6-0-6
Encyclopedia
6-0-6 is a football phone-in, broadcast on BBC Radio Five Live
throughout the football season; when the programme started, it typically went on air at 6:06pm on a matchday (when schedules allow). It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom. It currently airs on Saturdays and Sundays and is produced by independent production company Somethin' Else
. As well as listeners phoning in, a selection of texts and e-mails to the studio are read out.
The programme was inspired by long-running BBC Local radio football phone-ins such as the BBC Radio Sheffield
programme "Praise or Grumble".
6-0-6's current theme tune is an arrangement of "1901
" from Phoenix
.
. It gets its name from the (approximate) time the show starts on a Saturday evening — six minutes past six.
Its original host was Danny Baker
(1991–92, 1996–97, 2008–09). David Mellor
(1992–2001) presented 6-0-6 for much of the 1990s and early on in the 2000s and was for a long time its regular Wednesday-evening presenter. Other previous hosts have involved Richard Littlejohn
(1997–2002), Dominik Diamond
, Adrian Chiles
(2001–06), Jonathan Pearce
(2002–03) and Tim Lovejoy
(2007-09). Issy Clarke for many years in the 2000s read out emails and text messages before she moved to Baker's new Saturday morning show.
Regular presenters included DJ Spoony
, who used to present Sundays with Gabriele Marcotti
; and Alan Green, who has normally commentated on a game the same day (mostly Saturdays). Occasional presenters include Mark Lawrenson
, Steve Claridge
, Mark Bright
, and Manish Bhasin
. Danny Baker
returned to 6-0-6 to present six Euro 2008 specials, and proved such a big hit with the listeners that he was invited back to present regularly on Tuesdays.
Under Baker in the 1990s the show favoured bizarre and obscure but hilarious topics, avoiding the matches played and headline news in the football. There was also music in its first years. However, from Mellor onwards, the show became established as a more mainstream phone-in, mainly focusing on Premier League teams.
In the 2009-10 season the program was hosted by DJ Spoony
and Gabriele Marcotti
, Alan Green, presented saturday and he typically commentated on an evening match before presenting the Saturday show. Tim Lovejoy joined to present Wednesday and Danny Baker joined to present on Tuesday from 10-11pm. Occasional presenters for the 2009/10 season include Mark Lawrenson
, Steve Claridge
, Mark Chapman
, Mark Bright
, Perry Groves
, Robbie Savage
, Darren Fletcher and Soccer AM
Presenter Max Rushden
.
Spoony was popular with listeners as he had an 'infectious enthusiasm' for all things football which makes him extremely popular with listeners. He is an avid fan of Liverpool
and also gained an exclusive interview with David Beckham
in his LA
home after the player signed for LA Galaxy in the MLS. Gabriele Marcotti is an established sports journalist who writes for Sports Illustrated in the US and The Times in the UK and more publications besides. He has appeared on BBC's Football Focus
and Sky Sports News
, and before coming to BBC 5 Live he worked with talkSPORT
for six years. He is now freelance and works for 5 Live and talkSPORT like Ray Parlour and Matt Holland who frequently appear on both rival stations. Alan Green is a broadcaster and commentator who has been with the BBC since 1981. His outspoken views have occasionally got him in to hot water but he remains a hugely popular and emotive figure amongst fans of the game for his say-it-like-he-sees-it attitude and while he doesnt present 606 anymore he is popular commentator usually commentating on all 5 lives big matches.
2010-11 season was a big change for 606, the saturday show started again at 6:06pm on saturday afternoons after talksport took the rights to saturday evening premier league matches so this season was presented by Mark Chapman and Robbie Savage joined as an official co-host, this debut season saw Savage win a sony radio award for rising star in radio. When chapman was unavailable the program was usually hosted by Darren Fletcher the 5 live commentator and Mike Parry formally of talksport hosted with Savage a few times. Sundays show was hosted by Alan Green by himself. The Tuesday and Wednesday shows were dropped aswell only appearing on international nights and instead 5 Live Sport was extended to 10:30pm.
The 2011-12 season saw more changes; Alan Green no longer presents and Premier League striker for Blackburn Rovers Jason Roberts is the co-host on Saturday with Darren Fletcher. Chappers and Savage have moved to Sunday nights because Savage is participating in series 9 of BBC One smash hit Strictly Come Dancing
Sunday's 606 also has a weekly celebrity fan, reporting on the game they have been to that day. Celebrity fans so far have included Ray Winstone
(West Ham), Alan Davies
(Arsenal), Beverly Knight (Wolves), Norman Jay
(Spurs), Trevor Nelson
(Chelsea), Tony Jeffries (Sunderland) and James and Oliver Phelps aka the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter films (Birmingham and Aston Villa).
