By Louis Barfe
I shouldn’t complain about built-in obsolescence, really. The DAB radio in my kitchen is 16 years old.
It doesn’t pick up some stations, whereas another set elsewhere in the house captures everything.
One station I can’t enjoy in the kitchen is Scala Radio, the Bauer group’s new attempt at grabbing a slice of the Classic FM market.
Mayo (weekdays, 10am-1pm) has the right mix of gravitas and frivitas to make this attempt at popularising the classics work, if anyone can.
I award him extra points for using John Dankworth’s superb Tomorrow’s World theme to herald ‘the Mayo Clinic’, where listeners send in questions to be answered.
However, I am equally delighted to hear the witty and wonderful Charles Nove on breakfasts (weekdays, 7-10am). Back in the day, he was, with Alex Lester and Steve Madden, one of the overnight presenters on Radio 2, and I became a fan of all three, thanks largely to their in-jokes which they made national.
Purists will carp, but, look, Radio 3’s over there.