The Guardian's Emily Bell said it would send an "extraordinary signal" to the radio industry if marketing man Tim Davie was appointed as the BBC's new director of audio and music. And then he was. So what did Bell have to say to Davie today?
Davie is not just the elephant in the room, he is the man in a sharp suit in the room. Yes, he is really here!
But the BBC's communications and marketing director is keeping his counsel, preferring to make his first public pronouncements when he starts his new job in September.
Or, as festival host Jeremy Vine joked, he was keeping a low profile "disguised as a steward".
But back to Bell and her comments about Davie in last week's MediaGuardian. "Can I just say when I said 'extraordinary signal' I meant it in a good way," joked Bell. "A truly extraordinary signal."
The Guardian's director of digital content, Bell was at the Radio Festival today giving an "outsider's view" of the radio industry, what it had done wrong and where it should go next.
It wasn't her only reference to Davie. Mentioning the BBC's near 60% share of listening and record lead over commercial radio, she joked: "What BBC Radio needs is more presence and marketing to extend that reach... so go Tim!"
Bell said there is a "huge amount" for radio to feel positive about, despite the dominance of the BBC and the pressure on advertising.
And she had special sympathy for commercial players having to endure the double cost of broadcasting in analogue and digital with no switchover date in sight. "Can you imagine if television was told to indefinitely support two platforms?" Bell asked.
But she said radio was not one but two industries - the BBC and commercial radio "divided by income and outlook. It has to find a common voice if it is to become a better lobbyist".
She said commercial radio needs to make better programmes and invest in more vigorous brands to take on the BBC. "Keep the faith and make better programmes," she told executives. "And give producers time to do it."
Bell also said radio had to embrace the web. "The industry really has got to accept that it is more than audio. The internet is its friend, not its enemy."
If it did not, she said, "there might need to be an internal revolution and a new generation of managers". In other words, shape up or ship out.
Bell's address also featured clips from the likes of Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and former Endemol creative director Peter Bazalgette with their thoughts on the medium.
"Talk radio, speech radio, is fantastically strong," said Bazalgette. "It is a mainstay of our democracy and probably doesn't get enough attention. Radio has to do more work grabbing politicians by the lapels and saying we are here and we are important.
"UK commercial radio is pretty emaciated. Consolidation of the radio industry is a council of desperation. If you had a healthier sector you would have more companies and healthier competition, but they are picking over meagre bones with very little meat on them."
Bazalgette repeated his call for Radio 1 and Radio 2 to be privatised, dismissing the idea that the sale of what he called "two relatively minor services" would have a devastating effect on the BBC.
Rusbridger warned that in the future commercial radio stations would face competition not just from the BBC but around the world.
"One day someone is going to come up with an easy to use internet radio set... at that point you face competition from around the world," he said.
But Rusbridger added that there were "great possibilities" for local radio, especially with local newspapers struggling in the current climate. "Stop obsessing with the BBC and get your act together on the corporate front," he added.
The Guardian editor revealed that, as an insomniac, he tries to find programmes at night that are "not too interesting and not too dull... a good combination is Radio 5 Live and the BBC World Service".
At least BBC Radio 5 Live controller Adrian van Klaveren, in the audience, can console himself he has a listener. Just not necessarily for all the right reasons.
