History.

Where did ‘Keeping It Peel’, come from?

When John Peel passed away on 14th October, 2004 this was a terrible shock, as had shown no signs of being in ill health, apart from being diagnosed with Diabetes.

He had been Radio One’s only surviving and longest-serving presenter, so the BBC had to do something to mark the oaccasion.

John Peel’s Production Team were consulted, and they came up with a name, ‘Keeping It Peel’.

This included a section of the Website where his listeners could leave their tributes, as well as the many artists and bands John had supported over the years.

Radio One also suspended their playlist for 24 hours, to play some of the music they thought John Peel may appreciate, so in effect Radio One became “Peel FM.” for this period of time, and a lot of their listeners thought the qulity of the music improved considerably during this time.

This culmimated in Steve Lamacq presenting a two hour tribute programme on the same night.

For the next two programmes, presenter Rob Da Bank stood in.

Radio One then announced, that while John Peel couldn’t be replaced, his work of championing new artists and bands would continue, at least for the time being, with three other presenters: Rob Da Bank, Huw Stephens, and Ras Kwame.

They were somewhat fortunate in that due to the number of programmes John presented, he also worked for the World Service, amongst other stations, his programmes were prepared about five weeks ahead.

So, Rob, Huw, and Ras could effectively play their way through the records John would have played on the radio.

How long did this last?

Unfortunately, only a few months. Rob Da Bank had the majority of programmes to present, as it was felt that his presentation style was closest to John’s.

Eventually, when Peel’s playlists had run out, it was down to the presenters and their production team to find new artists and bands.

There was also little consistency between the three Presenters, and with the exception of Huw Stephens, neither had a track record, or passion for trying to find new artists and bands, especially Ras Kwame, who was the first of the three to drop out.

It also didn’t help that Peel’s production team of Louise (The Office Junior – Producer) and Hermeet (Broadcast Assistant) were also moved from the programme, so any link with John Peel was lost.

Soon both Huw and Rob Da Bank were moved to other projects, and the Peel slot (Tue-Thurs, 2200 hours-Midnight) was scrapped, and hasn’t been re-instated since.

At this point there was no real link between Radio One and John Peel, although the BBC created an “In New Music We Trust”, brand, which was embedding new artists and bands into various programmes across the schedule.

This had some success and was left in place for about a year.

Eventually, this was also scrapped, and that was moreorless the end of any attempt at Radio One to ‘Keeping It Peel’, although at about this time, BBC Radio 6Music was launched.

So is BBC Radio 6Music the BBC’s way of ‘Keeping It Peel’?!

At the beginning, many thought that 6Music was based on the ‘spirit’ of John Peel, playing Alternative Music, and to an extent this was correct.

This seem to be confirmed when one of John’s sons, Tom Ravenscroft joined the station, and stayed for 14 years.

Tom was given free reign, and no playlist to adhere to, but the station was never quite as adventurious as John had been, perhaps except for Tom and Mary Ann-Hobbs, who a lot of people also see as carrying on his work.

The station seemed to soften its playlist a lot over recent years, and Tom Ravenscroft left 6Music in May 2025, although his programme has not been part of the schedule for some time, and had been presenting a podcast, the “New Daily Music Fix”.

So, where is ‘Keeping It Peel’, at the moment?

From the BBC’s point of view, virtually nowhere!

There was no attempt to mark the 20th year of his passing, in 2024 on Radio One, and only a passing attempt on 6Music.

Tom Ravenscroft presented a series of programmes called, ‘Peel Acres’, which featured a person of prominence from the Music Industry taking their choices from John’s huge Record Library at Peel Acres.

The last of these programmes was broadcast in September 2025, over a month before the 20th Anniversary of his passing.

Complaints were made to 6Music about this, and their response was that they don’t necessarily see them as continuing John Peel’s legacy, Tom leaving the station less than one year later, would seem to confirm this.

The ‘Keeping It Peel’, part of the BBC Radio One Website, has now been archived.

The only active part of ‘Keeping It Peel’, would appear to be this Website!

How did this Website start?

When John Peel passed away, there was considerable concern amongst Online Groups about what BBC Radio One may do, in terms of championing newer bands and artists.

While John could not be replaced, his work should be continued.

Facebook and Twitter were not around then, so most of this discussion took place on Yahoo! Groups.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much agreement, with some wanting a tribute Website, in some ways similar to what Radio One have, and another Website, looking to find newer artists.

The two groups parted ways, and from this Strange Fruit Radio was borne.

There was some attempts to make this a commercial venture, with the station playing a mixture of Alternative Classics, such as The Cure, The Smiths, and Nirvana, along with newer bands.

Despite several attempts to re-brand and adjust the output, this was never a success and in 2024, the project was effectively scrapped.

However, Tom Ravenscroft then presented his ‘Peel Acres’, series, and it was realised that Strange Fruit Radio could be used to stream the records featured on the Peel Acres programmes.

This is where the project is today.