BBC unveils digital music station

Phill Jupitus will host the breakfast show

The BBC has announced the details of its first new national music radio station to launch for over 30 years with digital station 6 Music.

The station - which had been provisionally titled Network Y - will launch with a line-up of past BBC DJs, comedians and musicians.

Janice Long will present live music from the BBC archive

Comics including Phill Jupitus, Craig Charles and Sean Hughes will have shows, as will music stars Suggs, Bruce Dickinson and Tom Robinson and DJs including Janice Long, Bob Harris and Stuart Maconie.

6 Music promises a "hip, credible" mix of music from the last 40 years with reviews, music news and classic sessions.

Jupitus will launch the station with the first airing of his breakfast show at 0700GMT on Monday, 11 March.

Listeners will be able to hear the station through digital radio sets or digital satellite TV receivers.

"6 Music is about where the music's been, where it is right now, and where it's going to," according to programme editor John Sugar.

You won't find a Westlife CD in any of their personal collections

John Sugar on 6 Music DJs

He said the presenters were all "foaming-at-the-mouth music enthusiasts" who would reflect the target audience of 30-to-44-year-olds.

"Everybody who we're putting on air is a music enthusiast and discerning about music. You won't find a Westlife CD in any of their personal collections.

The music would be defined by its "quality, credibility and timelessness", he said.

The daily line-up will start with Jupitus's breakfast show before a lunchtime slot by VH1 presenter Gideon Coe.

Suggs will host the Saturday lunchtime show

Former Radio 1 presenter Liz Kershaw will host the early afternoon before slots from writer and music journalist Andrew Collins, singer-songwriter Tom Robinson and another former Radio 1 name, Janice Long.

Red Dwarf actor Craig Charles, comedian Sean Hughes, Radio 2 DJ Stuart Maconie, former Madness frontman Suggs, Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson and "Whispering" Bob Harris are among those who will have weekend shows.

More than half the line-up of 17 DJs announced are former presenters on GLR, the London music and talk station which turned into London Live in 2000 and is now a speech-based station, BBC London 94.9.

Mr Sugar said his team was not trying to recreate GLR - but that the target audiences, styles and therefore staff of the two stations would overlap.

Digital radio sets are due to drop in price this year

Jenny Abramsky, BBC Director of Radio, said the station would mark a "new era" for people who were passionate about music.

"I know that armed with the talents and skills of the presenters, production teams and technical staff, 6 Music will make a new and distinctive contribution to the BBC's music portfolio," she said.

The BBC's first digital-only station, Five Live Sports Extra, went on air on Saturday, 2 February.

Another digital radio launch has also just been announced, with Capital Radio teaming up with Disney to create a children's station.

Digital radio currently has few listeners compared with conventional radio, but it is seen as the future of the medium, with sets promising better sound quality and text information due to drop in price this year.