Lockdown FM Book

Lockdown FM: Broadcasting in a Pandemic is a 600-page cultural document capturing the experience of a year in lockdown through the lens of broadcaster Gilles Peterson and the global music community of Worldwide FM. Densely illustrated, it records the role of music, memory, and collective connection during the unprecedented disruption of Covid-19.

Structured around playlists from eighty Worldwide FM and BBC6 Music broadcasts, the book traces a timeline from early 2020 through the first national lockdown and beyond. It interweaves Peterson’s personal reflections with tributes to musicians lost during the pandemic—including McCoy Tyner, Manu Dibango, Tony Allen, Ty, and Mike Huckaby—while celebrating the resilience of artists, genres, and communities that continued to create.

Contributions from Zara McFarlane, Louie Vega, François Kervorkian, Adrian Younge, Jazz Re:freshed, and many others situate these broadcasts within a wider creative response to the crisis. Photography by Dobie captures a deserted London, while the book also engages with the cultural rupture of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd.

Edited by Paul Bradshaw with design by Hugh Miller, Lockdown FM reflects the improvisational energy of its moment. It is both a chronicle of loss and resilience, and a testament to the enduring role of music as a source of connection and survival in times of upheaval.