BHS

BHS is British Home Stores, a chain of departments stores with not very many departments. Once upon a time it sold food and I used to be fascinated by its cheese department, which would slice exactly however much cheddar you wanted from huge rounds of cheese using a cheesewire. Nowadays it concentrates on clothing, lighting and 'home accents', and it's food heritage is reduced to a cafe upstairs and a sandwich bar downstairs. And every Christmas, if you got one of those pointless gifts that says someone thought of you but had no idea what to get you, you can be sure they bought it at BHS.

Aerial ears

Radio 2 is what the BBC used to call 'The Light Programme'. It always used to be the safe radio station for undemanding housewives, but now we have commercial radio to cater for that demographic, so it's now a lot better than that.

If you've never listened to British radio before, it's now all online. Take a listen here.

Radio 1: Chart music. I now find it unlistenable to, not because I don't like new music but because most records are now autotuned to death and I can detect it so easily it sets my teeth on edge. Lots of rap, grime and X-factor winners.
Radio 1 Xtra: Urban music - essentially the BBC trying to beat the pirate stations at their own game.
Radio 2: Pop music for an older demographic. It has a heavier dependence on oldies, and features non-threatening DJs. Adele's natural home. However, in the evenings their remit widens and you'll find some excellent specialist music programmes on there.
Radio 3: Highbrow classical music, talks and drama.
Radio 4: This is what my radio tends to be tuned to permanently. News, talk, documentaries, drama and comedy. Imagine NPR, but remove the smugness and make it interesting.
Radio 4 Extra: Classic drama and comedy from the Radio 4 archives. Plus some children's programmes.
Radio 5: News, sport and phone ins. Radio Bloke without the right-wing nuttiness.
Radio 6: Music for musos. Sort of like Mojo or Uncut magazines on the air. Most of the DJs are chin stroking rock journalists.
And radio stations for Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, another bit of Northern Ireland that isn't speaking to the rest of Northern Ireland (sigh) and a few Celtic languages.

Phone-in

Self explanatory, and a rewrite of one of my old ones from 1982, a time when I was addicted to the late night phone-ins on LBC, London's commercial news radio station. Note the telephone, a late 80s push button BT Tribune - once again I've opted to draw a phone that looks like a phone rather than the anonymous white cordless box it would normally be these days.

Thank you to all the Comics.com refugees who have subscribed to the strip. I've gained an extra 60 subscribers in the last 36 hours, and It's great to see that lots of other Sherpa artists have seen their readership rise by similar amounts.

Mike Pike essipode 11

Wrotham, on top of the North Downs, the highest point in Kent, and the perfect place for the BBC to put it's main radio transmitter for the South East.

The radio in frame five was my own FM trannie - which I tended to draw as my default cartoon radio at the time. The default cartoon radio I draw nowadays in Smith is a Pure DAB radio. I don't own one, (mine is a seven year old Goodmans) but they're the most instantly recognisable radio type nowadays. And if anyone from Pure is reading this, I'm always open to offers for product placement.

Note that Alonzo's middle initial in the indroduction has mutated from an F to a P. Also note that his TRansit van has the words 'Mad Scientist' helpfully painted on the sides.

Thrilling conclusion next week, folks...