watching. Although not a fan of the noble game of football (the “soccer” type), I also note that there always seems to be a plethora of people commenting on the game that has been played – and, in many cases, watched by those listening to the post-mortem comments.

There is, obviously, a need for a commentator on radio broadcasts but, surely, no more than one person is required for television broadcasts – and that only to explain some finer point of the sport for the benefit of newcomers.

It would be interesting to know the precise amount spent on so many commentators. It is, after all, my money.

Rev C Brian Ross"

Don't cut 6. Turn off Radio 1

I don't listen to 6Music much. I don't listen to Thought For The Day either. But both ought to exist under a BBC that's meant to be a public service broadcaster. 6Music supports up-and-coming acts unlike any other station; you only need read the #Save6Music hashtags on the tweets of young bands to see that.

An idea: cut Radio 1 instead. BBC radio's flagship is not the vessel that gave berths to The Evening Session and John Peel. It mostly caters to the mainstream demographic of commercial broadcasters. So kick Moyles to Capital, send Fearne to Virgin, give Gilles Peterson George Lamb's 6Music slot, and retain Steve Lamacq, Guy Garvey, Tom Robinson and Stuart Maconie. Or move 6Music to FM and rename it Radio 1. Then the BBC's music discovery duties would fall to DJs with good taste, not Vernon Kay. Tim Walker

and stop rolling over and kicking its legs in the air every time the Daily Mail, Rupert Murdoch, David Cameron or anyone else with a clear vested interest in damaging its fortunes sticks the boot in. From "Crowngate" (and how ridiculous was THAT light breeze in a teacup, looking back?) to the Blue Peter cats to the 6Music debacle, it needs to be more robust in defending itself.
And it's all very well complaining the Beeb has an unfair advantage over its commercial rivals, but you didn't hear them complaining when the boot was on the other foot, and those rivals were coining it in during the boom years. It's like the banks - that attitude of expecting profit without risk - all over again. Perhaps if the commercial alternatives weren't so unutterably dire - have you ever a heard a non-BBC Uk radio station that wasn't unlistenable? thought not - we might have more sympathy.
It's also worth pointing out that most of these rivals came into the game much later than the BBC. So, for example, Rupert Murdoch decides to throw his hat into the broadcasting ring in a country that's already well served by the finest broadcaster in the world, and THEN starts complaining that it isn't a level playing field. If a small family grocer wakes up one morning to find they've opened a Tesco next door, he's every right to feel aggrieved. But if he opens his store in Tesco car park...

Get rid of digital because that is the biggest thing that keeps BBC 6 Music from having a wide audience, most of it's demographic isn't able to get it.

I would instead make Radio 1 and Radio 2 into two streams covering popular music and entertainment, with the remit to provide shows that suit all demographics, leaving the "best" mainstream shows and mixing it up with the best of 6 Music and Radio 2 and the Asian Network and everyone really. Have different slots for different programmes, keep the best after 7 Radio 1.

So the youth would get less and so would the 6 Music fanatic. But they would all get something and that something would be the best example of what they enjoy.

I would make everything available on listen again and really really push this service so that people would understand that they can listen to "their" radio whenever suits them.

I would also make everything into podcasts that people could download and listen to anywhere (sticking to this silly no music rule I guess as that isn't something you can solve through programming.)

I would also make a branch of the BBC specifically devoted to creating and sourcing podcasts, with some podcasts being made straight for the net.

Listen when you want is the future of radio and of TV. DAB isn't really working out though so lets stick with FM until everything eventually moves to the net and live streaming / podcasts.

These changes in the way that we will get and consume our entertainment will eventually break up this rigid adherence to brand identity and demographic programming, people will source what they are interested in, and listen to it when it suits them. That can and should really free up the BBC to make less filler and offer more diversity,