[Gary Baldy]

I must confess I haven’t listened to Radio 2 since Ken’s departure- I think his absence has left a massive hole in the schedule. I feel like Radio 2 are trying too hard to appeal to the older end of the Radio 1 audience these days… might as well be Radio 1.5 now. Radio 2 used to have a much more general audience. Sometimes the oldies just want music and not the classical stuff on Radio 3- much prefer the old-school style broadcasters DJs like Ken.


With the exception of Jeremy Vine, now it’s practically Radio 1 from 20 years ago… Jeremy sticks out like a sore thumb.

I feel like Ken’s departure is the biggest loss to the station since Wogan. It really is struggling to hold itself together these days. It’s the weakest it’s been for years. All their star talent going over the last few years. Ken, Paul O’Grady, Simon Mayo, Chris Evans,
Graham Norton and though she grates on me normally, Vanessa Feltz was brilliant at the early breakfast. Steve Wright’s exit was long overdue though, it’s just a shame to see Radio 2 being torn to pieces.

Meanwhile Radio 1 is thriving- it had a rough patch for few years in the late ‘10s when it just changed too many personnel within a short space of time but it seems to have some stability going again. I’m too old for it but it’s almost a guilty pleasure of mine- the Greg James breakfast show is great- he’s very much an old-school DJ. Although Radio 1 is thriving at the moment, if the current pattern continues (Radio 1’s talent will move to Radio 2 in 15-20 years) I don’t think any of them would really fit in naturally there with the exception of Greg. The others are more 6Music types if you had to place them on a particular station.