Today is World Radio Day, and it seems appropriate to celebrate some broadcasting legends that we have the pleasure of working with. 

It’s a year since Audio Always inherited the production responsibilities for Radcliffe and Maconie on BBC Radio 6 Music. It’s a huge privilege to work with Mark and Stuart every weekend morning, and to continue the legacy that the show started almost 20 years ago.

When we started producing the show last year, we also welcomed Lorna Skingley, who has worked with the duo for a number of years – meaning that the transition has been seamless and practically perfect, all down to producer Lorna, exec Sam, AP Simon and their team.

Over the past year, the show has had specials celebrating everything from Record Story Day to pancakes. Mark and Stuart highlighted music anniversaries including the 50th anniversary of Bowie’s Young Americans, the 30th anniversary of Radiohead’s The Bends, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love and Patti Smith’s Horses. Not to mention they heard some birdsong that sounded like Black Sabbath…

And where do we start on The Chain? The never-ending list of records with each new track somehow connected to the previous one, or ‘officially the longest listener-generated thematically linked sequence of musically based items on the radio’. Now in its 8700+th link, this year has seen links as simple as David Bowie to David Byrne through to Stevie Wonder linked with Steve Winwood. They all count!

Guests across the year for ‘First, Last and Everything’ have included Ben Stiller, Jodie Whittaker, Carl Cox, Maisie Adam, Robert Carlyle, Marian Keyes, Amol Rajan, The Smiths’ Mike Joyce, Skunk Anansie’s Skin and Blur’s Alex James. Hearing musical inspiration and memories from a huge range of influential names has been like digging through the very best record crates.

At Audio Always we see ourselves as caretakers of the radio commissions we are awarded, celebrating and continuing the legacies that the presenters and producers have started, and this never more evident than with Radcliffe and Maconie on a Saturday and Sunday.

Here’s to the next 7000 links of The Chain.