The Smooth fb states that Smooth Christmas will be returning this year, which is a u-turn on their part it seems!

Someone posted an article about the launch of last year's Smooth Xmas, which made it sound like it was returning this year. That might be what you saw, as I can't see anything official on the Facebook page.

Edit to add: Two hours ago, Smooth posted

Nipped out at lunchtime and heard.

Madonna- Crazy For You
America- Horse With No Name
Bob Marley- Could You Be Loved.

Great listen !!

They've played that America track so many times, the horse has now been christened, confirmed and cremated. Can we have a forum whip-round and send them 99p to buy Sister Golden Hair?

Completely agree. It was one of the best shows on Smooth (faults and all) and now it's been replaced with 'nothing' at all.

I, too have moved over to Paul on Radio 2.

Which was pretty much how 'Life' was on DAB with Paul Phear being the only presenter for breakfast. When it became Capital Life they brought in more presenters (including Nicola Bonn) which took a bit of getting used to but I thought it was a good station and was disappointed when it closed.

Now quickly whinge about celebs being used on the radio instead of proper radio talent like David Andrews

Yes but I distinctively remember Could You Be Loved playing yesterday afternoon too

Jensen's ramp suddenly cut off and a Mitchell sweeper cuts in.Total crap radio.

Now Jensen says ''Valerie---the other Valerie coming next''.Does he mean Amy Winehouse this time too? He knows how to wind listeners up.....NO ITS STEVE WINWOOD AGAIN.

Yes I noticed that too lol. I do think smooth is sounding more slick but I just wish the playlist was better as a horse with no name etc is just on too much.

Does anyone know if A Different Corner has been played again today yet?

Maybe between 6pm and 7pm again, infact I bet something by George Michael does. Last night it was Faith about 7ish.

What amazes me is that artists who have had a very long list of hit records still only end up with the same rotation of 2 or 3 much of the time.

I was just about to get to that .... I'll make an exception with Mr. O'Grady though.

Paul's is one of the best shows on the radio each week. Would only ever hear the second hour of Double Top 20 after Paul finished at 7pm.

Other stations do this as well for some reason its not unique to Smooth and annoys me when there is so much they could play. Abba and ELO are 2 such artists.

I totally agree. Paul's show is a must. I have read all his autobiographies (great reads) and he comes across exactly the same on his show.

Paul plays one of the most diverse selection of music I have ever heard in one show even for Radio 2 he talks after almost every track yet he gets good figures. Amazing isn't it!!!!

I thought you had stopped listening

Sister Golden Hair is a fabulous track as is Tin Man , Don't Cross The River blah blah but I think it would be commercial suicide to play tracks that your average listener has hardly ever heard if not at all .

For the record David Jensen is live. Oh, It takes time even for the most experienced to settle in. It's a shame some listeners just couldn't wait.

Oh yeh? How do you know?

Which part Jensen live? He's announcing the exact time.

The Border and/or Jody

Tracks like Al Stewarts - Time Passages, Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky or Old & Wise or maybe Barclay James Harvests - Child of Time would be excellent Smooth tracks if only they had a bit of imagination with there playlists but I doubt they would ever play them.

Easily got round

It's not as simple as that though.

Let's not forget the BBC don't have any of the commercial pressures that Smooth (or any other non-license fee funded station) has.

I'm glad you enjoy the BBC stations, after all it's us who foots the bill to make them sound as good as they do... and so that they can afford celebrities like Paul O'Grady.

Meanwhile at the "business" end, commercial stations simply don't have the £millions' worth of budget that Radio 2 can afford to throw at it's line-up.

Smooth London slightly up to 442k in latest Rajar, Gold London down to 255k at 2008 level. Nationally Smooth and Smooth 70s slighly up, but this must be before Global made changes?