Letter: Kershaw's move

Sir: In his dismally uncritical puff for Andy Parfitt ("They're playing our tune again", 9 February), Rhys Williams overlooks the controller of Radio 1's crowning achievement in his relentless drive downmarket. I refer to the shafting of his namesake.

Andy Kershaw's world music and roots programme has long been a haven of rare breadth and depth amid the wastes of shallow pop and pap. At the second attempt - the first was defeated by a listener backlash - Parfitt has banished this from its established evening slot to the wee small hours after midnight. Very considerate of him, for those of us who work 9 to 5. And pretty hypocritical for someone who's quoted as opposing schedule changes that muck about with "familiar voices ... embedded ... in people's lives."

As a public service broadcaster, the BBC is supposed to give us quality and variety. Surely one measly two-hour slot per week (barely 1 per cent of total output) at a civilized hour, to cover a thriving genre which just happens to be the music of most of our planet, is not too much to expect even from the narrow-minded ratings-chaser that Parfitt is oddly proud to be.

AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER

Shipley, West Yorkshire