Hi Mr Sumner.
Only my little joke, after having seen years of Harding bashing going on in various places.
I'm not one of them.
As a maintream show on Radio 2 Mike H has to appeal to a much wider cross section of the British public, so, obviously he will latch on to the names that might have popped into the national consciousness, Jim and Kate to name but two.
Having worked at the BBC for over 30 years, I know just how monolithic it can be, but, scratch the surface, and you will find many many here people championing "Folk" (God, I hate that word!) music.
For instance the late John Peel had sessions from the late 60's onwards.
in no particular order, Martin Carthy, Altan, Bothy Band, Cheviot Ranters, Chieftains, Shirley Collins, Boys of the Lough, Albion band, And so on....and on....and on

The Programme I was most involved with, before I retired, was Andy Kershaw. I've recently been going through the sessions and there are literally dozens of them. All of which were slotted in between his usual fare of The Clash etc.

Same with Late Junction, and their Womad coverage, and Radio 3 are even doing a Folk Prom tonight! (For a laugh, go read the Radio 3 message board, it's a hoot!!!)

Just a thought, I might just suggest to Mikes production team, to put a pointer on their website to other sources of "our" music on the web, you know Local Radio, Britfolk, etc, etc, in case the casual browser, wants to find out more.

I'm not sure if the Beeb would allow this, they do seem terrified of being accused of advertising, and indeed anything web based, but it's worth a go, methinks.
Anyway, I've rambled on far too much.

Just some thoughts

Ralphie