Stuart John Maconie (born 13 August 1961) is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of pop music and popular culture. He is a presenter on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

where, alongside Mark Radcliffe, he hosts its weekend breakfast show (SaturdaySunday, 8am10am)''Radcliffe and Maconie''
(BBC Radio 6 Music) which broadcasts from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

in Salford. The pair previously presented an evening show on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

and the weekday afternoon show for BBC Radio 6 Music. Maconie used to present his own solo show on Saturday afternoons from April 2006 until 29 March 2008, and is a frequent stand-in for holidaying presenters on Radio 2. He also hosts BBC Radio 6 Music programmes ''The Freak Zone'',''Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone''
(BBC Radio 6 Music) on Sundays from 8pm to 10pm and ''Freak Zone Playlist''''Freak Zone Playlist''
(BBC Radio 6 Music) (formerly known as ''The Freakier Zone'') on Wednesday night/Thursday mornings from midnight to 1am.

Early life

Maconie was born in Whiston, near Knowsley in Lancashire. He was raised in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, Lancashire. He was educated at St John Rigby College, Orrell and Edge Hill College (now Edge Hill University), in Ormskirk. Power maconie

While at St John Rigby College, Maconie formed a band named (after several iterations) Les Flirts, featuring Maconie on guitar/vocals, Nigel Power on bass and Jem Bretherton on drums.

Career

In his career as a writer and journalist he has written for '' Q'', '' Word Magazine'', ''

ELLE Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'', ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', '' Select'', '' Mojo'', ''Country Walking'', ''Deluxe'' and was an assistant editor for the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. In September 2008, he began a new monthly column for ''Cumbria Life'' magazine. Maconie previously worked as an English and sociology teacher at Skelmersdale College,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

for one year in 1987–88. He has written screenplays for television and films. Maconie is also the author of ''Cider With Roadies,'' an autobiography of his experiences as a music journalist that references '' Cider with Rosie'' in the wordplay of the title. ''Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North'', a book that discusses the modern reality of

Northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

(as opposed to the popular myths), was published in February 2007, with an audio version following in March 2009. Maconie, portraying himself a 'professional northerner', uses childhood experiences alongside anecdotes from recent visits to illuminate the book. A third book, ''Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England'' was published in March 2009. Maconie's March 2012 book, ''Never Mind the Quantocks'', is a collection of more than 50 essays from his monthly column in ''Country Walking'' magazine. Maconie said he started two

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

s: that Bob Holness, UK host of the game show '' Blockbusters'', played the sax solo on Gerry Rafferty's hit single "

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder James Baker. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises. The street is ...

" and that

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

invented the board game Connect Four. The stories first appeared as blatant jokes in a spoof ''

''s ''Believe It or Not'' feature, but have since been repeated elsewhere as if true. Maconie also said he was the first to use the term

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

for the British pop music movement of the mid-1990s. John Robb had earlier used the term in 1987 when writing for Sounds. Maconie later said, "I'm sure someone must have used the expression before me about the Hollies, or

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, back in the '60s. But I was the first person to use it about bands like

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBlur". In February 2023,

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

was highly critical of Maconie for an article in the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' which he said misrepresented and misquoted his views on bandmate

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

's musicianship, calling it "shit stirring, ill-informed nonsense."

Publications

Maconie's books include: * ''3862 Days: The Official History of Blur'' * ''James – Folklore: The Official History'' * ''Cider with Roadies'' * ''Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North'' * ''Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England'' * ''Short Stories for Short Breaks'' * ''Never Mind the Quantocks'' * ''The Pie at Night: In Search of the North at Play'' * ''Long Road from Jarrow: A journey through Britain then and now'' * ''The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save it'' * ''The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and its People''

Broadcasting

As a broadcaster, Maconie's work has appeared on television and radio.

Radio 1

Maconie was a music reporter for ''Mark Goodier's Evening Session'' on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

, alongside Andrew Collins. Also on Radio 1, from 1995 to 1997, Maconie joined forces with Collins presenting a music review called '' Collins and Maconie's Hit Parade'', which originally went out on Monday nights from 9pm to 10pm and then on Sunday afternoons from 3pm to 4pm. In addition to this, in October 1996, Maconie took over a weekly album show on Radio 1 on Sunday nights, until late 1997.

