Easy does it

New Controller Radio 3 Sam Jackson seems to have executed a schedule shake-up without alarum. 

Sean Rafferty is set to leave In Tune in April next year - when he'll turn 78. Born in Belfast, he was adopted by a couple of 'fiendish golfers' who brought him up near the Royal County Down course in Newcastle. After boarding school and a law degree from Queen's, Belfast, he tried three years in accountancy, before a gear change to researching on radio magazine programmes for the BBC. His first network Radio Times credit was as a reporter for the weekly edition of Woman's Hour produced in Northern Ireland, interviewing the Countess of Enniskillen.  

I met him when I was a news trainee in 1974, when he was presenting "PM Ulster", which opted out of "PM" at 5.30, until 6pm. He was regarded then as a 'voice', and, when the programme had a big political interviewee, a local headteacher was called in to conduct it. He rotated between tv and radio, and, of course, was allowed to do all the interviews when given his own chat show, Rafferty. 

In 1997 came the move to London, to host In Tune, and sold his south Belfast home in Colenso Parade, overlooking the Botanic Gardens. But he also bought a grand 'cottage' in Croaghan, Donegal, on the banks of Lough Swilly 'on an impulse', without a survey (despite hosting a BBC Northern Ireland property renovation show).  At the millenium, Peter Mandelson, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was a house guest. 

Petroc Trelawny, 53, moves into the Rafferty-share of In Tune, alongside Katie Derham. He will have presented at breakfast for 27 years - a remarkable innings. Radio 3 Breakfast moves to Salford, to be hosted by Tom McKinney (RNCM guitar, and Musicology, Manchester University) from Penkhull, Stoke. He likes birdwatching.