Prick up your ears.

Until the mid-90s, there used to be a nice little pub, The Rule and Square, in Edlesborough, Bedfordshire, 2 or 3 miles from where I used to live. The pub was bought by a property developer, then demolished so that houses could be built on the land. Sadly, this is a very familiar story; hundreds of pubs close each year, mainly through lack of business. I'm not going to trawl over the 'sad decline of the Great British Pub' here, but what struck me at the time was the local reaction. A handful of dedicated locals circulated a petition, campaigning to keep the pub open. Through their hard work they collected thousands of signatures, but it was all in vain as the deal had already been done. The thing is, if all those thousands of signatories had popped into the pub from time to time, the landlord would never have been forced to sell up.
I was reminded of this tale recently when rumours began circulating that the BBC are going to axe the Asian Network and 6Music. I have listened to both radio stations on occasion, particularly when Mark & Lard left Radio 1 (although I have recently started dipping my toes back into R1 on the odd occasion). However, I could hardly claim to be a regular listener. Until now.
I am listening to 6Music right now and it is staggeringly good. In the last half an hour they have played Wilson Pickett, The White Stripes, Jimi Hendrix, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sugarhill Gang, Nirvana and some great new stuff that I have never even heard of. I was smiling the second I switched it on as the first track I heard was 'California Sun' by The Ramones, a track I have been playing to death in the car recently. Give 6Music (and Asian Network) a listen. You won't like every track, but I hope you will find it a refreshing change to whatever you usually listen to. If you do like it, and feel that it is important not to lose such a station(s), the sign the petition at http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/1000/. Hopefully it won't be too late to save these radio stations going the same way as The Rule and Square. If it is too late, then I fear we're heading for X-Factor themed hell. We're all dooooomed.

http://open.spotify.com/track/5ll3UcDy49UzF9YwGo5mz7 TURN IT UP LOUD.