Alas, DMcG is absolutely right, in the suggestion that they will try to hive folk off to obscure specialist channels. All broadcasters who try to work in the mainstream promoting a varied kind of music will come against this problem. Take John Peel as an obvious example: he got himself so popular that he became nearly untouchable, but they still tried to destroy his vision. For example, he would want to play a bit of reggae, mixed in with his other favourites. Like a falcon swooping on its prey, the controllers would instantly say"hey, let's set up a specialist reggae programme, and cut Peel's bit"
I used to live in Lancashire near the coast in the 70's, and listen to radio from Ireland. where the folk and everything was mixed up together. This is anathema to current thoughts on the BBC. You've got to fit the demographic,
   Even only ten years ago, on BBC2 TV, I got to be on a documentary about the band I play with, looking at traditional music, and musing why it didn't get much of a look in in England. We got an audience of two million, OK not Big Brother but not bad. But would that happen now? No sir.   There is an ongoing discussion elsewhere on Mudcat about what gets on the BBC "Folk Britannia" series. It is intriguing, but difficult to see a solution. Unfortunately, the media people/journalist types are now the people who like the all inclusive"Broad definition" folk, where long hair or acoustic guitars or world rhythms or whatever rule the roost. Which would be fine, I'm all for a bit of friendly inclusivenss, but they don't actually find any interest in the "core" music. And of course the blossom, the leaves, and the bark, and the birds and the caterpillars need a tree trunk to support them: a fact that the powers that be often forget.