Now the sunday show has a feature where 5 callers have 10 seconds to state their name, where they are from and their point
On 24 January 2011, It was announced the 6-0-6 forum would close at the end of the 2010-11 football season. The forum finally closed on 31 May 2011.
606 also has an active Facebook
group, for fans to chat, and view behind the scenes pictures of the show. Listeners can follow 606 @bbc606 on Twitter
.
, Cricket's 6-Duck-6 presented by former England captain Michael Vaughan
and Formula 1, where Murray Walker
presents. Since the 606 website disabled the ability to add comments and is no longer maintained, there have been a number of websites set up to continue providing this service including the New 606 football forum.
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
throughout the football season; when the programme started, it typically went on air at 6:06pm on a matchday (when schedules allow). It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom. It currently airs on Saturdays and Sundays and is produced by independent production company Somethin' Else
Somethin' Else Sound Directions Ltd.
Somethin' Else is a content design and creation company. They specialise in content across, games, interactivity, radio, TV, branded content and talent management....
. As well as listeners phoning in, a selection of texts and e-mails to the studio are read out.
The programme was inspired by long-running BBC Local radio football phone-ins such as the BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Sheffield is the BBC Local Radio service for English metropolitan county of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. This includes the city of Sheffield, plus Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Chesterfield and surrounding areas. It was the BBC local radio station, beginning on 15 November 1967...
programme "Praise or Grumble".
6-0-6's current theme tune is an arrangement of "1901
1901 (song)
"1901" is a song by French alternative rock band Phoenix and is featured on their fourth studio album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. It was released in February 2009 as the album's lead single, originally as a free download from the band's official website, but was issued as a retail single due to the...
" from Phoenix
Phoenix (band)
Phoenix is a Grammy Award winning French indie rock band from Versailles, founded by Thomas Mars, Deck d'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz.-Formation and early years:...
.
Presenter history
Originally the programme was broadcast only once a week, on Saturdays after Sports ReportSports Report
Sports Report is one of the longest-running programmes on British radio. It started in the first week of 1948, and has always been aired from 5.00 to 6.00 p.m...
. It gets its name from the (approximate) time the show starts on a Saturday evening — six minutes past six.
Its original host was Danny Baker
Danny Baker
Danny Baker is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Since the late 1970s, he has worked for a wide range of publications and broadcasters including NME, LWT, the BBC, and Talk Radio....
(1991–92, 1996–97, 2008–09). David Mellor
David Mellor
David John Mellor, QC is a British politician, non-practising barrister, broadcaster, journalist and football pundit. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for National Heritage , before...
(1992–2001) presented 6-0-6 for much of the 1990s and early on in the 2000s and was for a long time its regular Wednesday-evening presenter. Other previous hosts have involved Richard Littlejohn
Richard Littlejohn
Richard William Littlejohn is an English author, broadcaster and journalist. He is noted for his Conservative views and currently writes a twice-weekly column for the Daily Mail....
(1997–2002), Dominik Diamond
Dominik Diamond
Paul Dominik Diamond is a Scottish television and radio presenter and newspaper columnist. He is best known as the original presenter of Channel 4's video gaming programme GamesMaster, as host of The Dominik Diamond Breakfast Show on Xfm Scotland and as a columnist for the Daily Star...
, Adrian Chiles
Adrian Chiles
Adrian Chiles is a British television and radio presenter, currently working for ITV Sport presenting football coverage....
(2001–06), Jonathan Pearce
Jonathan Pearce
Jonathan Pearce , is a British football commentator for the BBC.Known for his loud, exuberant commentaries, he has worked for both Radio Five Live and Match of the Day, as well as participating in other lower key sports programmes.- Early life and career :Pearce wanted to become a footballer, but...
(2002–03) and Tim Lovejoy
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy is a British television presenter most famous for hosting Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain for over a decade.- Career :...
(2007-09). Issy Clarke for many years in the 2000s read out emails and text messages before she moved to Baker's new Saturday morning show.
Regular presenters included DJ Spoony
DJ Spoony
DJ Spoony is the stage name of Johnathan Joseph who is a British DJ, and former BBC Radio 1 presenter.-Radio and Dj career:...
, who used to present Sundays with Gabriele Marcotti
Gabriele Marcotti
Gabriele Marcotti is an England-based Italian sports journalist, sports author, and radio-television presenter.Born in Italy and now based in London, he was raised in Chicago, Poland, Germany, New York and Japan...
