I rarely listen to folk or blues or jazz on the BBC these days - it all seems so gutless. Even the name "Smooth Operations" seems smarmy and gloopy.

I think back to the days of people like Mike Raven, Alexis Korner, Charlie Gillett, Humph, John Peel, Mark Lamarr - people you felt had some personal input to their shows - with fondness. We shan't see their like again.