The JV Prog hits the right wavelength

First Day Review: Jeremy Vine, Radio

"When it comes to the first record of the first show," Jeremy Vine declared, "there's not a lot of choice."

Millions of listeners quivered in anticipation. Would he strike a note of humorous self-deprecation with "I Can't Get Started"? Hit back at his illustrious predecessor's continuing grousing at the BBC with "Don't Rain on My Parade"? Take a straightforward, cheerful approach with Cheap Trick's "Hello There, Ladies and Gentlemen"?

None of these: instead, cue Bruce Springsteen performing "Thunder Road" (1975). What message is being sent out here? Apart from the obvious one: Jeremy Vine is right at home in the world of Radio 2.

Which, it has to be said, he seems to be. The transition from JY Prog to JV Prog was not absolutely seamless (at one point, JV announced a record by "The King", only to have the wrong Elvis, Costello, turn up) but the seams weren't easy to find.

Vine arrives with a reputation as a kind of junior Paxman and at 37, he is less than half the age of Jimmy Young. All the same, he slipped comfortably into the more conciliatory interviewing style and the plain common-sense mindset demanded by this slot. His first guest was David Blunkett, here to talk about mandatory sentencing for possession of firearms. First, though, we had a good couple of minutes of mutual well-wishing (the Home Secretary having just returned to work after an operation). Mr Blunkett ended the interview with a cheery "God bless". In between, Vine read out violent lyrics from gangsta rap songs and invited Mr Blunkett to deplore them, which he did, unsurprisingly.

A black DJ appeared to say that he thought five years was a joke – send 'em down for 10. This view seemed to chime in with e-mails from listeners read out during the show.

The liberal criminologist Roger Graef discussed experiments in community education and rehabilitation in the US. Rather too appropriately, this was interrupted by a trailer for a Radio 2 series on the influence of prison on American popular music: a reminder that the glamorisation of criminal behaviour in popular music is not a new phenomenon.

Vine has the right tone: he manages to express the listeners' views without seeming either to endorse or condescend to them. Whether he can pin down listeners' affections as tightly as Young did is another matter; but it sounds as if he's going to give it a damn good try.