Yes, MH show (and remember it is 'The Mike Harding show', not 'The Mike Harding folk show' or even 'folk on two') has a wide remit, but no wider than others on radio 2 and certainly narrower than most. Their remit is stated in the trailers - "The best in Folk, Roots, and Acoustic music". I don't think those three words are that far apart - the problem with most people seems to be the "best" bit which is so obviously subjective. Compare that to Stuart Marconie and "the best music of all time, from every genre there is".

John Leonard et al are really not part of some sinister conspiricy to deprive you of your favourite music - they have successfully managed to get the BBC to fund the Folk Awards, are responsible for the a lot of the programmes on BBC4, got the BBC to take folk a lot more seriously (internally at least) and have done a very good job over the last seven odd years. OK, people may grumble that only "names" get played/promoted, but those people became names by selling tens of thousands of records and so proving to the controller of BBC4 that they deserved a whole hours airtime devoted to a concert of them. When Mary Humphries and Annahata sell 30 thousand records they will get a concert broadcast on BBC4, I guarantee it.

I agree, MH doesn't speak for me either, but at least he has a national radio show that anybody can stumble across and discover the music. What we need is a new Andy Kershaw on Radio 1 to be exciting and vibrant and reflect what I (as a 20something music fan) think is good about this music.