ROB Beckett addressed the elephant in the room almost straight away. One record into his first show on Radio 2 he did a shout-out to his predecessor in the Sunday teatime slot.

“Before we properly get going, I must say thank you to the legend that is Paul O’Grady. He’ll be back in May to keep you company throughout the summer. But until then they’ve put me in charge of Sunday evenings.”

The parachuting in of the comedian to O’Grady’s regular posting has not gone down well, least of all with O’Grady himself who went on Instagram to tell his listeners that it had “nothing to do with me as it’s a management decision.”

The reasoning behind it, according to Radio 2, is to give listeners consistency. O’Grady will now do 13 weeks on and 13 weeks off. We’re now in the latter.

On one hand it’s no surprise that Beckett has been drafted in to take up the reins. Radio 2 has long had a weakness for familiar telly faces and Beckett is hard to escape on the small screen these days. He’s probably on a comedy panel gameshow on a telly near you at some point this evening. (Actually, he is, on Paul Sinha’s TV Showdown at 9.40pm on STV.)

On the other, is Beckett really the obvious stand-in for Paul O’Grady? O’Grady’s show has always had a third age, slightly crinkly vibe going on. It’s hard to think of anyone who has spoken so directly to that demographic on Radio 2 since Terry Wogan’s love for his TOGs.

That, you have to feel, is not an audience likely to feel well served by Beckett, whose chief appeal is his youthful puppy dog enthusiasm.

“Let’s think about the fun things that could be happening next week,” he said at one point. “Kids could be going back to school, payday coming up, your favourite comedian as a new show on the radio …”

Not sure any of those would really apply to O’Grady’s audience. But maybe that’s just me stereotyping Radio 2 listeners. “Hi Rob,” one listener wrote in, “it’s my 17th birthday and on Wednesday I start college from the half-term holidays … I have so much homework to do.”

As in any first show, Beckett had a lot of wheels to not only keep turning but to get in motion in the first place. So, there were call-outs for people who were spending Sunday procrastinating in a bid to get them to stop (Michelle was encouraged to pack for her holiday) and there was a call-out for the “Geek of the week” (bit 2003 but whatever). The winner was a bloke who had the “world’s largest Willy Wonka” collection. “We’ve got a Wonka wing in the house.” As Beckett admitted himself, that’s going to be hard to beat in the weeks ahead.

The musical selections were boilerplate Radio 2. Take That, Queen, ELO and a bit of Bowie, Happy Mondays and New Order for the 6 Music crowd . I’m not sure I know anything more about Beckett’s own musical tastes after spending two hours in his company. Is that a problem? For me, yes, but Beckett, for all his obvious desire to please on his first show, seemed perfectly at home.

Next morning the radio was still tuned to the station, so I caught a bit of the nation’s most popular DJ, Scotland’s own Ken Bruce. Which meant I got to play Popmaster (I did a bit better than Tuesday’s contestants, but not significantly better) and hear Tears for Fears play live in the Piano Room, the latest in a month of live performances on Bruce’s show. (Simple Minds popped in on Tuesday and Emeli Sande on Wednesday, so the Scots have been well represented.)

Bruce at 71 remains a safe pair of broadcasting hands, whether talking to contestants or eighties pop stars. Tears for Fears did a cover of their own tune Mad World stripped of all the electronica. It still took me back to my student days which are coming up for 40 years ago this autumn. Ken Bruce isn’t the only one who’s getting on a bit.

Listen Out For: Travelling Folk, Radio Scotland, Thursday, 8pm. As Radio 2 launches its 21st-century Folk initiative, the 20th-century version still has something to offer. On tonight’s edition it’s the legendary Peggy Seeger in concert recorded in Portsoy last October.