Radio review: Radio 2 2Day

If I admit that I'm not an habitual Radio 2 listener, does that sound like outrageous chat bias? Anyway, I'm not, and I greeted Radio 2 2Day with neutrality bordering on scepticism, thinking, if you don't listen all the time, how will it really matter if Dermot O'Leary is chatting with Jeremy Vine for a change, or Vanessa Feltz is on with Jo Whiley? (Having said it's not my main station, I listen enough to know that Vine and Feltz are on the national-treasure spectrum, so it's not as though I approached the day with a heavy heart.) The aim was to mix up the schedule. They have a constipated listenership; the audience is fiercely loyal, but won't move. You didn't need to be a regular to hear the festive atmosphere. It reminded me of stories of wartime, when nobody could afford presents, so on your birthday your family would celebrate by having its meals in the wrong order. The novelty alone felt like a treat, apparently. Even if the food was disgusting. Not that any of this fare was disgusting. Zoe Ball and Chris Evans doing Rock and Roll Back the Years was almost too good to be true. They are such monumentally brilliant broadcasters, they almost made me miss the 90s. The nominal structure of some of the day – 80s versus 90s, 60s versus 70s – was a bit contrived, given that nobody would seriously argue for the 80s, or the 70s, unless Chris Evans had made them, but that's just a quibble.