Lyric Breakfast supporting Bóthar.
Carl Corcoran, presenter of
the Lyric Breakfast
on RTÉ lyric fm 96-99fm
"This is a great opportunity for our junior listeners - members of the Lyric Breakfast Club - AND their families to provide long lasting support for those less fortunate"
It’s almost a year since the Lyric Breakfast began its association with Bóthar. Lyric, as a station however, has had an association with the charity for a lot longer. Through the programme and the Lyric Breakfast Club, we like to think that we’re responsible for inspiring the many listeners who contributed towards the amazing fundraising figure that was published by Bothár at the end of 2005.
Carl Corcoran serves breakfast musically every weekday morning on RTÉ lyric fm. A regular helping of classical favourites with twists and turns along the way, which translate into some great trad or light jazz, and a little bit of new terrain. But it’s always great music and a good alternative to all the talk, talk, talk that the other stations provide in the mornings. There’s news headlines on the half-hour, ‘What it Says in the Papers’, traffic reports from AA Roadwatch and the latest sports news. As we say in our slogan, “It’s all you need in the morning!” All this combined with occasional competitions and great prizes which include holidays abroad, stays in some of Ireland’s best hotels and tickets to great concerts.
Earlier this year, on the 16th and 17th of March, we served breakfast Viennese style live from the heart of Vienna. This being the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, it was appropriate to go to the capital city of music that has such an association with the composer. This was the first year that Vienna had hosted a St. Patrick’s Day parade and it was wonderful to be part of that event! It gave us an opportunity to meet up with the many Irish people living in Vienna who, along with many others, (and not just Irish), tune into the programme regularly via the internet.
We couldn’t end our article without mentioning the Lyric Breakfast Club. Specifically designed for our junior listeners - primary school goers - each member gets a Newsletter every month containing lots of interesting facts about composers, instruments, music trivia and there’s a little fun too with puzzles and word games. Every Wednesday around 8.15am we play a piece by our featured composer. This gives our junior listeners a chance to text, e-mail or write in and win some great prizes. We also run essay writing competitions and last year we produced two ‘Kids’ Specials’ for Halloween and Christmas. They were great fun to make and included some well known names - Ryan Tubridy, Marty Whelan and the hilarious Pat Shortt. Next term we’ll be putting the talents of primary school choirs to the test as the very successful RTÉ lyric fm Choirs for Christmas Competition will expand to include a new category. Keep an eye on the Newsletter for more details. Through the Newsletter, we’ll continue to promote Bóthar and suggest to kids ways in which they can support this worthy cause, either individually or through school projects.
In the coming year, we look forward to continuing our association with the charity – tune in and listen out for future Bóthar competitions and initiatives!
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