The Scaremongers on Radcliffe and Maconie

Because we'll never be a real Sunday night run-down, Gallup poll-style chart band, for our own amusement we've invented our own screwed-up version. For us, where we are in the charts is dictated by the radio station we're being played on. So when we appeared on Marc Riley's Brain Surgery, we were on Radio 6, which is a glorious place to be and we're still indebted to Marc and his team for that. Then this Thursday, that great arbiter of taste, Mark Radcliffe, and the writer of the greatest book about the north published this year, Stuart Maconie, played and discussed The Scaremongers on their show on Radio 2. So, like seedings in a tennis tournament, we joke that we have moved up four places.

I'm sure we'll never reach the coveted Radio One spot, but when I think about it, it's only because I'm a child of the seventies that makes me want to be on there. Back then, Radio One was pretty much the only place to listen to music on the radio, and though you might have had to timeshift your listening patterns to pick up the music you really liked, you still ended up listening to Radio One all day in cafes, school playgrounds and the workplace, and pretty much knew what was where in the charts of the time, by osmosis as much as anything. Back then if it wasn't on Radio One, it was nowhere, and nothing could redeem it but to get onto the hallowed airwaves of the Breakfast Show.

Radio is different now, and I'm glad to say that the focus of the whole panoply of pop music isn't focused on the charts or on Radio One anymore. You can make a respectable name for yourself yet never get anywhere near Radio One, what with the many other quality stations that abound and the wonderous wonderland of the World Wide Web. I wouldn't sulk if we ever got played on Radio One, obviously, but I'm ever so proud that Marc was the one who played us first, and I'd be thrilled if he ever decided to play us again. And I'm giddy that Mark and Stuart played us on Radcliffe and Maconie, (and gave me my first namecheck!), and I'll forever be glad that they did. I'm very pleased to take a stand next to these fine broadcasters, and if that's where we prove to remain, I would happily settle for that.

Anyway, I did the usual of shoving a microphone (which itself is hidden in the aluminium of my Powerbook) to the speakers of my PC, and recording the Listen Again function of the BBC Radio Player. Once again, I hope they don't mind us steal a little bit of their show. There's some glorious bits where they discuss the song, culminating in:

Mark:   Now he's officially a recording artist, Simon can come on the show and do a Show and Tell.

Stuart: He can come on and do a set.

Mark: Hang on a minute, we've only heard one song. The rest of them might be bobbins. Let's not get carried away.

Thanks to Mark, Stuart and their team, and to my pal Neil who emailed me to tell me we were on!