Cathal BarryThe director of the Palestrina Choir in Dublin’s pro-cathedral has described as a “shame” the decision by RTÉ to axe Tim Thurston’s popular Sunday morning radio programme, Gloria. Blánaid Murphy told The Irish Catholic that the programme was “much loved” and would be a “great loss” to Lyric FM.
“It was a much-loved programme that was very good for choral music. It was niche but it was followed by a lot of people. It think it’s a great shame. The whole content was really apt for a Sunday morning and very carefully put together. It will be a great loss to be honest,” she said.
At the time this newspaper went to print, a petition on change.org calling on RTÉ to reinstate Mr Thurston’s programme had over 1,000 signatures.
In a post on the site, Conor O’Reilly, who started the petition, described as “ludicrous” the decision by RTÉ to cancel the programme.
“At a time when choral singing is blossoming in Ireland it seems a ludicrous decision to take to deprive Tim Thurston’s audience of this most uplifting and beautiful start to a Sunday morning,” Mr O’Reilly said. “For 18 years Tim has guided us through a millennium of sacred music in an enlightening and beautiful manner.
“It would be an unconscionable loss to musical life in Ireland to allow this programme to be taken from us without some form of debate on the matter,” he said.