Noo's the time

The Scottish pocket battleship behind the triumph of Radio 7 and its makeover successor, Radio 4 Extra, is calling it a day. Mary Kalemkerian, who came to broadcasting after starting out as a drama teacher in the Scottish Borders, has 30 years with Auntie on the clock.

She started with the launch of the Radio Scotland children's programme "Nickety Nackety "(like Listen with Mother but not as posh). For further Nickety Nackety references, see "The Wee Cooper Of Fife".

Her experience with the BBC Audio Collection in the 1990s made her an ideal choice to run Radio 7; she knew the archive and the rights issues backwards, and the little commissioning money she had was spent with gusto like an old-style impresario - freshening-up classics in new packages fronted by current comedy stars, to catch the ear of new, younger listeners. Who wouldn't like a listening graph like this ? (Borrowed from MediaUK).

I draw your attention to one sinister line in the press notice "Following her retirement, Mary’s responsibilities will be taken on by an integrated management team for both Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra".   4 Extra needs an identifiable champion, and Mary was certainly that, with her regular blog posts and emails to listeners. Leave it to a machine, dear BBC, and the network will lose friends.