UnderRated : Our Tune

11am on a weekday morning. Simon Bates on Radio 1 and Our Tune...

For many years of my life, if I was at home, it was compulsory listening. They were the days when Radio 1 really was the mainstay of the nation's radio listening when it came to popular music. The commercial channels were peripherals and mostly only available in certain areas. Radio 1 was National and played all the current tunes whilst its sisters on 2, 3 and 4 catered to a very different audience.

Simon Bates read out letters from real people containing sad stories, bittersweet tales and happy memories that went on to introduce fabulous songs that meant so much to the writer.

Since then, the concept has been much imitated, but no-one did it better than Simon Bates. To retain a sense of personal affinity with the writer without deteriorating into the sickly. It was a very fine line which he trod with agility.

When I put in 'Our Tune' to Google, this is one of the clips it came up with. The life-time love between a straight woman and a gay celebrity and the tune that epitomised their relationship.