; and Alan Green, who has normally commentated on a game the same day (mostly Saturdays). Occasional presenters include Mark Lawrenson
Mark Lawrenson
Mark Thomas Lawrenson is a former professional football player, a defender in the Liverpool and Irish football teams of the 1980s; he since became a radio, television and internet pundit for the BBC and Today FM. He was born in England, but played for the Republic of Ireland because his...
, Steve Claridge
Steve Claridge
Stephen Edward Claridge is an English football player, pundit and coach. He is currently a pundit for BBC Sport football shows including Football Focus and the The Football League Show, whilst also playing as a striker for semi-professional team Gosport Borough.Claridge's career is known for its...
, Mark Bright
Mark Bright
Mark Abraham Bright is a former English footballer who is now a sports pundit and BBC London's sport presenter, as well as a coach at Crystal Palace....
, and Manish Bhasin
Manish Bhasin
Manish Bhasin is a sports journalist and presenter currently working for the BBC as presenter of The Football League Show.-Early career:Bhasin graduated in 1997 from Anglia Ruskin University with a degree in "Communication Studies with English" and completed a diploma in "Broadcast Journalism" at...
. Danny Baker
Danny Baker
Danny Baker is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Since the late 1970s, he has worked for a wide range of publications and broadcasters including NME, LWT, the BBC, and Talk Radio....
returned to 6-0-6 to present six Euro 2008 specials, and proved such a big hit with the listeners that he was invited back to present regularly on Tuesdays.
Under Baker in the 1990s the show favoured bizarre and obscure but hilarious topics, avoiding the matches played and headline news in the football. There was also music in its first years. However, from Mellor onwards, the show became established as a more mainstream phone-in, mainly focusing on Premier League teams.
In the 2009-10 season the program was hosted by DJ Spoony
DJ Spoony
DJ Spoony is the stage name of Johnathan Joseph who is a British DJ, and former BBC Radio 1 presenter.-Radio and Dj career:...
and Gabriele Marcotti
Gabriele Marcotti
Gabriele Marcotti is an England-based Italian sports journalist, sports author, and radio-television presenter.Born in Italy and now based in London, he was raised in Chicago, Poland, Germany, New York and Japan...
, Alan Green, presented saturday and he typically commentated on an evening match before presenting the Saturday show. Tim Lovejoy joined to present Wednesday and Danny Baker joined to present on Tuesday from 10-11pm. Occasional presenters for the 2009/10 season include Mark Lawrenson
Mark Lawrenson
Mark Thomas Lawrenson is a former professional football player, a defender in the Liverpool and Irish football teams of the 1980s; he since became a radio, television and internet pundit for the BBC and Today FM. He was born in England, but played for the Republic of Ireland because his...
, Steve Claridge
Steve Claridge
Stephen Edward Claridge is an English football player, pundit and coach. He is currently a pundit for BBC Sport football shows including Football Focus and the The Football League Show, whilst also playing as a striker for semi-professional team Gosport Borough.Claridge's career is known for its...
, Mark Chapman
Mark Chapman (DJ)
Andrew Mark "Chappers" Chapman , also known as Chappers, is the main sports presenter on Radio 5 Live as well as presenting for BBC Sport on television, his mother is Emily Chapman and his father is Peter Chapman.He was the sports newsreader and Mills' sidekick on The Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio...
, Mark Bright
Mark Bright
Mark Abraham Bright is a former English footballer who is now a sports pundit and BBC London's sport presenter, as well as a coach at Crystal Palace....
, Perry Groves
Perry Groves
Perry Groves is a former English footballer, known chiefly for his time at Arsenal. He was a fast-paced player who usually played as winger, and occasionally as a striker...
, Robbie Savage
Robbie Savage
Robert William "Robbie" Savage is a football pundit and former Welsh professional footballer who played predominantly as a midfielder. During his career he captained Derby County, and also played for the Welsh national team. He now presents 606 on BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday evenings alongside...
, Darren Fletcher and Soccer AM
Soccer AM
Soccer AM is a British Saturday-morning football-based comedy/talk show, predominantly based around the Premier League...
Presenter Max Rushden
Max Rushden
Max Rushden is an English television presenter who replaced Andy Goldstein as a co-presenter of Saturday morning Sky Sports show Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain from August 2008.- Career :...
.
