The man who mourns a BBC music station in tune with listeners

It simply said: "I listened to your show last week, the music was terrible, some of it was unlistenable. Keep up the good work."

Since the station launched in 2002, Maconie has been given carte blanche to indulge his love of obscure tracks from forgotten bands for two-and-a-half hours each Sunday. Not for much longer. After weeks of rumours, the BBC yesterday confirmed that it is to axe 6 Music as part of wide-reaching review. Under the plans, which also include the closure of the Asian Network and various websites, Sunday evenings will be devoid of Brazilian psychedelia and Dr Strangely Strange. There will also be no Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq or Jarvis Cocker.

"I have a lot of respect for the BBC and what it stands for, but the decision to close 6 Music is catastrophic," says Maconie, who also co-hosts a show on Radio 2. "When the story first started doing the rounds I think we all hoped it wasn't true and quite quickly it became clear that there was a real groundswell of support for the station.

"When you get people like David Bowie fighting your corner, you think you stand a chance."

In recent weeks, 6 Music fans, including Bowie who said the loss of the station would be a "great shame" for new artists, have inundated the BBC with persuasive emails, Facebook campaigns have been launched and thousands have posted their largely unprintable views on Twitter.

In the end, none of that mattered. In the report to the BBC Trust entitled Putting Quality First, the corporation, which is looking to redirect 600m a year into new programming, concluded 6 Music's annual 9m budget didn't justify its 700,000 listenership.

Acknowledging the station plays music not heard on any other station, it has said it will try to transfer some of its most distinctive programmes elsewhere, but the move has been seen by many as an ill-thought out attempt to appease critics angered by the large salaries of the Beeb's high-profile stars and calling for greater value for money.

Other stations, they argue, may have bigger audiences, but they also cost more and the savings made by silencing 6 Music will make little difference. The best comparison perhaps is with Radio 3. The station dedicated largely to classical music has two million weekly listeners. According to the BBC's own figures, with an annual budget of 51.1m, it costs the listener 6.3p an hour. Using the same criteria, 6 Music costs 3.4p.

"I make no excuses for the fact what I do on 6 Music is niche," says Maconie. "For two-and-a-half hours I play challenging music, some people love it, some people hate it, but it's impossible not to have an opinion. If people want to watch celebrity chefs or listen to chart music, there's a billion channels and stations they can turn to, but there is no one else doing what 6 Music does.

"There are a whole lot of people passionate about music whose tastes are not catered for by either Radio 1 or Radio 2. With 6 Music they suddenly found their place. Closing it down just seems incredibly short-sighted.

"I've never been a fan of giving people exactly what they want. To me, that seems to be a way of avoiding making difficult, interesting programmes. I want someone to challenge me, I want someone to show me new things. That is what 6 Music does best and I do think the BBC will be a poorer place without it."

The proposals are now subject to a 12-week consultation and while a U-turn seems unlikely, the rallying call from many of the stations past and present DJs is growing louder.

Having written Adventures on the High Teas, a travelogue in search of Middle England, Maconie insists he's not opposed to money being

diverted into mainstream programming, but believes 6 Music was as much a jewel in the BBC's crown as Radio 4 and Five Live.

"When the station was first launched, many people doubted it would succeed," he says. "But it has. The last few weeks have proved how passionate people are about what we do, and to get rid of it now just feels like an unnecessary loss."

n Stuart Maconie will talk about his latest book and career at

Waterstone's in Leeds Albion Street on March 11 at 7pm.

For tickets, call 0113 2444588.