Back in 1996 the show was moved to the graveyard shift of midnight to 2am, to be replaced by Stuart Maconie. At the time Parfitt described Kershaw's replacement as "a well regarded music journalist whose choice of tracks from new albums will enhance the whole Radio 1 proposition for its young listeners". I have no problem with Stuart as a person, but where is his programme today? Kershaw's programme was moved aside to make way for a replacement that simply didn't last.
Parfitt also said "These late night/early morning slots should by no means be regarded as 'graveyard shifts' and we believe that a substantial number of Andy's fans will continue to enjoy his programme in its new slot and maybe even reach some new listeners too". We, his listeners, knew better however, and after a lot of letters written and pressure brought to bear we finally won. On 17th February 1997 the Kershaw show was reinstated to a new slot of 8:30pm to 10:30pm. "Many thanks for taking the time to write and express your views about our radio station" said Parfitt. You're welcome I'm sure.
It was not to last, however, and on 15th of June Kershaw mysteriously went off the air for almost 4 months. News was slow in coming, but eventually it became clear that Kershaw was again being moved to the graveyard shift, midnight to 2am on Thursday evenings. After an agonising wait the programme finally returned on Thursday 5th November 1998. On air that night Andy admitted that he had seriously considered packing in the job, but returned because he regarded the programme as being as much ours as his.
Naturally we all wrote again to protest , but this time we came up against an immovable barrier. Parfitt was immovable, and paid no attention to the opinions of Kershaw's listeners. Some of us began to suspect that he was hoping that moving the show to an inaccessible slot would cause Kershaw's listener numbers to drop so he would have an excuse to drop the show entirely. It now looks as though this may have been true...