Instead of popular gents on the radio (2,4)
I believe the answer is:
in lieu
'instead' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'popular gents on the radio' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'popular' could be 'in' and 'in' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'lieu' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for in lieu that I've seen before include "In place of, instead" , "As a substitute" , "'In place of (2,4)'" , "in place of another" .)