Mike Harding has said publicly on a number of occasions (most forcefully in an issue of The Living Tradition in 2001) that he won't play this sort of stuff however much "somebody from a folk club in Little Eccleston or wherever" tries to tell him how to do his job. In this sense he is right (if he wants to keep the job, that is).

R2 doesn't have a trad music programme and has no intention of ever doing so. Best look to R3 and 4. What Smoothops do is produce an hour's broadcast with such MOR-blurry edges that no-one would ever be scared into thinking it's NOT R2. That is their remit and the show does what it says on the tin. It is not a tin I wish to open.

It's called "follow through" in BBC-speak. Presenters are there to ensure that listeners stay with the network by avoiding any sharp edges that might make them decide without listening that the next programme is not for them. Obviously, I think this is bollocks and pandering to a Blandsville Arizona mentality.

I never listen to MH nowadays and find it hard to remember even to look at the playlist. When I do it is only to discover that the tracks played that I would want to hear I have on CD already, so where's the point?