Zapsmart: Music on TV and Radio today

9.30am Radio 2 - Ken Bruce
Shirley Bassey pops in to do Tracks Of My Years

4.55 Radio 4 - 1989 Day By Day
John Tusa continues his run through of what happened twenty years ago, a programme notable by having given both Cud and The Pale Saints their first outings on national, daytime radio in years. Possibly ever.

7.00 6Music - Marc Riley
Bringing another superb year of programmes towards its end, Dutch Uncles are in session tonight

7.00 Five - Studio Five's Jacko Tribute
Considered by Five to be a big tick against its promise to provide news programming, the hapless team attempt to pull together a special looking back on "the tragedy that stunned the world". Hopefully this means they'll have pre-recorded the programme.

7.30 ITV - Coronation Street
Enter, then, Nicky Tilsley version three, as Ben Price steps into the shoes of Adam Rickitt. It's not clear if Adam is too busy searching for a safe Tory seat, or too busy concentrating on his pop career...



... or maybe just waiting for his clothes to come back from the dry cleaners.

8.00 Radio 2 - Radcliffe And Maconie
Ray Davies turns up to try and shift some copies of his Christmas single. No, I didn't, either.

8.00 ITV4 - Freddie Mercury: Magic Remixed
Five are taking an hour out of their Michael Jackson night to fit in a programme about an exploding whale - no, generally - so fans of tragic singers will have to make do with this tribute to Freddie Mercury. Famous people singing his songs, sadly, and not people hitting Paul Rodgers round the head.

9.00 Five - Michael Jackson: The Last Days
Cheerfully admitting that nobody knows what happened during the end of Jacko's life, Channel Five sets out to fill an hour with idle speculation nevertheless.

9.00 Dave - Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Amstell-powered stack of episodes, complete with Josie Long episode at 9.40

10.00 Five - Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Concert
Recorded in 2001, so already long past his best. Jackson is joined on stage by Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston, making this something of a 'those who the gods are about to destroy' collector's edition

11.00 Radio 4 - Take Two
Richard Coles hosts a discussion about Billie Holiday and Lester Young. Shouldn't he be busy in his day job at this time of year?

11.50 Five - Michael Jackson Not For Sale
"What does the auction of possession belonging to the star tell us about him?" asks Channel Five. Not much, and it looks even less stretched over an hour.

Midnight 6Music - Adam And Joe
Apparently a podcast from last January. It's unclear if they're going to cut back the music in that they usually cut out of the podcast. Although that might just make it a repeat.