I think if the BBC were to scrap the folk awards, it's highly likely that they would spend the money on something with more of a majority interest, sadly. I think we are lucky that the Beeb gives 'folk' as much coverage as it does.

Folk music isn't popular, its apparent rise in popularity in the 60's was largely due to the baby-boom providing big enough numbers for marketing people to take an interest. I'd hazard a guess that if the BBC gave it more coverage then, it was because, though obviously not exclusively, they perceived a big enough minority to be worth keeping in front of the box.

Hands up who wants to pay a bigger license fee..