On Thursday last week, Danny Baker broadcast his last radio show for BBC London, after being told that his show The Treehouse was being cancelled. It was two quality hours of radio from one of the best broadcasters this country has ever produced. I'm not sure how he got away with the things he said without having the plug pulled, but at least he managed to get his side of the story across. This was a resignation to knock Dave Lee Travis and his Radio One speech into a cocked hat. The BBC should archive this episode online so that it can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Danny Baker is perhaps the best radio host that we have ever had in this country, there's nothing in his show that suggests why this is the case, but you have to listen to him to see that what I am saying is true. For a large period of time, he has been on London based local radio, and in the days before Internet streams and 'listen again', he was out of reach if you lived outside the M25. Thankfully those days are over, and I have been able to enjoy his daily show on BBC London by simply turning on the television. With amazingly cack-handed timing, Danny Baker is being inducted into the Radio Hall Of Fame, and In The Treehouse was axed almost at the same time. There's still the Saturday show on 5Live, but that is all you get for the moment. The BBC have a track record for shitty treatment of radio talent. John Peel was pushed from pillar to post around the Radio One schedule, until he was doing one show a week for two hours at the time of his death. In death he is regarded with such respect that a wing of the BBC is named after him. Yes, he did great work for new musicians, and introduced us to stuff you just didn't hear on mainstream radio, (The Sunday Alternative would have been an ideal show for him), so why did the BBC piss him about when he should have been doing an evening show like he used to. Mark Lamarr was moved to quit his Radio Two show because of their lack of commitment to his Friday night programme God's Jukebox, when he asked to be moved to something better than the 12am-3am slot. Ironically, this was the perfect slot for that show, and God's Jukebox remains musically at least, one of Radio Two's great losses. The Sunday Alternative would have been an ideal show for him.

Kenny Everett's best work was on Capital Radio in the 1970s, (when Capital Radio was a London radio station). The BBC were scared of him, and banished him to local BBC radio stations. See my earlier line about once upon a time not being able to listen to local radio in the days before the Internet. There wasn't anything he said to get sacked from the BBC that was that shocking in retrospect, certainly no worse than anything that gobshite Chris Moyles got away with for far too long. The BBC obviously didn't want anything too naughty to take place on air, pity they weren't as vigilant about what was happening in the dressing rooms. Thankfully, a reasonable amount of Kenny Everett shows from his local radio days can be found again thanks to the wonders of modern technology. The television comedy shows are still easily found of course, (a unique example of a show being better on ITV before transferring to a weakened version on the BBC, usually it's the other way round), but radio was Kenny Everett's medium, just like with Danny Baker. Baker incidentally is where this blog started, and how the BBC have treated him in the most appalling way by axing his daily show to save money. His resignation has sent shockwaves through the media, and in particular the world of radio. However, there is a job vacancy going with a top rated radio slot in Nottingham if he is willing to travel.

You may have detected from my radio shows, (especially if you're a psychologist of some kind), that I haven't really been enjoying it as much as I should. It kicked off when I agreed to cover Nottingham LACE for Jason, without realising that we were having a day out for our anniversary, so immediately retracted my offer. This was followed by a bitchy email from the controller, who had already got my gander up by commenting on my Facebook profile about the fact that I had 'advertised' that I was doing a pre-recorded show. By listening back to some of my old shows while uploading to Mixcloud I have spotted that I don't sound like I'm enjoying myself as I once did, and if I can detect it, then other people will be able to. There have been issues behind the scenes that I have just about managed to cope with, but I figured if I'm not giving my listeners 100% then the best thing to do is surely to stop.

I've spent today thinking about it. All of today. I wrote my resignation on paper first, so I could scribble things out and move them about and make it work. I'm always a bit too modest about my ability as a writer, but I can say without avarice that I am fucking brilliant at writing letters, (or emails of course). I have written resignation letters before, (not too many as I tend to walk out fairly unceremoniously), and can fire off an angry missive regarding bad customer service. It wasn't until around teatime that I finally sent my resignation email to the controller of Trent Sound. Although I was criticised for it, I copied my Trent colleagues in on the email too, and just to keep people in the loop, I BCC'd some relevant people in too.

My resignation email can be read on The Sunday Alternative blog.