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I think he lost some of his importance once Grunge and Britpop hit the mainstream in the mid 90s, being forced to celebrate a kind of obscurity-for-its-own-sake in an effort simply to stay relevant. Kershaw became more interesting for me because he was more willing to look further afield and wasn't so bound to Peel's ultimately quite post-punk-inspired idea of what cutting edge contemporary music 'should' be. But as you say, that's not to undermine his enormous importance overall. Although by the time he started championing The White Stripes I'd pretty much given up on him altogether.
Not in the same league in terms of significance, but I've always thought Janice Long has been quite overlooked; she played a vital role boosting those bands that weren't quite marginal enough for Peel but which (at that time, anyway) weren't mainstream enough for the daytime playlist, groups like The The, etc who might've otherwise found themselves lost in that massive no-mans-land that existed during the 80s, between Peel and Simon Bates. (Although, as KIS mentions, David Kid Jensen was also pretty good in that regard).
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