Craig Charles to host new BBC Radio 6 Music weekday afternoon show

21 July 2021 - Press release

BBC Radio 6 Music today announces schedule changes across weekdays and the weekend, which kick off in October, as well as some summer highlights.  

Craig Charles is the new host of the weekday afternoon show (1–4pm), which will be an uplifting and eclectic mix of music and include guests from across the worlds of music, comedy, TV and film. The show will be broadcast from Salford from October 2021. 

Craig says: “I’m made up to be able to present a brand new show on 6 Music later this year. So, join me each weekday afternoon for a cup of tea, a chat and where I’ll be playing some cracking tunes from across the musical spectrum. I can’t wait to get started – bring it on!” 

Samantha Moy, Head of 6 Music, says: “Craig Charles has been part of the 6 Music family since we first arrived on the airwaves in 2002. Over the years, his Funk and Soul show has become must listen radio on Saturday nights - bags of brilliant records and loads of laughter. We can look forward to more of the same on weekday afternoons – with an even bigger record bag – full of music from across the genres and eras, right up to the present day – here on 6 Music.” 

Craig will continue to present The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show (Saturday, 6-9pm) as well as The Craig Charles House Party on Radio 2 (Saturday 10pm-12am). 

Craig takes over from Shaun Keaveny, who recently announced he was leaving 6 Music. 

The station will also see changes elsewhere in the schedule. 

Iggy Confidential, fronted by the ‘Godfather of Punk’ Iggy Pop, will be transporting his eclectic record box from Friday nights (7-9pm) to a new home on Sunday afternoons (4-6pm), following Guy Garvey (2-4pm). Iggy will continue to play a huge array from tunes, from Sleaford Mods to TLC, Anna Meredith to Ray Charles. 

Iggy says: “Whether you're dealing with the nettles in your garden, drinking pints, enjoying a rendezvous, making a roast, or just being secret, I'm gonna love having a Sunday afternoon hang on BBC Radio 6 Music. The music will flow and shift and I hope the time passes happily. This is making me grin.” 

Amy Lamé will be waking up the nation with a heady mix of tunes as she moves from Sunday afternoons (4-6pm) to Early Weekend Breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings (6-8am). 

Amy says: “I’m looking forward to meeting a whole new audience of 6 Music listeners, so do join me, whether you’re a night owl returning from a club dancefloor, or an early bird getting ready for your day.” 

Chris Hawkins will continue to present Early Breakfast each weekday (5-7.30am). 

The Radcliffe and Maconie Weekend Breakfast Show will now kick off an hour later and will be broadcast from 8-10am. 

Mark Radcliffe says: “I'm thrilled to be continuing with the 6 Music Weekend Breakfast Show and even more thrilled that I get an extra hour in bed after the enlightened management have listened to my whinging. I'm getting on a bit you know and have been asking them to take pity on my age and decrepitude for some time. Stuart and I love doing the show and the direct connection with the listeners, but now we can all start when we've had the chance to properly wake up.”  

Stuart Maconie says: “As one of the world’s leading influencers and self-help gurus, I tell my many, many followers that change is to be embraced. And this is certainly one change that I can get my arms around. An extra hour in bed and a more relaxed start will make me even more energised and excited about starting your Saturday and Sunday with 6 Music Weekend Breakfast. But don’t worry, there’ll be just as many of the thought-provoking items and high-octane entertainment you’ve grown used to. You just won’t have to get up quite so early to enjoy it.”

Samantha Moy, Head of 6 Music says: “Iggy Pop. A true icon – and one that we are honoured to say is also a beloved 6 Music presenter. He will be bringing his Iggy Confidential show to Sunday afternoons - the perfect way to shake off those weekend blues. I’m very happy to give Mark and Stuart the lie-in they deserve, so we can all expect an even livelier Radcliffe & Maconie show from 8am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. And I’m very pleased to say that Amy Lamé will now present two shows on 6 Music, with her Early Weekend Breakfast show on Saturday and Sundays from 6am.”  

Plans for the new Friday 7-9pm show, which will contribute to the BBC’s Across the UK plans, will be announced in due course. 

6 Music will be broadcasting a range of specials in the coming weeks.  

Since Wednesday 7th July (12am-1am), the current 6 Music Artist in Residence is indie-pop singer-songwriter Beabadoobee who, with 1.1m Instagram followers, received an NME Radar Award in 2020 and was nominated as a Rising Star for the Brit Awards in 2020. The next 6 Music Artist in Residence will be Wolf Alice, launching on 18^th August (12am–1am) for six weeks. Over their six-week residency, they’ll be taking listeners on a weekly journey in their musical soul, with each programme based around a different theme or mood. From their debut album My Love is Cool, the 2014 single Moaning Lisa Smile reached the Top 10 of the US Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart in August 2015, and was later nominated for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance. Their second studio album Visions of a Life in September 2017 won them the 2018 Mercury Prize. 

Wolf Alice says: “We are delighted to be picking some tunes for BBC Radio 6 Music. The four of us will be taking turns in hosting individual themed playlists for you to enjoy. Tune in!” 

On Saturdays in August, 6 Music’s All Day Rave returns, where the station will celebrate global club culture through the decades, from Huey Morgan at 10am, finishing at midnight with The Blessed Madonna. Each week, an iconic club from the featured decade will be in the spotlight. The Blessed Madonna’s show will include interviews with club promoters, residents, faces from the scene as well as a guest mix at the end of each show. 

