"his basic vision for Classic FM"

Obituary Michael Bukht, or as us children of the 70s & 80s knew him Michael Barry, the chef from Food and Drink, has died. As The Guardian's obituary explains that wasn't the end of his story. He was also a co-founder of Classic FM and programme controller for five years:

"His format of chat and short but complete bits of music (no parts of movements or fading) was initially successful until there was a disastrous attempt to export the format, and the station tried to recoup its losses through extra advertising, which in turn alienated listeners. Bukht remained as programme controller until a stress-related illness caused him to step down to a consultancy role in 1997. However, while his successful formula has inevitably been modified, his basic vision for Classic FM has remained constant."

We'll save my feelings for Classic FM for another time, but I will say this: he was right. It probably increased the audience for classical music, didn't necessarily steal ears from Radio 3 which I believe increased its share again this year, presumably because of the extra appetite for strings and horns.

Here he is in a few moments from what looks like the tail end of F&D's run in a video which worth seeing anyway for continuity trails beforehand, which include the second series of Steven Moffat's sitcom Joking Apart and the first season of The X-Files:



Isn't television rubbish now?