... Danny Baker on BBC London is still peerless. There was a time when the BBC station under its old handle, Greater London Radio, boasted Danny Baker, Chris Morris and Chris Evans quite possibly one after the other and on the same day.

After I got a bollocking for almost bringing about corporate meltdown by streaming internet stations through my PC, the office radio was brought into occasional play and is generally tuned to Radio 2 because:

1. The alternative is a local station whose Year Zero was 1990.
2. It's my radio.

I always used to like listening to Russell Davies's show on Radio 2 on a Sunday afternoon. Very knowledgeable, informative, affectionate show covering the history of popular song. They've moved it to a graveyard slot now though. They have dingbats like Russel Brand and Dermot O'Leary on instead. Such is progress.

a little bit of Steve Merchant and Adam & Joe myself. But I never listen to the actual shows, I just download them (with the music in the case of Merchant) and pop em' on my ipod.

I like a bit of 5 live as well, but don't get me started on 6-0-bleedin-6.

Danny Baker by a mile.Thank god for the internet so i get to hear it every day. Great music and the guy is as funny as hell.Check it out you won't regret it

For what it's worth, my favourites are:
Radio 2: Radcliffe & Maconie, sometimes Paul Jones (blues), Mike Harding (folk), Mark Lamarr (rock 'n' roll, reggae), Brian Matthew's Sounds of the Sixties, the documentaries.
Radio 4: Today, From Our Own Correspondent, In Our Time, etc.
BBC 7: Classic comedies.
Radio 3: Andy Kershaw. Come back, Andy!
BBC London: Danny Baker, Robert Elms (great for London history, good music too)
Occasionally Radio 5 (football) and World Service (e.g. Charlie Gillett)
And anything with Danny Kelly on it.

Outside of the podcast and Word Radio itself, Radcliffe and Maconie are as close as radio gets to the world of the Word.
I genuinely cannot listen to Radio 1 for more than a few seconds.

I generally listen to the radio during a long drive to work, and at 6.15 am the last thing I want is a chirpy cheeky chappy playing music - Radio 4 for me thanks, 'till I get tired of hearing the same news (generally around 7.30) and it is a deffo turn over when "Thought for the day" comes on (interesting how little thought is actually behind what they say - it's generally religious boggo standard dogma - Billy Connelly nailed it in one with his "did Jesus play for Tottenham Hotspur - and, in a way, he did")sketch). But invariably I turn to the iPod on its car mount rather than the cheeky etc etc options.

Someone persuaded me to try Wogan, and when I turned over he was talking in a faux "posh" voice then played an Elton John number. In other words, exactly what I expected, I reflected, as my finger raced to the 4 button.

Evenings are better with Maconie/Harding/Jones etc. Oddly I can't abide the R4 amiable-old-buffers-being-clever shows, but "Listen Against" was billiant. Mind you I can listen to Jeremy Hardy any time.

With a growing addiction to podcasts I need a longer and longer drive to get it all in!

was good on BBC Radio Wales. But the idiots have just axed it. Otherwise, Radio 4 all the way.

...these days is Mark Lamarr's God's Jukebox, here are the last 2 playlists. Midnight 'til 3am isn't the best time slot but Listen Again is your friend. Lamarr's rock and roll, alternative 60s and reggae shows are also highly recommended.
Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone is the saving grace of the missed opportunity that is 6 Music.
Radcliffe & Maconie, Late Junction, sundry bits of Radio 4 and BBC 7 (the radio adaptations of Dad's Army are a treat on Fridays) make up the rest of my radio time.

I realise this will be very much a minority opinion amongst the Word Community but I really like Steve Wright. His Sunday Love Songs on Radio 2 on Sunday mornings is a bit of a drag though. And I'm always staggered by how many people pick Me & Mrs Jones as a request to mark their wedding anniversary, given that it's quite blatantly a song about an adulterous affair. I suppose people don't listen to lyrics that much, just absorb a general mood from a song.

Awake to Today mainly to raise my blood pressure to operating level

Do enjoy Ken Bruce, especially popmaster, although anything after 2000, no idea!!

Agree Radcliffe and Maconie are peerless as is the freak zone.
Surprised no one mentioned Marc Riley Brain Surgery, yes it clashes with R&M but perfect for the afternoon with listen again.

And of course Dr Kermode on friday afternoon on five for all your film needs

Was subjected to local radio one day working in someones office.
Severn Sound seemed to have a fixation with Robbie and I didn't realize they were so many double glazing companies

I quite like old Robert. Listened to him while I lived in London and even though I'm gone 12 years and can't catch him on my dial anymore I catch a couple of his programmes every week online.

Never knew him with a beard. Lovely chap. Greatly missed.

