Gillian Reynolds

It is quite hard to listen to radio seriously anyway now that Radio Active is back (Radio 4, Monday lunchtimes, repeated Tuesday evenings). Last week featured Martin Brown, a new disc jockey fresh from hospital radio. It was, from his name to his interview technique, the most perfect spoof. There is not a local station in the country which has not employed a Martin Brown, most of them, in fact, still do. Martin Browns hang in clusters along the airwaves. When one drops off there is only the faintest squelch before another takes his place.

Part of the team which brings "Radio Active" to the BBC is behind Capital Radio's The Uncyclopaedia of Rock, a six-week series sending up rock history's more sententious moments. The touch here is heavier, the jokes more laboured. The determination to be funny deflates it entirely.