Spoony was popular with listeners as he had an 'infectious enthusiasm' for all things football which makes him extremely popular with listeners. He is an avid fan of Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
and also gained an exclusive interview with David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
in his LA
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
home after the player signed for LA Galaxy in the MLS. Gabriele Marcotti is an established sports journalist who writes for Sports Illustrated in the US and The Times in the UK and more publications besides. He has appeared on BBC's Football Focus
Football Focus
Football Focus is a BBC television show, broadcast on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes, covering football, presented from the 2009/2010 season by Dan Walker...
and Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News is a 24-hour sports news channel in the United Kingdom. It is run by BSkyB whose sports channels include Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as Sky Sports HD1, HD2, HD3 and HD4....
, and before coming to BBC 5 Live he worked with talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
for six years. He is now freelance and works for 5 Live and talkSPORT like Ray Parlour and Matt Holland who frequently appear on both rival stations. Alan Green is a broadcaster and commentator who has been with the BBC since 1981. His outspoken views have occasionally got him in to hot water but he remains a hugely popular and emotive figure amongst fans of the game for his say-it-like-he-sees-it attitude and while he doesnt present 606 anymore he is popular commentator usually commentating on all 5 lives big matches.
2010-11 season was a big change for 606, the saturday show started again at 6:06pm on saturday afternoons after talksport took the rights to saturday evening premier league matches so this season was presented by Mark Chapman and Robbie Savage joined as an official co-host, this debut season saw Savage win a sony radio award for rising star in radio. When chapman was unavailable the program was usually hosted by Darren Fletcher the 5 live commentator and Mike Parry formally of talksport hosted with Savage a few times. Sundays show was hosted by Alan Green by himself. The Tuesday and Wednesday shows were dropped aswell only appearing on international nights and instead 5 Live Sport was extended to 10:30pm.
The 2011-12 season saw more changes; Alan Green no longer presents and Premier League striker for Blackburn Rovers Jason Roberts is the co-host on Saturday with Darren Fletcher. Chappers and Savage have moved to Sunday nights because Savage is participating in series 9 of BBC One smash hit Strictly Come Dancing
Programme features
Season 2009/10 saw the launch of the 606 Soapbox outside grounds. Fans can drop into the Soapbox and speak live to presenters Spoony and Gabriele Marcotti in the 5 Live studios. Every three weeks the Soapbox visits a league football ground in various locations around the country.Sunday's 606 also has a weekly celebrity fan, reporting on the game they have been to that day. Celebrity fans so far have included Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and as Will Scarlet in the cult television adventure series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over...
(West Ham), Alan Davies
Alan Davies
Alan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(Arsenal), Beverly Knight (Wolves), Norman Jay
Norman Jay
Norman Jay MBE is an innovative and pioneering British DJ. He first came to prominence playing unlicensed or 'warehouse' parties in the early 1980s, such as Shake 'n' Fingerpop. His diverse and deep musical knowledge and his refusal to be restricted to playing from any single genre distinguishes...
(Spurs), Trevor Nelson
Trevor Nelson
Trevor Nelson MBE is an English DJ and presenter.Born in Hackney to a family of St Lucian heritage, he attended Central Foundation Boys' Grammar School in Cowper St, Islington, London EC2 and Westminster Kingsway College...
(Chelsea), Tony Jeffries (Sunderland) and James and Oliver Phelps aka the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter films (Birmingham and Aston Villa).
Now the sunday show has a feature where 5 callers have 10 seconds to state their name, where they are from and their point
6-0-6 online forum
In addition to the phone-in programme, there was also an online version of 6-0-6 in the form of an Internet message board, although in June 2006 the site was forced to temporarily close due to the large amount of web traffic and forum threads. Football, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, snooker, motorsport and several other sports had message boards embedded into 606.On 24 January 2011, It was announced the 6-0-6 forum would close at the end of the 2010-11 football season. The forum finally closed on 31 May 2011.
606 also has an active Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
group, for fans to chat, and view behind the scenes pictures of the show. Listeners can follow 606 @bbc606 on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
.
Spin-offs
Other sports occasionally get the 6-0-6 treatment. These include Tennis, where the show became 6 Love 6 presented by John McEnroeJohn McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
, Cricket's 6-Duck-6 presented by former England captain Michael Vaughan
Michael Vaughan
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...
and Formula 1, where Murray Walker
Murray Walker
Graeme Murray Walker, OBE is a former Formula One motorsport commentator...
presents. Since the 606 website disabled the ability to add comments and is no longer maintained, there have been a number of websites set up to continue providing this service including the New 606 football forum.
External links
- 606 Homepage BBC Sport