Not so sure you could declare Chris's Smooth shows a success, I thought he was very much a shadow of his former self on Smooth as he is when he's covered for Steve on Radio 2. Unfortunately Chris's best radio days are well and truly behind him.

Yes but Radio 2 mainly has chat and has TV personalities such as Graham Norton

No you shouldn't. When asked (on either Facebook or Twitter - can't remember which) he replied "Definitely not".

Nigel Williams sounds bored at the best of times but overnight I would rather have back to back music than someone who is only doing this for the money.

If UK radio had no employed staff but was run purely by volunteers then I think the quality would be considerably diminished!

Most presenters do it for the money and for 4 hours sitting on your arse it's usually good money. Ask Nigel Williams to do it 'for the love of it'and I xan imagine what he'd say. Two words and one of them will be off.

Should make him a perfect candidate for West Midlands drive again then...

Actually, Nigel does love what he does on the Jazz FM afternoon show but, like almost anyone, in any profession, would surely give it up for a better paying gig.

American Song book with im Anthony davis is just the normal crap repetitive songs. How can people enjoy this type of radio. Same songs which are good but over and over is just pathetic. And why give it such a stupid name when they play the great american and british songbook tunes all day and night.

Yes, i agree i have heard Nigel on Jazz Fm and he sounds more interested then he does on Smooth!! Saying that though, i thought he was at his best on BBC Sussex and Surrey when he was covering shows on there.

and another thing......
will somebody tell that Gary King to STOP telling us his name every time he speaks!
after every song before every song...its too much - i heard it the first time! and don't really need telling over and over and over again....

Utter rot, there were several tracks played that are not generally played at any other time. Anthony also spoke a lot more than during Drive with more details about the tracks being played. However it did sound voice-tracked.

Yes, and the music on Saturday night show was excellent also, with loads of songs not on the normal playlist.

Contractual obligations may determine that response though. Maybe not.

Having followed this thread over the last few months and not having listened to Smooth for any length of time for a long while I thought I'd sample Tina Hobley's show yesterday. What I found was that it is difficult to get too worked up about it because it is just so mediocre. It seemed the very definition of bland, wallpaper radio. Clearly voice-tracked, minimal presenter content, lots of segues and she's clearly been told to speak in those hushed tunes.

The strange thing for me is that when you read a release from Smooth, and there have been a few of those in recent weeks, Tina's name is always included in the roster of Smooth's big names despite the fact that unless you watch Holby City you wouldn't know who she was.

I have a feeling that the other new arrivals at Smooth will also fall into this same category. Having heard a bit of Kate Garraway the structure and style of her and Hobley's shows seem very similar.

They're not fantastic must-listen shows, they're not really terrible, they're just......there.

Sums it up nicely.
In other words BLAND AND BORING.

Cant get into Smooth, I have tried recently as I wont be able to listen to Gold in the car much longer but sadly Smooth will not be my new station of choice.

As others have said it just seems like a wall to wall bland fest. Tina Hobley whispering nothing down the mic, Kate Garraway sounding like she's going through the motions, no stop bland music - it really is the definition of wallpaper radio.

I am not a Global hater, I like Gold, I sometimes like Heart but what has happened to Smooth is a disgrace. I used to listen a few years back but it started to be destroyed by GMG so I stopped, Global have carried on this destruction - how long before they axe the DJ's altogether and just put Richard Park's Ipod on a loop?

As i have already said if Global believe that Gold listeners will move to Smooth I think they are barking up the wrong tree. I spoke to a load of Gold fans at a party last weekend and none of them said they will be retuning to Smooth.

This is what in the marketing world (you'll know this) they call the 'spiral of deceit' - it's what lost Kinnock the 1992 election. Apparently NOBODY was ever going to vote Tory again.

Now that sounds like a plan! - just play music - i personally just want 'background music' at work , this constant bombardment of 'text me,facebook me,twitter me' is tedious - most of these 'dj's' are, as already pointed out just going through the motions - they have nothing of ANY interest to say to me - if i want to listen to discussion i will actively search for a station that will give me that.

That's good news as they don't have to retune anyway, Smooth will just replace Gold.

Ok if we must split hairs they will not listen to Smooth full stop.

Recent posts reminds me of a guy in a pub I used to go in who would tell everyone at length about his political thinkings.

In the end people would just agree just so they could get away from him. I've never seen a bar clear so quickly when he started walking towards it!

Or as Global see it

As what happened with Magic London, Smooth probably will end up increasing it's Rajar figures, in addition to gaining some of Gold's listeners?

Your Relaxing Music Mix. Yep agree with that. So relaxing repetitive and bland it will help you fall asleep even during the day.