I’ve been a radio listener for many years. I’m even old enough to have delved into the shortwave world, listening out for “exotic” transmissions from various parts of the world; For example Voice of Russia and the Radio Netherlands Worldwide used to have a very active English fan base and their programs gave a view of those countries normally hard to penetrate for outsiders. During visits to Pakistan in the 90’s I used to listen out for Urdu programmes by China Radio International (their accents were terrible) and the Russians plus the occasional Door Darshan from India (Indo-Pak rivalry was at its height in that decade so satellite TV was frequently jammed). At home, James Whale kept me company during those nights of revision in the mid to late 90s with his humorous but sometimes bizarre shows (he frequently used to have Omar Bakri on, wierd).

Fast forward the noughties and the present day, the Internet has bought…