The UK’s biggest digital-only radio station, BBC Radio 6 Music today unveils changes to its daytime and weekend schedule.

Launching early in the New Year, Lauren Laverne will move from mid-mornings to be 6 Music’s new weekday Breakfast Show presenter, and Mary Anne Hobbs moves from the weekend breakfast show to weekday mid-mornings.  After 11 years at Breakfast, Shaun Keaveny will present weekday afternoons, accompanied by Music News presenter Matt Everitt. And Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie will be at the helm of a brand new Weekend Breakfast Show, moving from weekday afternoons.

There will a new start and finish time for the weekday Breakfast Show so Chris Hawkins’ Early Breakfast will be extended by 30 minutes. Steve Lamacq’s show will stay in its regular weekday slot, and the evening schedule remains. Plus listeners can always find their favourite presenter’s shows via BBC iPlayer Radio.

6 Music has an incredibly broad and rich range of music at its heart, with its respected presenters and programme-makers bringing their passion, knowledge and music curation to their shows. And with these changes - the most significant since 2012 – 6 Music will be bringing even more music to listeners, particularly in its daytime schedule.

Monday to Friday
5-7.30am Chris Hawkins (from 5-7am)
7.30-10.30am Lauren Laverne (moving from 10am-1pm)
10.30am-1pm Mary Anne Hobbs (from 7-10am, Saturday and Sunday)
1-4pm Shaun Keaveny (moving from 7-10am)

Saturday and Sunday
7-10am Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie (moving from weekdays, 1-4pm)

Paul Rodgers, Head of 6 Music said: “Much loved presenters playing amazing music is at the heart of what 6 Music does and these schedule changes will help deliver an even greater range of music on the station across daytime and weekends.”

Lauren Laverne said: “I’m so excited about our new show and delighted to be part of the next phase of 6 Music’s evolution. Whatever the day brings for our listeners we intend to get them ready for it with a fantastic selection of music and guests who have something worth hearing to say. I can’t wait to get started!”

Mary Anne Hobbs said: “I am delighted to have been given such a unique opportunity to build on my great passion for new music. It’s a dream job.”

Shaun Keaveny said: “The last eleven years, four months and three days of breakfast radio has allowed me to create an entire world of daftness, aided and abetted by my most wonderful listeners, who I’m chuffed to be able to leave in the care of my relay partner, Lauren Laverne. Breakfast radio has reduced me to the kind of person that cries at traffic lights and remonstrates with shopping trolleys, so I give joyful thanks for the opportunity to take my show into the afternoons and sleep past 5.13AM. There I’ll try my best to eventually build a show that’s a worthy successor to the legacy of Mark and Stuart, two of my genuinely favourite broadcasters.”

Mark Radcliffe said: “With kids at university to support, I'm still going to be gainfully employed on Weekend Breakfast which means I stay at 6 Music, a station I love, and continue what's been a really creative partnership with Stuart. Last time I did a breakfast show it was little short of disastrous and so this time I'm looking forward to making a better fist of it. What could possibly go wrong?”

Stuart Maconie said: “Ever since humanity first emerged from the primeval swamp and looked questioningly and fearfully towards the stars, a restless desire for change has been part of our DNA, and the scheduling of BBC radio programmes is no exception. I see the move of Radcliffe and Maconie to weekend mornings as part of the ceaseless turbine of progress that drives us all, somewhere between Elon Musk’s tiny submarines and landing on the moon. I am looking forward to it immensely.”

The station will be inviting both in-house BBC production teams and independent radio production companies to help shape these new shows in a special commissioning round which will open at 1pm on Thursday 9 August.

With an audience of 2.44 million listeners (RAJAR Quarter 2, 2018), 6 Music - which launched in 2002 - is the largest digital-only radio station in the UK. It celebrates the alternative spirit of music and culture, bringing together the cutting-edge music of today and the iconic and ground-breaking sounds of the past 50 years. In the most recent RAJAR, several shows reached record audiences - Steve Lamacq (1.20m), Radcliffe & Maconie (1.13m), Mary Anne Hobbs (731,000), The Huey Show (577k) and Chris Hawkins (338 000). Shaun Keaveny and Lauren Laverne continue to attract over a million listeners each week, with their shows reaching audiences of 1.07m and 1.06m, respectively.

6 Music’s presenting line up are Amy Lamé, Cerys Matthews, Chris Hawkins, Craig Charles, Don Letts, Gideon Coe, Gilles Peterson, Guy Garvey, Huey Morgan, Iggy Pop, Lauren Laverne, Liz Kershaw, Marc Riley, Mark Radcliffe, Mary Anne Hobbs, Matt Everitt, Nemone, Shaun Keaveny, Steve Lamacq, Stuart Maconie, Tom Ravenscroft and Tom Robinson.