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Corporation bosses have now received nearly 8,000 complaints in a week and a half, as people object to the axing of the digital service.

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It has made the closure one of the hottest topics in terms of complaints with which the BBC has had to deal. Levels rarely reach beyond three figures.

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Only the Sachsgate scandal and the BBC's decision to broadcast Jerry Springer: The Opera have drawn more complaints directly to the BBC. In both those cases upset was directed against specific broadcasts, rather than being sparked by an entire service.

Yesterday the station celebrated its eighth birthday, prompting artists Damien Hirst and Gary Hume to design and send birthday cards to the threatened radio station to register their protests.

They joined the growing opposition to the axing of the digital service - eight years old today - which was outlined last week in the BBC's strategic review.

The station is earmarked for closure, with another digital service, Asian Network, under proposals published by BBC director general Mark Thompson.

The Asian Network has drawn 624 complaints about closure.

When the BBC was planning to axe long-running music series Top Of The Pops, the BBC received only 143 complaints which shows the current level of feeling.

Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's prank calls to Andrew Sachs in 2008 prompted more than 42,000 complaints, while the Springer broadcast led to a total of 63,000, although only 8,000 of these were after the broadcast.

The flames were fanned for both of these by vociferous lobbies with religious groups involved in one and newspaper campaigns in the other.
The corporation is directing those who are unhappy at the 6 Music proposals to register their views with the BBC Trust which is conducting a public consultation.

The BBC said today: "It is absolutely right that licence fee-payers have an opportunity to have their say on big decisions like service closures before final conclusions are reached and that is why the BBC Trust is running a public consultation in which we hope as many people as possible will participate."

A number of high profile names have voiced their concerns about the closure including Radiohead and David Bowie, as well as Jarvis Cocker who has a show on the station.

Former culture secretary James Purnell has also expressed his concerns for the station. A Save 6 Music page on social networking site Facebook, where more than 157,000 people have signed up to the campaign.

Opponents to the plan are being asked to register their views by contacting the BBC Trust.