SO much radio listening is habitual, isn’t it? Most weekends I will get up and turn on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie on 6 Music while I’m having my breakfast. It’s part of my routine. So is listening to The Monday Night Club on 5 Live or cooking a meal to Radio Scotland’s Get It On.

Habits can change, of course. A decade ago I’d have started my Saturdays listening to Frank Skinner on Absolute Radio. Back then I had to take my youngest daughter to acting classes in Linlithgow and Skinner was my companion of choice on the journey. Given that Absolute is celebrating 15 years on the air (having previously been Virgin Radio), it seemed a good time to check in with him again.

If last Saturday morning’s show is typical, nothing much has changed. Skinner is still accompanied by Emily Dean, though now comedian Pierre Novellie is also on board. He plays a lot of music I don’t particularly care for (if you feel the same, the podcast version of the show edits it out), but he remains amusing company.

For how much longer? Skinner, who is 66 now, is rather droll on the subject. He told us he had been at a Q&A with fellow Absolute DJ Dave Berry in the week celebrating Absolute’s birthday.

“A woman said, ‘What do you think Absolute will be like in 15 years time?’ I said, ‘There will be one notable absentee, I would have thought.’

“Sorry,” he continued, “is that too dark for breakfast?”

A little, but honest at least.

“Dave was very defensive,” Skinner added. “He didn’t suggest I might make it for a second …”

I guess this is the acme of Bloke Radio, though Skinner and his companions did end up talking about Strictly. More’s the pity, because I was hoping Absolute might be a Strictly-free zone. Just for novelty value if nothing else, because, Lord knows, BBC radio will be banging on about it for the next couple of months.

Still, it was reassuring that at least Pierre Novellie doesn’t watch it (nothing against Strictly myself but it’s not compulsory no matter what the BBC might have you believe).

“When you guys discuss Strictly,” Novellie said, “I do feel like Prince Charles at a football game.”

“Oh yeah, welcome to my world, mediaeval cathedrals, you two,” Dean replied.

“What about when you two discuss emotions?” Skinner concluded.

In short, I’m remembering why I used to listen in the first place. If I ever want a break from RadMac I know where to retune to.

Kirsty Young returned to Radio 4 on Tuesday with a new series Young Again, which she described as “a podcast for Radio 4”. Sounds like a radio show to me, but there are three episodes already available on BBC Sounds. In the first episode Young met Canadian supermodel Linda Evangelista, who turned out to be astonishingly candid, offering a vision of the fashion industry that was both excessive and scary.

“How come you got married at 22?” Young asked her at one point.

“Because I was an idiot.”

That’s a funny line, but the reality behind it was far from amusing. “Did I have #MeToo moments? Absolutely,” Evangelista admitted. “I was in a #MeToo marriage.”

She talked, too, about failed cosmetic procedures and the cost, both physical and mental, that she had to pay as a result. “I was never going to have my body back. Never. And I still don’t and I won’t.”

But, Evangelista added, she loves her scars.

What are your favourite scars, Young then asked her? “I guess my most recent breast cancer bilateral mastectomy. I like those ones.”

This was a bracing conversation. More of the same please.

Finally, on Pick of the Pops last Saturday, Paul Gambaccini was replaying the hits of 1989. As it happened, they included Technotronic’s Pump Up the Jam.

“Technotronic provided me with one of my favourite concert memories,” Gambo recalled. “They were supporting Madonna at Wembley and their floppy disc failed. They stood there in silence before 72,000 people and a member of the group said, ‘Technotronic are Technochronic.’”

I rarely get in a high dudgeon about DJs being replaced, but I can’t say I’m thrilled at the prospect of Steve Wright replacing Gambaccini on Pick of the Pops this autumn.

Listen Out For: Enjoy Your Piping! Podcast, garywest.scot

Radio Scotland ended broadcasting Pipeline back in April, but credit to presenter Gary West, he’s launched his own weekly podcast which is both a great vehicle for contemporary bagpipe music and a reminder of what a good broadcaster he is.