The Eleventh Hour is RTE Radio 1\'s late night arts and culture show, presented by Paraic Breathnach. Recently RTE Radio management took the decision to cancel the program. This petition has been created in the hopes they will revise and reverse this decision, which if left unchanged will be a great loss to the quality of Irish radio, and the Arts as a whole in Ireland. At the end of its first year of production The Eleventh Hour has more than proven itself as an intelligent and well researched program, and has featured artists, writers, musicians and actors from Ireland and abroad. Paraic Breathnach is known to listeners in Ireland as an accomplished theatre and film actor, producer, director of theatre, writer and all-round arts expert - this is clearly evident in the way he hosts the show. It always seems like he is genuinely interested in the conversations he conducts on air, and most of his guests on the show always appear to be having an immensely enjoyable and stimulating time in their reparte with Paraic. His unique voice and manner on air is ideally suited to help any topic seem un-intimidating to average radio listeners, without having to \'dumb down\' the content and sacrifice existing listeners with a passion for the arts. The loss of such a well produced and stimulating program is a move in the wrong direction for RTE Radio 1, no other program will improve on what the Eleventh Hour has accomplished. If the decision is not reversed, this petition might hopefully alert the management at Radio 1 that their existing, loyal listenership is very unhappy to see such an unjustified cancellation, and that this displeasure should not be made even greater by more air time being devoted to mild and ineffective efforts to boost ratings at the expense of serving the arts in Irish society and satisfying those listeners whose tastes will not be catered for elsewhere. Those signing this petition are doing so to plead with you to reverse your decision to cancel The Eleventh Hour. The timeslot is unlikely to attract new listeners however it is filled. Please reverse your decision and keep The Eleventh Hour on air, which over the past year has served to entertain and stimulate so many listeners and if you give it the chance, will continue to do so. If the decision is not reversed it will send a clear signal to listeners, Arts and Culture is not as significant to Radio 1\'s misguided ambitions as it is to its listeners.

Sponsor

Links