Credit where it's due

I met John Purcell, General Manager of KCLR (Kilkenny Carlow Local Radio) just a little while ago and thanked him for the fact that after much badgering from me and many others, the station has recently gone live on the Internet. They very cleverly went live on the weekend of the All-Ireland Hurling final, meaning that Kilkenny natives around the world could tune into the local coverage, as well as that of the National broadcaster.

I must have really pleased John when I asked him to give serious thought to start podcasting on the station. I miss the 'On the Record' programme every day, the main morning news and magazine programme presented ny Sue Nunn, and produced by Cathy Power (both shown here at the ploughing recently with Michael O' Brien and Jim Townsend), and Thom Dowling's 'One 'o clock live' lunchtime programme, which are both vital to knowing what's occupying the minds of the voters.














The ability to listen to them in the afternoon would be great. Hopefully John and head of programming, the ever-dynamic Mags Murphy(pic gone as promised Mags!!) will look seriously at this facility.

I congratulated John too on the launch of Newstalk as a National station. John is a director of the station and involved since its beginnings as a Dublin-only station. I loved 'talk radio' when I had my student summer in Boston in 1985, and I can't believe it's taken so long to get here. I'm particularly enjoying George Hook in the afternoons.

Fair play to John, who is also one of the main movers behind Beat FM, the excellent young people's station in the South East, and one on which I regularly feature in news pieces. John's kids are pupils of Gaelscoil Osrai, and his daughter is a past pupil of my own. His commitment to the language is to be seen across all three stations, with Alan Mac an Eala, picking up yet another award in recent weeks for the excellent 'Tobar an Cheantair' programme on KCLR.