Cheerio Humphrey, goodbye Radio 2 jazz as well?

So, the BBC has announced that Humphrey Lyttelton, host of Best of Jazz, is retiring after a 40-year stint.

But what it didn't tell you is that it might be axing his jazz programme as well.

"Farewell Humpy" is a much better headline than "Radio 2 dumps jazz". And, to be absolutely fair to Radio 2, Best of Jazz might return. Then again, it might not. we don't know and the BBC cannot tell us.

Monday's programme, with Humphrey's favourite ten tracks, will be the last for at least three months. He will continue on Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, while Jools Holland takes over the Radio 2 slot as part of a long-standing programming schedule that rotated the programmes in three month stints.

"We are just not in a position to announce what will happen," a Radio 2 spokeswoman said today.

Radio 2 always favoured generalist music in the day time and specialist music in the evening. But now specialist is mostly shunted to late night to make way for the irritating duo of Radcliffe Maconie, making evenings on Radio 2 sound like day time.

Certainly, replacing a much loved host after 40 years is a daunting but not impossible assignment. Learned and loveable, Humphrey's voice, homespun and with an old Etonian timbre is living proof that the Radio 2 old guard have that extra something that the newer breed of presenters, whatever their merits, cannot match. The presenter might be replaceable, but that voice won't be.

Another point to make is that Radio 2 is simply not that interested in jazz. It lists only three programmes in the genre and two of those, while perfectly fine, have doubtful jazz pedigree, Big Band Special and Malcolm Laycock, which is really a swing programme.

In comparison, the entertainment genre contains a whopping 19 programmes.

Can you see where we are heading here? Maybe in a few months the BBC will announce that Radio 2 doesn't need Best of Jazz because jazz is now the preserve of local radio and Radio 3.

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