When on his own at 10.30pm - 12, Mark Radcliffe was literally unmissable for me (I 'listened again' the next day), but I find him and Suart Maconie unbearable. Their interruptions and the smug banter drive me crazy. And two people talking to one guest just doesn't work. Stuart Maconie's Saturday afternoon R2 show is also good.

Bruce & Wogan should be forcibly removed from BBC property.

I have Five Live on my radio alarm clock - it's like some people have just wandered into the room and have started chatting away while you're waking up.

The other day, I listened (via the BBC website) to some of the Radio 1 Chart Show. It's presented these days by the dream team (!) of Reggie Yates and Fearne Cotton - mercifully, Fearne was on holiday this week but I found myself making increasing use of the the "skip 5 minutes ahead" button, not because of the music but because of the inane presenting which included:-
- Asking the listeners to text in with who they thought would be number one and why. And other interactive "text us with your suggestions" bits that I now can't remember (and probably nor could they after 10 minutes)
- Slagging off the current number one (by Basshunter I believe), mainly because they clearly think Adele should be number one and isn't.
- "it's been in the top 40 for three whole weeks..." (shock, horror, gasp !)
- Announcing Robert Plant & Alison Krauss in the top 10 album chart with a voice than unmistakeably said "I have no idea who these people are..."
But then, I'm not their target audience…

And I completely despair of local radio since the last time we had a snowfall and the breakfast show DJ 'trailed' the school closures and traffic report - surely the only thing anyone was actually listening for and depending on - "in the next 10 minutes". 15 minutes later, having read through it all, he sighed with relief saying "and now I can finally play a record - here's Justin Timberlake..."

...I do enjoy most anything Stuart Maconie is involved with. A lot of my formative musical experiences were via his wondrous 'Critical List' series. Love the esoteric prog/psych on 'The Freak Zone' too.

Like listening to Brian Matthew's show now and again. I once had a request on there aged around 8 (a few Elvis tracks in that 'A side/B side' feature).

Adam Walton was a BBC Radio Wales presenter; I believe he still has some shows but I used to like the one that was on from around 8pm-11pm on Sundays. A big variety of stuff on there...

Never heard Danny Baker's shows but I read an article about his record collection in Record Collector and he was listing some great stuff; Todd Rundgren, John Martyn, Yes, The Groundhogs...

Hate Radio 1, personally. The records are merely there to fill in the gaps between either their own self-aggrandisement (Moyles), luvvie-ness (Whiley) or cluelessness (the aforementioned Fearne Cotton). A friend passed me onto the Zane Lowe show once and that was a pretty painful experience, with him going on how 'mega' a Pigeon Detectives/Twang track was. And it's profoundly irritating that it is these same people who present the BBC's coverage of rock festivals...

that broadcasts mid-evening for about 2 hours. I think the station is called "Radio 3" or something similar. I caught it most nights during a recent week in Lanzarote, but it was definitely a mainland station. Great host, laconic style, quiet, lowish voice, obvious passion for the music, frequent expositions about the band in question, their history (Pete Frame style) and their other releases, with occasional contributions from others (producer?) in the studio. El Peelo, if you like, in many ways. But the real attraction? The selection of songs! Fabulously eclectic, brilliantly sequenced, impeccably chosen stuff from the last 3 or 4 decades, mostly rock or folk, sometimes borderline jazz.

Does anyone have the foggiest who or what I am on about?

is a God. No question.

I can't stand BBC Radio 1 any longer. Perhaps it's me getting older but it went down hill as soon as Matthew Bannister (a story I heard that when he worked in local radio he never owned a record player in the days of vinyl)

However, I listen to Pete Mitchell BBC Radio 2 during weekends. He will put an Northern Soul classic before then playing something completely different

Before independent radio where I live play "Hit After Hit On The Hour, Every Hour!" policy (insert an "S" before hit) there was "Here Be Dragons" where the broadcaster (an ex friend of mine) played a eclectic mix of the new with a dash of the old and a pinch of the obscure, a bit like the late John Peel but he would hate to be compared with him.

Shamed it finished too because it introduced me to a wider range of music that I wouldn't necessary listen to in the first place.

Should be shot. This bloke gets about seven million listeners. That tells me a lot about some of the people I share this country with. I stopped listening to Radio One after Peel died. Is Jo Whiley really still on? Isn't she married to some bloke who heads up some big music management company or something? I heard she only plays music by bands her husband's company represents. Terrible. I'd prefer DLT and Simon Bates to that lot. In fact, I rather miss them. Some of the music was lousy, but those guys were real professionals.

As for the future of radio I do think that We7 might be on to something with their free music model. The 10 second adverts at the start of their downloads are much more acceptable and preferable to the likes of Chris Moyles droning on and interupting himself to play the odd track. I listen to the radio to hear music not inane chatter.

Tom Morton on Radio Scotland 2PM - 4PM daily is the only radio DJ I can take for more than 10 minutes. No ego just good music.

