Why do you tune into your local radio? Is it for the music? The big-name DJs? Or is it because... it is local?
I only ask because the big radio companies want Ofcom to dramatically reduce the amount of locally produced and presented programmes that small to middling-sized stations are required to broadcast.
In the case of stations with fewer than half a million potential listeners - and that's a lot of them - they want them to be required to broadcast a minimum of just three hours' local content every weekday, equivalent to a local breakfast or a local drivetime show a day.
The argument is that by reducing the quota, smaller stations will be able to make fewer local programmes, better. They would also be able to spend more money on talent and production by networking shows across their stations, sharing the cost.
I can see the argument. When local radio is done badly, there is nothing worse. But when local radio is done well, it's fantastic. Well, it's quite good.
With the wealth of digital radio stations to choose from at breakfast - BBC Radio Five Live, BBC Radio 4, and Virgin Radio can typically be heard over the noise of the alarm as the smoke billows out of my toaster - why do I switch over to Mix 107 on FM?
Because it's local. How the heart lifts when Andy, H and the other one (Steve) mention some local south Bucks gossip, some irritating roadworks or there's yet another trail for Hazlemere food hall (I still haven't been).
It doesn't have the production values of, say, BBC 6Music - I'm afraid I lost hope with them a while ago - but it's warm, familiar... and local.
In an age when information reaches you from all over the world, all the time, via every handheld device imaginable, I quite like the idea of a couple of people broadcasting from a studio down the road to a select band of listeners (19,000 of them, according to the latest Rajars).
The problem is that 19,000 listeners doesn't add up to a profit. Well, it might do, I'm not privy to Mix 107's accounts. But most small commercial stations lose money, and networking shows is one way of putting that right.
Local newspapers don't have regulators telling them to provide locally produced content, so why should local radio? But local newspapers have been busy cutting back on local content for years - and look at the result.
