Iggy Pop returns to BBC
Iggy Pop is to return to BBC 6 Music as a permanent presenter from next month.From Friday, April 10, the veteran artist will host a weekly show from 7-9pm. There will be other changes to the Friday night schedule, with Tom Ravenscroft’s show moving to 9pm-midnight (from 7-10pm). These changes mean the station will no longer be broadcasting 6 Mix, a weekly show featuring a range of resident and guest DJs delivering a two hour set.
Iggy Pop said: “Having sat in for Jarvis Cocker last year on BBC Radio 6 Music, I found myself realising how good it was for me. I hope it was good for somebody else too. So I’m gonna do it again this year, on early Friday evenings; what we call in the USA the “happy hour”. It’s kind of an edgy point right at the end of the designated work week, and I’ll try to play quite a bit of music that’s new and stimulating mixed with very old classics from the blues and jazz masters of the 1920’s through 50’s that are a little more moody. I’m gonna think myself as a kind of atmospheric bartender. I’ll try to do my very best.”
Tom Ravenscroft said: “It’s great to have the creative freedom to explore music even more deeply in my new regular slot on 6 Music.”
Iggy Pop first presented two shows on the network back in December 2013. Following that success, in March last year, Iggy returned to front a weekly Sunday afternoon show from 4-6pm – taking over Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service slot whilst Jarvis took a year’s sabbatical. Each show took a different theme – such as In Praise of Beauty, Complaint Department and Preachers & Seers – and he played music linked to that, which included tracks from artists ranging from Sinatra, Beach Boys, The Temptations, Bel Biv Devoe and Bananarama to music from new and emerging artists such as FKA Twigs and Curtis Harding.
Paul Rodgers, head of programmes for 6 Music, said: “In the recent RAJAR figures, Iggy had driven his Sunday afternoon show to a slot record of over 300k listeners. To welcome him back in a permanent slot on the network is a dream come true for me and our listeners, and we all look forward to hearing his eclectic musical selections each Friday evening. I’d also like to thank the 6 Mix team. We feel the time is right to make these changes to the Friday night schedule, but we still hope to work with the range of DJs that featured on that show elsewhere on 6 Music.”
Source: Music Week