It is sometimes scarily like listening to my own record collection but he always manages to introduce new young acts to the mix. It may also be that we are around a similar age with similar musical tastes/memories and the fact that he pulls his listeners in with blog like threads which encourage a lot of interesting text/e-mail anecdotes.

He also broadcasts a lot of his shows from a croft in the Shetlands which makes him unique but what seals the deal of course is that he is a Word reader and regularly plays tracks by Nick Lowe - how can he fail.

No doubt the answer to this is obvious enough to embarrass a child, or even a rock musician, but when I post a message in the wrong thread, how do I delete it? Ta.

There was a column in last month's Word about the parlous state of radio in the UK, focusing largely on commercial radio - frankly, why bother with dodgy commercial stations when Auntie BBC offers such an amazing selection of programming? With judicious flicking of channels I can hear Brian Matthew doing SOTS; Jonathan Ross being smutty and playing great music; various bods on Radio 3 covering Jazz and World; Verity Sharp whispering in my ear on Late Junction; Mark Lamarr playing all kinds of exotic music, Bob Harris doing the same, only more responsibly; folk music, blues, country and, best of all, Radcliffe & Maconie, who are becoming essential listening in this household. There's more music than I can possibly listen to in the week, and then some great stuff on Radio 4 - comedy, chat, news. I've yet to go digital, but I don't anticipate bothering very much with the commercial channels when I do - there's enough to keep me amused on Radios 2, 3 and 4. And then there's the new Word CD to check out...
I used to listen to Wogan in the mornings, but since his producer died he's become so predictable it's boring, and he is so Right Wing. I'd rather have Today as a background to my breakfast. In the car I mostly listen to my iPod, unless there's something really good on the radio. I think that radio is too often over-looked, but offers greater variety and range of entertainment than anything else that's available for free.

...number of references to shooting people on this thread.
Hang the DJ, surely?

this Tom Morton of whom you speak...did he by any chance record a rather good CD under the name of the Tom Morton Four with his teenage son on Shetland? It certainly sounds like the right fellow.

Replacing Gideon Coe with George Lamb was a horrendous error from Radio 6. I don't know anyone who likes Lamb whereas Gideon was witty, intelligent and seemed to revel in the fact he could play good records during the day. Lamb obviously hasn't a clue about most of the records he plays. I find it very amusing he has a facebook group dedicated to removing him from the air.

The Radcliffe & Maconie show is a gem. As a devoted fan of Mark's previous late show I took a while to warm to Stuart Maconie when they teamed up. But the obvious affection between the two has made it work.

I think Radcliffe is just a broadcasting genius. His enthusiasm for music is highly infectious - he (and Stuart) did a terrific piece on Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express on their Show & Tell feature a few months back which just made you want to stick the album on right away.

He's genuinely funny as well and my wife think I want to marry him. Or at least buy him a pint. And she's right. Dammit.

That Nigel Wrench from Radio 4 is a lovely fella...

oh, whats this...theres something about him in the paper...

oh. shit.

6 Music was great when it first started - really did bridge the gap between radios 1 and 2 for those of us over 30 who still had an interest in music. Its gone downhill so much in the last couple of years that its almost an embarrassment. Mind you, still listen to Liz Kershaw on Saturdays - love her choice of music, the chat's pretty good and she's able to laugh it off when she makes a mistake. Use the Listen Again feature to continue listening to Gideon Coe's show instead of the dire daytime schedule and occasionally tune in to Steve Lamacq on 6 (though I think he has a show on every station these days !). I also like a bit of Wogan in the morning, though its the input from the listeners that makes it worthwhile.

I can't believe anyone actually likes Steve Wright and Ken Bruce - they just sound so fake and the music is so bland ! All I tend to listen to on 2 these days is Sounds of the Sixties - even better since its had a makeover, Mark Lamarr's shows and Jonathon Ross on Saturdays (when Mark Lamarr is sitting in). I rather like Mark Lamarr - like the way he can't stand idiocy and does his own thing.

hosted a late night discussion programme on Radio 5 Live. Midnight - 2am, weekdays, immediately after John Peel's slot ended on Radio 1. Radio5L has never properly replaced him. No-one has. He was very well-informed and well respected. He didn't accept lazy rhetoric or uncivilised behaviour from his guests or callers. Long-serving MPs had to raise their game. I miss his work a lot, still, more than a decade after he died.

Vincent Hanna had a habit of finding out astonishing admissions by accident. I remember him quoting "Casablanca" - "round up the usual suspects" - and Ann Widdecombe revealed, through her ignorance of the phrase, that she had never seen, or even heard of, the movie. She was in PM John Major's Cabinet at the time.

Vincent Hanna was also a folk singer during the 1960s. Does anyone know anything more about this period in his life?

''The Museum of Curiosity'', Radio 4, 6:30 pm, Wednesday.