Did anyone know Pearce was still there?

The news that Dave Pearce is leaving Radio One has come like a sudden rain during a drought. Dave Pearce? Is he still there?

Apparently - and doing shows, too; it's not like he got lost in the passageways and was too shy to ask his way out. Thirteen years he's been there. Thirteen years. He joined when John Major was prime minister, and stuck it out ever since.

Eddie Halliwell is also leaving the station - he says he's just had to let it go to concentrate on all his other work, which is lucky.

The changes are part of an overhaul of the evening schedules, which are vaguely described on the press office website:

* Kissy Sell Out ("jump up rock n rave") to host Thursday nights, midnight-2.00am.

* Kutski ("hard dance and hardcore") to host Friday nights, 1.00-3.00am. Judge Jules will move to the 11.00pm-1.00am slot on Friday nights.

* MistaJam to host the new 1Xtra Mixtape show Saturday nights, 3.00-5.00am, shining a light on a wide range of black music genres

* Heidi Van den Amstel ("techno") and Jaymo & Andy George ("electro mash up") join the rotating In New DJs We Trust line-up (Thursday night, 2.00-4.00am).

In further news, Tim Westwood's Saturday show will be extended by one hour (9.00pm-1.00am) and include reggae dancehall DJ Goldfinger.

Now, the funny thing about that last bit is that, at the moment, Westwood ends at midnight before DJ Goldfinger does an hour of reggae dancehall. So, unless Goldfinger is getting afraid of the night and needs Westwood to keep him company, he's basically had his show more or less annexed.