Sir, – A lot of concern has been expressed at the imminent loss of RTÉ's long-wave service.
The real crime is not that this service is being withdrawn when there are now lots of alternative ways to receive RTÉ radio abroad but that it wasn’t made available in the first place when there were no viable alternatives.
I recall in the decades of the 1950s to 1980s my father having to go to the local park in London with his transistor radio and yards of aerial which he would throw up to the branches of a tree in an effort to catch a bit of crackly medium-wave commentary on his beloved Kerry football team, delivered by the brilliant Michael O’Hehir. This was during the period when RTÉ refused to use their long-wave service for a diaspora which was then much greater than it is now.
In contrast, getting brilliant RTÉ radio reception of your Sky box or smartphone can hardly be described as a chore if you are really concerned to keep listening. If you know someone who does have trouble getting the service, rather than moaning to the newspapers, why not show them how to get connected? – Yours, etc,
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KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.