It is not strictly true to say that it is just the BBC that does folk broadcasting.

There are a few commercial stations still doing it, and when commercial radio was first introduced in the UK in the late 1970s, most of them had folk programmes. This was because at that time they had a requirement to serve 'community interests'. So there were also jazz, rock, classical, c&w etc., and religious broadcasting.

I presented a folk programme on Mercia Sound (now Mercia FM) in Coventry from 1983 to 1993, when they finally axed it - despite very good listening figures. This was when commercial radio was de-regulated, and they no longer had to maintain the community service brief. Also, at that time, the small ones were being taken over by the big corporate conglomerates, so that we are now at the point where most commercial stations in the UK are owned by just 2 or 3 corporations.

The Programme Controller at that time made the comment, "If they could get away with playing the test signal, and still sell the advertising, they would. These people are phillistines who have no interest in music, and are only interested in selling ads and making money."

Nuff said, but nothing has changed!