No sooner has one Oxfringe festival finished than indefatigable organisers Heather Dunmore and Sarah Jones start work on the next. This year, not only have they lined up another bulging programme of music, comedy, theatre, poetry, and dance, they’ve also been joined by a music patron – Radio 2 legend, and local resident, ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris.

It’s — gulp — 25 years since Bob and I worked together on Radio Oxford, but it was a delight to meet up with him, Heather, and Sarah at Bob’s Steventon office.

Amid much laughter, Sarah and Heather revealed how Bob became involved with Oxfringe.

“We’re both old enough to remember The Old Grey Whistle Test! We thought we’d chance our arm and pop Bob an email.”

One of Oxfringe’s prime aims is to promote unknown local bands and musicians — something that fits exactly with Bob’s own TV and radio career.

“If you trace back to when I started on Radio 1 doing Sounds of the 70s, and then The Old Grey Whistle Test, the engine of those programmes was the discovery of new music.

“So, getting involved with Oxfringe segues my localness and enjoyment of Oxfordshire on the one hand, and my love of discovering new music on the other.”

But Bob is to be more than just a figurehead. He is going to judge a new Oxfringe band competition. Does this mean he will have to assume a Simon Cowell-like personality?

“We’re going to be completely ruthless,” Bob laughed, having been briefly and uncharacteristically stumped for words.

“Miles, the oldest son of our family, is 17,” Bob added. “Music is soaked into his DNA, and he’s discovered this wonderful local band: they’re only just starting, they’re kids at his school, St Birinus, Didcot. He’s already brought them over to my home studio, and they’ve recorded some demos. You never know, they may find their way into the competition.”

Meanwhile, Sarah revealed, the Oxfringe duo scoured the Edinburgh Fringe last summer, hunting for talent to bring to Oxford.

“Sometimes you go to something, and it’s a real pearl, but sometimes it’s dreadful. We’ve got quite a number of very good drama and physical theatre companies coming from Edinburgh — and also from the Buxton Fringe.

“We’ve tried to network with lots of other festivals, and among the groups that spring to mind are Le Navet Bete, who are reinventing clowning. They do a fantastic show. And there’s a new play about Peter Tatchell.

“This year, we’re going to try to make sure that every show gets some sort of review, which they can put up on the website if they wish: it may be their first chance of performing, and the nice thing for them is to get some feedback.”

“There’s a wonderful catch-22 if you post reviews from an event like this on a site,” Bob added. “That draws people in from a wider community, and so the word spreads. The Internet has had such a massive impact across culture generally, but with music and musicians in particular it’s helped so much in spreading the word.”

This is the fourth year of Oxfringe, but Heather and Sarah’s enthusiasm for their brainchild is plainly undimmed. I asked if there was any show that brings a particular gleam to their eyes this year.

“Sarah has managed to get Stan Tracey, which we’re thrilled about,” Heather replied. “There are many others, although I’m not giving them away now. But my cast would kill me if I don’t point up my own award-winning play Blue, which is being performed as part of Oxfringe at the OFS Studio. I’ve written the play and am directing it — heaven help me!”

lOxfringe 2010 runs from March 24 to April 11. For details and tickets, go oxfringe.com/tickets.