I don't think it's is a case of people having narrow tastes . I have very eclectic music tastes (I'd list my top three artists as Richard Thompson, Peter Gabriel and Basement Jaxx). But what specialist radio shows do is provide a slot where we can listen to one genre of music. The Mike Harding Show plays 'folk, roots and acoustic music' which is fair enough but it's a pretty wide remit. Me and lots and lot of other people have an interest in music that is pretty firmly based in the traditions of Britain and Ireland, which is what I'm referring to when I say folk. There is a thriving folk scene that's having quite a renaissance at the moment, and yet still the BBC doesn't see fit to give us a show devoted to it. Good as a lot of the music Mike Harding plays is, the country/bluesy/poppy stuff squeezes out folk music that isn't going to get played anywhere else (except maybe Late Junction) and tracks by the likes of Sinead O'Connor and Paul Weller take time away from brilliant folk artists who have to struggle to gain any exposure.

Before you accuse me of conniving, I didn't deliberately start this thread to plug my show, it started as a genuine show of annoyance on the BBC website. But seeing as I'm here, feel free to check out my thread on it! It's called 'Cool as Folk' and I'm playing British folk music in it's many forms, from Martin Carthy to Martyn Bennett. I've posted some playlists there so you can see if what I'm playing beats what Mike is playing! Oh and I'm very receptive to requests and keen to plug new talent.

Chris