Radio 2

Maconie joined

in 1998, with shows such as ''All Singing, All Dancing, All Night'', a northern soul music show, and, for several years, ''Stuart Maconie's Critical List'' on Saturday evenings. He also presents

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

and deputised for

Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky produced by Diageo in Scotland. It was established in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire in 1820, and continued to be produced and bottled at the town's Hill Street plant, once the world's ...

on Radio 2's Drivetime programme. From April 2006 to 29 March 2008, Maconie presented the Saturday afternoon show previously presented by Chris Evans. In addition to his Saturday show, on 16 April 2007, Maconie joined forces with Mark Radcliffe to present a new show on BBC Radio 2 which was broadcast between Monday and Wednesday (Monday to Thursday up to April 2010) from 8pm to 10pm. In spring 2011, this show was transferred to 6 Music in the afternoon slot, 14pm weekdays, later moving to weekend mornings from 8am to 10am. In 2012, Maconie began presenting ''The People's Songs'', a "story of modern Britain in 50 records". Described as music as social history, 50 programmes in the series examine periods in Britain, the events that were occurring and how a particular song was the soundtrack of that period.

Radio 5 Live

From 1994 to 2001, Maconie presented the satirical news review ''The Treatment'', on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

BBC Radio 6 Music

Maconie also joined

from its inception in 2002 where he presents ''The Freak Zone'' radio show. It is described as "''the weird, the wonderful and all that's in between''", and is very diverse in musical content. This show is broadcast every Sunday from 8pm to 10pm, and has been supplemented in 2010 with ''The Freakier Zone'', which airs from midnight to 1am every Saturday night/Sunday morning. In spring 2011, his Radio 2 show with Mark Radcliffe was moved to 6 Music, weekdays 14pm. The afternoon show ended on 21 December 2018 and moved to the weekend breakfast show in January 2019.

Other broadcasting

Maconie has also presented musical specialities for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

and the new-style "populist"

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

and has appeared on television and in films. In 2007 he presented ''Stuart Maconie's TV Towns'' for

ITV3 ITV3 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9 pm, replacing Plus (British TV channel), Plus ...

, six one-hour shows about TV and film locations in Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London. In February 2015 he was the guest of Sarah Walker on BBC Radio 3's ''Essential Classics''. Since 2016 he has appeared on the North of England team on the BBC Radio 4's '' Round Britain Quiz''.

Other projects

Maconie was President of

The Ramblers The Ramblers' Association, branded simply as the Ramblers, is Great Britain's walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path network. T ...

from 2017 to 2023 and is a keen fellwalker. He completed, on 20 June 2009, all 214

Wainwrights Wainwrights are the 214 English peaks (known locally as '' fells'') described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' (1955–66). They all lie within the boundary of the Lake District National Park in Cu ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

and is an honorary member of the Wainwright Society, having given their Memorial Lecture in 2006. In late 2009, Experience Northwest released a series of short stories he wrote about the hidden gems in England's Northwest.

Personal life

Maconie is a supporter of

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

and

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

. In December 2009, Maconie was awarded an honorary Master's degree by Edge Hill University,

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is located north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, Merseyside, St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Ormski ...

. The university has a hall of residence called Maconie in his honour. In July 2011, he was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

(DLitt) from the

University of Bolton The University of Greater Manchester (legally: The University of Bolton Higher Education Corporation) is a public university in Bolton, Greater Manchester in England. The university is commonly referred to as a 'post-92' institution, which is a ...

. In January 2016 he became a patron of Warley Woods after a number of years being actively involved.

Politics

Maconie is politically left of centre and joined the Labour Party at the age of 17. He has commented on

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

: "In these days of identity politics and what you might call 'the selfie-fication' of political thought, Marxism remains refreshingly bracing in its view of the world."

References

External links

*
''Radcliffe and Maconie''
(BBC Radio 6 Music)
''Freak Zone Playlist''
(BBC Radio 6 Music)
''Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone''
(BBC Radio 6 Music) {{DEFAULTSORT:Maconie, Stuart 1961 births Living people Alumni of Edge Hill University Alumni of the University of Greater Manchester BBC Radio 2 presenters BBC Radio 6 Music presenters English male journalists English male non-fiction writers English Marxist writers English music critics English music journalists English non-fiction writers English people of Scottish descent English radio DJs English radio presenters English television presenters Labour Party (UK) people NME writers People associated with Edge Hill University People from Wigan Rock critics The Times people Walkers of the United Kingdom