LISTENING to Liveline with Maire Geoghegan Quinn was like listening to a politician's clinic - with music. You could almost believe she was taking notes to pass to a party lieutenant who would see to those speed ramps.
Compared with Marian Finucane, Mrs GeogheganQuinn's presentation was strict teacherly and even somewhat disapproving. You felt that George Best, who was interviewed only mentioned he was involved in a film to gain her approval.
There was none of Finucane's casual delivery: "Right ... yeah ... Go on." It was as if the teacher had taken over from the head girl.
When Maire Geoghegan Quinn spoke to a woman from Cork whose son had been convicted of stolen car offences and given a custodial sentence, one felt she was at her most relaxed. Such stories are part of politicians' daily lives. "Do you want to talk to me about it?" she said gently.
It might not be fair - but what's fair in politics or media? - to judge Maire Geoghegan Quinn against one of the State's best broadcasters, but that's the price of starting your media career at the top.
In time we will probably get used to her, but on her first outing the temptation was to listen to the programme in terms of the presenter's baggage.
Would she claim credit for Fianna Fail, or her time at the Department of Justice, when a mother spoke of the great treatment her son was getting at a juvenile detention centre? She did not.
She did not even bite when one caller suggested working mothers might have some responsibility for "joyriding" and other juvenile crime. Mrs Geoghegan Quinn simply suggested that women were not the only ones responsible for bringing up children.
The interesting thing about Maire Geoghegan Quinn is that she is a politician and a former Minister for Justice and has decided to leave politics because of media intrusion. One felt RTE was trying to pretend she was none of those things. That might explain the decision to open her programme with George Best talking about the GAA.
Maybe she should sign up for the other Carr Communications course - not the one that teaches politicians to be crisp and authoritative and sound as if they know something, but the one that teaches people to be warm, smooth and sound as if they want to know what others have to say.