Madam, - May I, as a committed listener, echo the cry of dismay sounded by Kevin Myers in his recent Irishman's Diary on Lyric FM? It is now four years since Lyric came on our airwaves in May 1999, for me an occasion of great joy. Over the past 12 to 18 months, while I have not changed wavelength, I have sometimes turned the radio off in exasperation at the verbiage.
Music is a language but one that does not need to be interpreted. It needs to be selected, presented and played. If Lyric pursues a policy of personality-led programmes where words begin to outnumber notes, then in my opinion, it is not fulfilling its mission.
Lyric should not seek to be Everyman's station, nor to be a clone. Its mission is vastly different. It is that of bringing the vast wealth of the language of music to the listener and allowing the mind and the spirit do the rest. - Yours, etc.,
STEPHANIE BOURKE,
Skerries Mills,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.