Just one comment on the BBCs wiping of tapes at the period that we're talking about.

Given the expense of quality audiotape and the quantity that would have been required, it was absolutely impossible at that time to keep every recording of every programme that was ever broadcast. Programmes were erased and the tapes re-used.

The value judgements made at the time as to what to wipe and what to keep could be endlessly debated now, depending on your point of view and your particular set of interests. It may have been less clear at the time as to what was or wasn't part of our "culture" - and what should or should not have been kept. I grant you that we can look back with hindsight and say, "oh how stupid and short-sighted they were". They seem to have been negligent to our Mudcat community with its particular interests - perhaps not so much to others.

Don't mistake me - I'm not saying that there weren't some regrettable losses as a result of their policies and decisions, there certainly were - but the decision-making processes may not have been as clear-cut as we think.