Get real Keith, pulling from the Cambridge Folk Festival is a money saving exercise.

That money will NOT get put into folk elsewhere, it will go into the "black hole" ......

I agree they avoided a lot of the nations folk festivals, but they must have done something right in that Cambridge got me "involved". I never said Cambridge was the holy grail, but it is the most attended/best known world wide.

It will still sell out in days when the BBC withdraw for 2009 because it is "Cambridge".

This year iirc, the beeb are doing 4 1/2 hour excerpts sometime in September on the radio. Big difference from tv.

They will probably cover the headline acts, so how do the newcomers get seen?

My point throughout has been - the beeb are supposed to reflect minorities, we deserve as much time for folk as classical or opera (for instance). The beeb say as much each time they ask to increase the licence fee - we cater for all. Some (classical/opera) seem to get a better spread though, but then that is more in tune with the policy makers preffered choice.....