Life's rare pleasures: BBC Radio 6 Music

By far the best decision I've made this year was to start listening to BBC Radio 6 Music. As something of a technophile I was a surprisingly late convert to digital radio, but finally bought my first set just after Christmas 2012. My job enables me to listen to the radio all day, and since 1996 I had been tuned faithfully to Radio 1. To be fair it used to be okay - unless nostalgia has blunted my memory - but I'd finally got sick of incessant boy bands and talent-free X Factor trash. Which was fair enough - I was 35 and clearly not meant to like such things.

A switch was in order, and of course I was never going to migrate to Radio 2. It has its moments, but half of the music is still enough to make the deaf rejoice. Any station that playlists James Blunt forfeits their right to consideration. So with modest expectations I gave 6 Music a try, and it was immediately like being let in on an incredible secret. Knowledgeable, enthusiastic presenters and brilliant, brilliant music. I'd been telling people that there wasn't much new music worth listening to these days, and I was totally wrong. It's there in spades, you just don't hear it anywhere else. I've discovered more new artists in the past ten months than in the previous ten years. The John Peel Show on Radio 1 used to be a rare outlet for proper music, but 6 Music is like that 24 hours a day - an impeccable blend of old and new material. You can just trust them; when you hear the intro to Bob & Earl's Harlem Shuffle, you can be pretty confident that you aren't being deceived by House of Pain's Jump Around. In almost a year I could count on one hand the times when they've played a track I genuinely didn't like. With Radio 1 you'd have your socks off within the hour.

It's hard to believe that the BBC were considering closing it down in 2010. As a non-listener at the time I obviously wasn't too bothered, but now I realise that it would have been an appalling act of cultural vandalism, killing off the strongest of the litter to let the runts survive. If you gave me unlimited resources and complete control, I wouldn't be able to craft a finer radio station. It exceeds every demand I have. There is no fault to find and no other media outlet gets it so right. I am in love with music again.