Retune, retune, retune.

Good radio reception of a variety of broadcasters is essential for what has now become quite a patchy affair in making a decent day of radio listening....

0300-0600: Radio 2, Alex Lester.
Since Greg James has left the early breakfast on Radio 1, it has plummeted into the mire of dreadful local radio standards. I keep expecting to hear Dev crash into adverts for double glazing hawkers. As such, i've reverted to listening to Alex Lester during stupidly early mornings at work. If i'm being honest, i'd forgotten what a good broadcaster Lester is, and the range of music played on the slightly off-beat "Best Time of the Day" show is eclectic and for the most part very listenable. Just be sure to retune on the dot of 0600, because you really don't want to be listening to the Daily Mail toting racist bore Sarah Kennedy.

0600-0630: Kiss 101, Matt & Caroline.
Ordinarily, Matt and Caroline's antics on Kiss 101 would be a winner for me, but the competition after 0630 (of which more below) is just a bit too strong. Kiss need to learn that their product at the moment is very inconsistent. I appreciate you can't have hyperactive breakfast DJs on all day, but nor should you be venturing into the bland. If we wanted bland, we'd listen to Heart. Kiss loses half a point for having piss poor DAB coverage compared to the BBC Mux.

0630-1000: Radio 1, Chris Moyles.
Make the most of Moyles, because he's not going to be on Radio 1 for ever, although his stay of execution might be extended if the popularity of the new presenter line up doesn't perk up. Following a difficult start to the revised younger schedule, particularly for Fearne Cotton, for whom the number of hate groups on Facebook is quite astonishing. The thought of putting a no-mark foetus like Nick Grimshaw on the Radio 1 breakfast show would instantly lose the station 75% of its listeners, and controller Andy Parfitt knows it.

1000-1100: Radio 1, Fearne Cotton or Radio 2, Ken Bruce
This is a tricky one, and it all depends on my mood. Fearne Cotton isn't the broadcaster that Jo Whiley was in the weekday morning slot and puerile features like Gossip Guy only serve to be irritating and demonstrate that the British public really are as vile as i think they are. But overall, the show is still entertaining for the most part. Over on the other side, Ken Bruce's show runs at an entirely different pace with the entertaining Popmaster quiz attracting some very special people (and i don't mean that in a particularly complimentary manner).

1100-1200: Kiss 101, Kisstory (James Merritt)
For the most part, James Merritt is a slightly identikit commercial radio broadcaster, sounding much like any other daytime DJ on Kiss or Galaxy, however the Kisstory hour is superb. Kisstory brings together an hour of dance music (and the occasional R&B track) from the past twenty years. Their choices are massively varied, avoiding many of the same tunes which could come up over and over again in favour of some well researched songs which haven't been heard since they were originally released. Like Radio 2 earlier on, retune quickly to avoid the terrible Nikki Elise (i bet it doesn't say that on your birth certificate) and her slurred garblings.

1200-1400: BBC Radio Bristol / BBC Somerset, Steve Yabsley
There isn't really much on at this time of day, Fearne Cotton's R1 show is probably the best of the National stations unless you want to hear angry rantings from idiots on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 show. The alternative is the brilliant Steve Yabsley on Radio Bristol or Somerset. Yabsley's show is properly daft old-school radio entertainment, not that far removed from the random, tangentical humour of The Goons or The Goodies that isn't particularly fashionable at the moment. Yabsley has been doing this sort of thing in one form or another on Radio Bristol for around two decades now, his main claim to fame having been that he worked with Chris Morris on the "No Known Cure" Saturday morning show, which Yabsley continued to run in a similar spirit until moving to weekdays.

Sadly, precious little else on Radio Bristol / Somerset matches the enthusiasm and entertainment of Yabbo. Tim McSweeney's Saturday version of the show comes closest (and indeed Sweens often collaborates with Yabsley on sketches for the weekday show). The rest of the schedule is pretty much standard BBC Local Radio fodder.

1400-1600: Radio 1, Greg James
I've made no secret of the fact that i'm a fan of Greg James and his weekday afternoon show is exceptional. Just a shame the first hour clashes with Steve Yabsley.

1600-1830: Radio 1, Scott Mills
Scott Mills, along with current sidekick Becky, long suffering Chappers and TOTSOO (The One That Spoke Only Once) are in a rich vein of form at the moment, with some great ideas coming out of the show. If you listen from the start, you may want to avoid after 1830 as there tends to be some repetition.

1830-1900: Radio 4, Comedy Half Hour
Aside from the painfully unfunny, repetitive and predictable Count Arthur Strong, most of the current variety on R4 is highly entertaining and comes well recommended.

1900-2100: Radio 1, Zane Lowe
Just in case you're in need of re-energising, Zane Lowe is still full of beans well into the evening. Having heard a couple of shows he's done on the R1 specialist takeover days, Lowe would be one of the best choices to replace Moyles on Breakfast.