Madam, - I am most disappointed at RTÉ Radio 1's decision to remove some of the station's more interesting programmes - The Mystery Train and Rattlebag.
Is it not in the remit of the public broadcasting service to provide some programmes of a cultural and non-populist nature? With RTÉ aping the commercial radio stations, every frequency is set to buzz with an endless stream of chatter and popular culture. Listeners will have nowhere to turn for respite from bubbly broadcasting "personalities". This rescheduling does offer a change, but rather more of what is already available.
I will invest in an i-pod. - Yours, etc,
BRÍD NÍ CHINNÉIDE, Rathmines, Dublin 6.
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Madam, - Why is it that when a new head of RTÉ Radio 1 is appointed, their first job seems to be to axe existing programmes and change personnel? I cannot understand why Ms Ana Leddy sees the need to get rid of Rattlebag, the John Creedon Show and Five Seven Live.
I particularly object to the chopping of Rattlebag. This five-day-a-week arts show started life many years ago as The Arts Show, presented by Mike Murphy. He established a solid audience and Myles Dungan and his team have continued that tradition very well, providing listeners with complete coverage of all the arts - literature, music, painting, cinema, etc.
Why dump John Creedon? He and his crew in Cork seemed to me to be providing amusing and quirky programmes. Why dump John Kelly?
I have no objection to Derek Mooney presenting an afternoon show or to Mary Wilson stepping into Rachel English's shoes. However, the name Drivetime it suggests a light entertainment show rather then a serious current affairs news programme like Five Seven Live.
There seems to me no logic to these changes - but then what do I know? I only worked for RTÉ Radio for over 20 years between 1968 and 1990. I worry about these trends and dread to think that my favourite radio station will not continue to hold my interest as it has done down through the years. - Yours, etc,
ULTAN MACKEN, Menlo, Galway.
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Madam, - Somewhere amid the sports bulletins and news reports, the advertising jingles and the pop singles, a country with even a half-claim to civilisation should find room for good daytime arts coverage on a mainstream radio station which benefits from licence-fee funding. Mike Murphy's Arts Show pioneered enjoyable, accessible and stimulating arts programming on RTÉ Radio 1. Myles Dungan has brilliantly maintained and consolidated this approach on Rattlebag, bringing live arts news, reviews and interviews to an unusually broad audience on weekday afternoons.
With the proposed axing of this consistently illuminating and engaging programme, much of this wide following will be irretrievably lost and artists will be obliged to skulk back to the margins, cut off from a large segment of their potential audience (but assured, no doubt, of commemorative radio tributes when the centenaries of their births occur).
BBC Radio Ulster - the former home of another of RTÉ's most articulate and intelligent arts broadcasters, John Kelly - offers the excellent Arts Extra at 6.30pm each weekday. Might RTÉ Radio 1 not serve its audience better with a similar slot than by allowing this "drive-time" pitch to be invaded by yet more sports programmes? - Yours, etc,
DENNIS O'DRISCOLL, Dublin Road, Naas, Co Kildare.
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Madam, If the new head of RTÉ Radio 1, Ana Leddy, doesn't incur the wrath of the arts community for her plan to scrap the excellent Rattlebag, then we will truly deserve the cultural wasteland that will, in future, characterise public service broadcasting in this State. If BBC tried to scrap its equivalent Front Row there would be blue bloody murder. I am outraged at the arrogance of this plan - but am I in a silent minority? We'll see. - Yours, etc,
JOHN WHITE, Slade Row, Arbour Hill, Dublin 7.
Madam, - Rattlebag cancelled, The Mystery Train derailed. RTÉ supporting the arts? - Yours, etc,
TONY CAFOLLA, Portersgate Crescent, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.