Saturday 7^th August’s All Day Rave takes us Back to the 80s.  In The Blessed Madonna’s show, 6 Music will shine a light on Medusa's in Chicago. The symbolic dance venue and art space was created by its flamboyant owner Dave Shelton, who cut his teeth hosting parties at the Warehouse, with the club considered to be the birthplace of house music. He opened the alternative club Medusa’s in 1983, providing a haven and melting pot for creative teenagers and young people who labelled themselves as ‘misfits’. The club continued to fly the flag for house music and was the first place where Lil Louis’ played his seminal track French Kiss. 

Saturday 14^th August’s All Day Rave takes us Back to the 90s. The legendary German club Tresor was the first club to open in East Berlin in 1991 in the basement vaults under a former department store, situated directly in between the two walls of the reunited city. The club became a melting pot of creativity for Berlin’s youth culture movement, gaining notoriety for playing hard techno, industrial and acid music. 

Saturday 21^st August’s All Day Rave transports us Back to the 00s, when we’ll celebrating Pikes, Ibiza’s legendary party hotel and club which is steeped in rock ’n’ roll history. The White Isle’s hotspot embodies the authentic and carefree spirit of the island, with a hedonistic reputation encouraged by its former owner Tony Pike. The club was graced by Freddie Mercury and Grace Jones in its heyday, and most memorably was the venue of Wham’s Club Tropicana video. 

The Blessed Madonna says: “Pikes is a living witness to the freedom and creativity of Ibiza’s past. Long after the polished and manicured VIP rooms and bottle service have gone, Pikes will tell the story of a special island where anything is possible and where one outlaw named Tony Pike lived enough lives for ten mere mortals.  

“Tresor is many things but most importantly it is a love story about techno and how two cities came together to define the future of dance. From Detroit to Berlin with love. 

“Medusa’s is the most important club that you’ve never heard of. Take a trip to this laboratory where disco, new wave, industrial, house and more came together.  

“We must start thinking of clubs as what they are: places of extreme historical significance to the arts and the history of being a human being. They are civic treasures. Landmarks. Their history has value and must be guarded and preserved.”  

On September 24th, 6 Music celebrates the 30^th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind by playing tracks from it across the day and will hear from artists and guests about what the album means to them.

Broadcast on 6 Music and available now on BBC Sounds 

New Music Fix: On Friday 16^th July, 6 Music launched New Music Fix (Fridays, 12-5am) - a new destination for the most exciting, fresh releases, with Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Mary Anne Hobbs and Tom Ravenscroft each handpicking an hour of their favourites which drop as a collection in BBC Sounds at midnight weekly every Friday. New Music Fix Friday saw the day dedicated to 2021’s finest releases with all the presenters, from 7.30am-7pm packing their shows with the music they’ve loved this year, alongside special sessions and mixes. Plus, new music recommendations from artists who’ve put out incredible records themselves over the past seven months. Subscribe to the weekly show on BBC Sounds to never miss your new music fix.

Amy Winehouse Artist Collection: Ten years after her tragic passing, 6 Music's unique set of programmes celebrates the life and music of Amy Winehouse. In Their Own Words: Amy Winehouse features interviews Amy gave to the BBC. In Amy Winehouse at the BBC, Jools Holland traces Amy’s BBC session performance from her first live session on Janice Long’s Radio 2 show in 2003 to Radio 1’s Live Lounge and Radio 2’s Dermot O’Leary Drivetime show. Amy Winehouse Live features highlights from concerts including Summer Sundae in Leicester in 2004 to Glastonbury. In Amy Winehouse – Singer, first broadcast in 2012, Guy Garvey looks at the legendary jazz vocalists and girl groups who inspired Amy and the Artist Collection Playlist celebrates the music of Amy Winehouse and its roots and branches - those who influenced her and those she's inspired.

Coming Up…

Saturday 24^th July - The Craig Charles Soul and Funk Show (6pm-9pm): Craig presents his show live from Salford, celebrating the life and music of Amy Winehouse, ten years on. His special guest is Amy's lifelong friend Juliette Ashby. Together, they formed the rap group Sweet ‘n’ Soul, and Juliette was instrumental in the Oscar winning documentary, AMY.

Tuesday 27^th July - The Strokes Artist Collection (Midnight-5am): 6 Music compiles a unique set of programmes featuring The Strokes, 20 years on from their debut album Is This It. At The BBC (12-2am) is a two-hour compilation of BBC sessions and interviews by The Strokes since 2001. Highlights from a range of gigs can be heard in The Strokes Live (2-3am), featuring a special 2005 set at the University of London. A Punk Tale of Two Cities asks the question that divides punk rockers: where did it all start - London or New York, with opinions and insights from John Lydon, Talking Heads, Neneh Cherry, The Slits, Don Letts, Chrissie Hynde, Public Enemy, Lenny Kaye, Dennis Bovell and Patti Smith. The Strokes Playlist (4am-5am) looks at those who influenced the band and those they inspired. 

With a reach of 2.56 million listeners (Rajar Q1, 2020), 6 Music brings a broad range of music and culture beyond the mainstream to music lovers with a curious spirit, combining the cutting-edge music of today with the iconic, ground-breaking sounds of the past 50 years. 

Presenters include: Amy Lamé, Cerys Matthews, Chris Hawkins, Craig Charles, Don Letts, Gideon Coe, Gilles Peterson, Guy Garvey, Huey Morgan, Iggy Pop, Jamz Supernova, Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley, Mark Radcliffe, Mary Anne Hobbs, Shaun Keaveny, Steve Lamacq, Stuart Maconie, The Blessed Madonna, Tom Ravenscroft and Tom Robinson.  6 Music is also home to programmes hosted by artists themselves. Loyle Carner, Arlo Parks, Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent, Mykki Blanco and Beabadoobee have all presented Artist in Residence series on the network since November 2020.