Susan the saviour

Susan McReynolds could be that new voice which Radio One desperately needs. She is bright, polished, but just that bit prissy. Perhaps it's the scripts but there is a hint of that sugary, goody-two-shoes about her that has gone in John Creedon. But she's new to the schedule as a substitute for Marian Finucane on Saturday mornings. She has promise but the material with which she had to deal on 15 July, would have challenged a Terry Wogan or a Gerry Ryan.

An overlong interview with a self-regarding Gemma Craven, followed by an overlong interview with a Drogheda entrepreneur, Malachy McCloskey. Then a potentially interesting piece on modern pirates, which featured an Irish sea-officer who was about to tell what might have been a riveting story of his ship being taken over by pirates but Susan McReynolds cut him off before he could tell what happened. At that stage I suspect I was not the only listener who had had enough.

Why must the material be so dull? Is there nothing interesting to talk about for two hours.

Susan McReynolds could be Radio One's savior, however, if she loosens up a bit and is given decent material. She doesn't natter on and on, like you-know-who, and she doesn't both ask the questions and answer the questions like-you-know-who. She has a good voice and is clever. Whether she has a sense of humour is unproven, but then who on Radio One has?

My aunt's old flame, Tom McGurk, has no sense of humour but has much laughter at his own jokes. Ryan Tubridy actually has a sense of humour. but it is drowned in all the natter. Pat Kenny doesn't know what a sense of humour is. Sean O'Rourke is paid not to have a sense of humour. Joe Duffy had a sense of humour before he became a celebrity and public service broadcasting does the rest – you don't pay a license fee for humour, do you?

Speaking of my aunt and her old flame, she told me recently she listens to McGurk in the bath – I am not sure what significance to attach to that. By the way, Tom, she now lives in Skibbereen, and although she has gone through three name changes in the last 30 years she is now back to her single name.

There was a superb documentary on Radio One on Sunday 16 July, Rumours from Monaghan, which told the story of a Fine Gael senator murdered by the IRA on 11 March 1974 at Tircooney, near Clones. On that evening he had gone to visit his girlfriend, Marjorie Coulson, at her parent's house. The same night, 13 IRA thugs raided the house, murdered Billy Fox as he fled through the fields, then burned down the house and a nearby mobile home, and burned the family bible – the Coulson family were Protestants as was Billy Fox. This was a fine piece of documentary radio, especially because of the quiet, soft voice of George Coulson, Marjorie's brother, who told the story of what happened that night and how Marjorie never recovered from it.

Billy Fox is hardly remembered nowadays – although in our household in Cork it was often talked about because my father, a guard, was based in Monaghan at the time. Someone on the programme said even Fine Gael had forgotten him. p