The most powerful man in music radio is about to leave the building. Radio 2 music chief Colin Martin has done more to influence our listening habits than anyone else in the industry. But with a playlist dominated by the likes of James Blunt, Norah Jones, KT Tunstall and the Scissor Sisters, should we be grateful?
I like Radio 2. Good job too, because Radio 1 isn't interested in 30-somethings anymore, and try as I might to enjoy Virgin, I get insanely irritated by the fact that every fourth song appears to be by Queen. Just who is the long-distance lorry driver they are catering for by playing One Vision all the time? Other than that, it's perfectly listenable.
Anyway, back to Radio 2. It has changed a bit since I was a kid, when it had presenters only your grandparents had heard of and Shaw Taylor (of Police 5 fame) used to host a panel show called the Law Game. It was brilliant!
Now it's rather more accessible, with a host of presenters who just a few years ago you would have automatically associated with Radio 1- Chris Evans, Jonathan Ross, Dermot O'Leary and its latest recruit, Russell Brand.
It's clearly a winning mix because R2 is the country's most popular radio station. But has it travelled too far down the "yoof" road? As Radio Academy director Trevor Dann remarked recently, he used to feel too young for Radio 2, and now he feels too old, such is the pace of change at the station.
If it carries on getting younger at the same rate, it is soon going to overtake (or should that be 'undertake'?) Radio 1, catering exclusively for an audience of under-12s, with Little Ant and Dec presenting the breakfast show.
It was a sign of the times that Bob Harris (note for younger readers - he used to present BBC2's Whistle Test) had his Saturday night show shunted back an hour to make way for Brand. An hour is a long time, especially when your three-hour show used to start at 10pm.
Martin leaves the station in rude health. Radio 2 has been both the cause and the beneficiary of the decline of commercial radio over the last few years. The challenge for his successor will be to continue that growth while maintaining Radio 2's identity. With the signing of Russell Brand, I fear that identity is more blurred than ever.
