My first BBC Radio Wales broadcast was on 15 October 1993. It's astonishing to me that it has been that long. Time goes quickly when you're enjoying yourself, and this role has never been anything less than enjoyable.
At last weekend's Swn Festival, I played Camera's Hurt 7" at 2am and there was a bit of a kerfuffle on the dancefloor. It rather reminded me that many great singles have passed through my needle (gramophone) or errant CD players in the last two decades. I thought that this anniversary would be a good opportunity to share them with you.
The initial 'short'-list amounted to over 500 tracks. I fret over my end of year programmes so you can imagine how difficult it was for me to condense TWENTY YEARS' worth of great singles into one three-hour show.
My only criterion was purely egotistical: which of the songs had I enjoyed the most? And that's it.
There are many great Welsh singles that I haven't been able to squeeze in, glaring omissions from the likes of Llwybr Llaethog, Los Campesinos, Tystion and Soft-Hearted Scientists.
But to encompass them, and the other great singles I wasn't able to feature, I'd have needed a six-hour show and World Service were unwilling to give me the extra shelf space.
Some people may be surprised that there is no Manic Street Preachers here. They were a band whose records never really engaged with me (up until their recent, outstanding headline appearance at Festival No. 6).
Neither do Stereophonics feature. I liked their first demo and some of the tracks on their debut album, and Kelly, Stuart and Richard were always remarkably accommodating and gracious with me. However their music left me cold. Maybe it was the naked jingoism of their (legendary) Cardiff Castle gig or my sense that Kelly just never looks like he's enjoying himself.
I'm sure they're not remotely bothered, but given the gravity and importance of both bands to Wales - and south Wales, in particular - I do feel as though some explanation for their absence is due.
What is in there is a glorious box full of the sounds that have inspired, elevated and (sometimes) shocked me over the last 20 years.
Thank you to every one who has ever taken the trouble to send me music. Even the godawful stuff that doesn't get anywhere near my airwaves serves to underline just how great the great stuff really is.
And let's focus - for three hours at least - on the greatest of that great stuff.
Y NIWL - 'Un'
Gwynedd
GEORGIA RUTH - 'Week Of Pines'
Aberystwyth/Cardiff
RADIO LUXEMBOURG - 'Mostyn A Diego'
Aberystwyth
JARCREW - 'Paris & The New Math'
Ammanford
MURRY THE HUMP - 'Cracking Up'
Aberystwyth
KEYS, THE - 'Fire Inside'
Resolven/Cardiff
TRWBADOR - 'Off Beat'
Camarthen/Cardiff
DIDZ & CHICO - 'Something New'
Cardiff
AFTERNOONS, THE - 'A Change In Season'
Tenby/Cardiff
TOPPER - 'Something To Tell Her'
Penygroes
GORKY'S ZYGOTIC MYNCI - 'Patio Song'
Camarthen
JEN JENIRO - 'Dolphin Pinc A Melyn'
Llanrwst
COLORAMA - 'Sound'
Benllech
IFAN DAFYDD - 'Treehouse (EP Version)'
Llanrug
CRASHLAND - 'Standard Love Affair'
Monmouth/Bristol
BASTIONS - 'Crooked Hands'
Anglesey
DUB WAR - 'Mental'
Newport
GENOD DROOG - 'Genod Droog Theme'
Porthmadog
MANSUN - 'I Can Only Disappoint U'
Deeside/Liverpool/Chester
MELYS - 'Chinese Whispers'
Capel Curig/Betws Y Coed
ECTOGRAM - 'Adennydd A Sylltau (Single Mix)'
Bangor/Ynys Môn
60FT DOLLS - 'Stay'
Newport
CAMERA - 'Hurt'
Wrexham
FUTURE OF THE LEFT - 'Manchasm'
Cardiff
GALLOPS - 'Jeff Leppard'
Wrexham
ISLET - 'Powys'
Cardiff
BIG LEAVES - 'Dal Fy Law'
Waunfawr
CATATONIA - 'Sweet Catatonia'
Cardiff
SCHOOL, THE - 'Is He Really Coming Home?'
Cardiff
SWEET BABOO - 'If I Died Would You Remember'
Bangor/Cardiff
JOY FORMIDABLE, THE - 'The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade'
Mold
MCLUSKY - 'To Hell With Good Intentions'
Cardiff
CUBARE - 'Punx Snot Dead, It Just Sux Now'
Cardiff
AKIRA THE DON - 'Oh! (What A Glorious Thing)'
Anglesey
EUROS CHILDS - 'That's Better'
Pembrokeshire
FLYSCREEN - 'Pop Song Sing A Long'
Newport
GRUFF RHYS - 'Gwn Mi Wn'
Bethesda
THREATMANTICS - 'Don't Care'
Cardiff
HELEN LOVE - 'Does Your Heart Go Boom?'
Swansea
SATURDAY'S KIDS - 'Whisper In My Ear'
Cardiff
LIBERTY 37 - 'Revolution'
Swansea
RICHARD JAMES - 'When You See Me (In The Pouring Rain)'
Croes - Y - Ceiliog
CATE LE BON - 'Sad Sad Feet'
Penboyr
MOUNTAINEERS, THE - 'Red Thongs'
Hope
ZABRINSKI - 'Executive Decision'
Camarthen
KENTUCKY AFC - 'Bodlon (Dance Mix)'
Caernarfon
METABEATS - 'The Snap Featuring Mudmowth, Rtkal & Ruffstylz (Radio Edit)'
Cardiff
SEX HANDS - 'Way No Way'
Dwygfylchi/Llanfairfechan/Conwy
DERRERO - 'Radar Intruder'
Newport/Falmouth
CAVES, THE - 'Wow Machine'
Swansea
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS - 'Ysbeidiau Heulog'
Wales
KLAUS KINSKI - 'Caesar'
Llanfairfechan
H. HAWKLINE - 'You Say You Love Me'
Cardiff
