Radio Review Bernice HarrisonFor radio fans, kidnapped reporter Alan Johnston's comments on his release were particularly uplifting. "I had a radio almost throughout and was able to follow all the extraordinary level of support and interest in my case and that was a huge psychological boost and I am immensely grateful," he told his BBC colleagues in his first interview following his release - one that was picked up by other stations and replayed again and again in news bulletins throughout Wednesday.
It encapsulated so much about radio - not least hammering home the power and the responsibilities broadcasters have when it comes to what they pump out over the airwaves.
Here, if you have a problem with something on air you can go to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC). But writing in outrage at how Anton Savage, standing in for Ryan Tubridy, and Derek Davis, in for Pat Kenny, have sucked the life out of RTÉ's morning schedule this week won't cut it. Instead, there are a number of categories that complaints must fall under. For example, on the grounds of taste and decency infringements, or unbalanced coverage.
If an objection is upheld, then at a later date the programme must give space to a sombre-voiced man informing listeners of the substance of the complaint, saying it was upheld, and apologising for offence caused.
It's this part of the process that is problematic for me after hearing just such an apology before 10am on Monday on The Ray D'Arcy Show (Today FM). Back in April, a man complained about an item about sex toys on D'Arcy's show. He was, he said, doing his morning drop off to the creche and school and a lengthy and detailed review of vibrators was, he felt, not the most appropriate listening material on a national radio station at that hour of the day. His complaint was upheld, so this week listeners were told in quite explicit detail about the ruling. A person with a carful of kids would be entitled to be as horrified by the apology - with repeated mention of "sex toys" and "vibration sounds" - as they were by the item itself. There has to be a better way.
Perhaps an on-air apology for breaching taste and decency and directing listeners to the website for details might work. But whatever it is, hopefully a less graphic solution will be worked out before next month when The Gerry Ryan Show (2FM) has to read out its own apology for a similar item on sex toys following a complaint from a parent about the unsuitability of such material for early-morning broadcasts. The BCC's judgment, incidentally, referred to Ryan's "crude manner" - well there's a surprise.
Flicking through the stations on Wednesday to get away from Derek Davis, I happened on Ryan's show, where he was calling for listeners to phone in with descriptions of the filthiest toilets in Ireland. Uplifting? The stuff of national radio? Even remotely interesting? Not for my money.
Newstalk has been quick to take advantage of RTÉ's July stand-in shambles by rejigging its morning schedule. Brenda Power and Orla Barry have swapped slots, with Power's Your Call coming on directly after the breakfast programme. It never made sense for Power, one of the best broadcasters on the Newstalk roster, to be relegated to late morning - a time when all stations experience a lull in listenership. Her programme is still a caller-driven format, although she's putting more of her own opinions into the mix than she did when she started last year, and it's all the better for it.
There were was much discussion everywhere about Bertie's astonishing "I don't know why don't go and commit suicide" remark about people who moan about the economy to a trade union conference on Wednesday, though Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1) did, for some reason, choose to help the Taoiseach's defence by replaying an old clip where he castigated Donegal politician Jim McDaid for similarly thoughtless remarks, saying three of his friends had died by suicide. There have been many column inches about the Taoiseach's choice of language, but the written word can't beat radio when it comes to giving full force to the shock. If you missed it, listen back to Wednesday's Drivetime or The Last Word (Today FM), and be horrified, not just by the remarks, but by the craven clapping and honking laughter that greeted them.