Huey Morgan On Radio 2

[brainiac]

Why on earth have the powers that be moved Huey Morgan's show from midnight on Friday to 3am ? Now at midnight we have the boring, anodyne Alex Lester playing exactly the same sort of music that Radio 2 plays during the day, instead of the interesting, unusual tracks Huey used to play. And Bob Harris has been shunted off to 3am as well! Not everybody is able to listen to these shows as a podcast - what a waste.

[Zacs-Master]

Seeing as your posting using the internet, podcasts must be available to you. Or am I missing something?

[Baldric]

No idea, ask them!

Email: [email protected]

[Buenchico]

Well, I'm coming at this from a completely different viewpoint but I still share your concerns about the changes to Radio 2's schedules.

To me, The Dark Lord (Alex Lester) is a god. I've forgone many nights sleep over the past years to listen to 'The Best Time of the Day Show' (from 0200 to 5000, Mon to Fri) . His strange sense of humour (requiring listeners to consider the emotions of bollards or to take notice of Noel the Christmas badger) is very much like my own. His weekend replacement, Richard Allinson, was also an outstanding broadcaster.

For me, cutting Alex Lester's output, from 3 nights to 5, is a disaster. (Further, using the same title for his show, 'After Midnight', as for that of Janice Long's programme on the other 4 nights of the week, seems to be an attempt by the BBC to get two very different broadcasters to adopt a common format, which will never work successfully). Even worse, Richard Allinson has disappeared from the schedules altogether.

It's clearly a cost-cutting exercise, with the 0300 to 0600 slot now filled (for 5 nights of the week) with repeats, and with Bob Harris's and Huey Morgan's shows simply being used to fill the vacant slots at weekends. (Incidentally, I also enjoyed both of those shows and, like you Brainiac, I regard their new place in the schedules as completely inappropriate).

Whoever is in charge of scheduling at Radio 2 has failed to recognise that late night radio for many people isn't simply about listening to music. Those who are lonely or who can't sleep - possibly through worry or pain - find the presence of a friendly, reassuring voice (which they can interact with via texts and emails) a great help in their lives. Alex Lester and Richard Allinson provided such a service superbly.

[andy-hughes]

Interesting - I find both Lester and Alinson to be unlistenable - one because he sounds like he is on something, and is just rambling to himself in an empty room, and the other because he has the personality of a paper clip.

Good job we all like different things.