Folk on R2/3 addresses the interests of those wanting commercially recorded music, but folk music on local radio takes a different direction. It is able to feature the local artist, the folk club, the needs of the people in the target area of the radio station in a way that no national programme can.
I very much enjoy hearing Waterson Carthy, or Oysterband or Gjallarhorn on the radio, but I also want to here the local girl who will be a big star one day, or the man who writes fabulous songs that will never be heard outside his own county. I want to know which night the local folk club is on.
However good Mike Harding or Fiona Talkington are, I won't get - or even expect these things from national radio.