Oldies but...

I may have been closer to home than I thought, when talking about the new Radio 2 jingles. There's the chill wind of systematic change whistling through the lift shafts of Western House.

David Jacobs is retiring, and now Gillian Reynolds reports that Russell Davies is losing his "song" show on a Sunday night. Others, whose shows feature, predominantly, music from before 1960 must be twitching.

Controller Bob Shennan (51) has delivered Britain's "most listened to" station with a pretty consistent approach to "diversity". Post-Beatles nostalgia in the evenings is delivered by Dave Pearce (50) covering disco; Trevor Nelson (49) covering soul; Steve Lamacq (47) covering rock; David Rodigan (62) covering reggae; Mark Radcliffe (55) covering folk and odd album tracks; and Huey Morgan (44) covering 70s Americana.  Desmond Carrington (87), Nigel Ogden (The Organist Entertains) Tim Rice (68) and Elaine Paige (65) must more than slightly anxious that they're heading for Shennan's version of the "Carrousel" featured in Logan's Run. I suspect Brian Matthews (84) will go on as long as he wants - his speciality is, after all, The Sound of the 60s.

The charge for Radio 2 is "to be a distinctive mixed music and speech service, targeted at a broad audience, appealing to all age groups over 35."  The average age delivered has been stable at 51 over the past two years. The latest Radio commissioning documents assert "Our specialist music offering is key to our broad and distinctive schedule".  It invites submissions for a new presenter-led "genre" show - "reggae, rock’n’roll, latin, new wave, world, rock, gospel or classical. Please do suggest other genres that you feel have a place on the network and would appeal to our audience."

Lovers of the song "stylists" who brought us the early forms of easy listening - great composers, lyricists, performers - are increasingly poorly served by the BBC. BBC local radio, through cuts made in the evening and at weekends, has lost the services of a generation of committed semi-professional hosts covering music from before 1960. 10 million people in the UK were born before 1948.  5 million are over 75 (a figure expected to double in the next thirty years). 20% of those over 75 have problems with their sight. Give them something they like to listen to.  It worked for Rod Stewart (68) after all.