I’ve spent over 20 years avoiding Lyreacrompane in north Kerry. It’s nothing to do with not wanting to visit. No. I mean I’ve successfully managed to avoid ever having to mention Lyreacrompane on the radio.

That was until last Saturday morning. Of all the places Hannah Quinn-Mulligan could have gone to talk about the elusive Curlew, she had to pick Lyreacrompane. And yes, I made a dogs dinner of pronouncing it.

To mispronounce a townland, parish, village or place in radio-land is a cardinal sin.

The first time I ever heard of Lyreacrompane was in a story told by my great friend Ray Ryan of Irish Examiner fame. He pronounced it so eloquently I prayed there’d never be a farming story big enough that would require my dispatch to Ladhar an Chrompáin – or as it translates “the space between converging rivers”.

And with good reason, as despite my best pre-match warm up, I still managed to wonderfully mangle it in introducing Hannah’s fine report. It’s just one of those words I’ll never get right!

It didn’t take long for “Pat from Kerry” to text the phonetic spelling for my attention. At least Pat was nice about it, as I’m in no doubt but there were roars along the lines of “eejit”, “clown” and “who is yer man anyway?” from down Kingdom way. Hopefully the Healy-Raes weren’t listening to “that jackeen”.

Obviously the producer corrected him in his ear and Ryan immediately self-deprecatingly corrected himself on air suggesting to listeners not to waste the 50c texting to point out his misstep

Twenty four hours earlier, Ryan Tubridy was talking about President Michael D Higgins’s 80th birthday. And he said something about “March” instead of “April”. Obviously the producer corrected him in his ear and Ryan immediately self-deprecatingly corrected himself on air suggesting to listeners not to waste the 50c texting to point out his misstep.

Now it’s not much to ask of a radio presenter to get it right. We are paid to speak properly, so I shout at the radio too, believe me! But I also shout at the TV when Marcus Rashford blasts wide from close range. In other words; we all make mistakes. If you make a mistake on the farm, nobody may ever know, but when you do it on radio, up to 300,000-400,000 people will spot it!

While on air, I’m listening to the interview, consulting my notes, watching the clock, taking directions from the producer and pre-reading texts coming in to read out loud, all at once!

For the previous two weekends, I was sitting in for Brendan O’Connor. The shows on Saturday and Sunday are two hours long, requiring solid preparation for interviews, many times with people and subjects I wouldn’t be overly familiar with. So I prepare as best as possible: study the briefs, do my own background research and so on to make the piece sound as interesting as possible for the listener.

While on air, I’m listening to the interview, consulting my notes, watching the clock, taking directions from the producer and pre-reading texts coming in to read out loud, all at once!

“Who is George Miley?” a friend sarcastically asked me following my interview with espionage novelist John le Carre’s son on the show. (George Smiley was the fictional spy created by Le Carre for his books).

“I don’t know. Why?”

“You said, ‘George Miley’ on the radio today?”

“No, you must have misheard me referring to George Smiley!”

I listened back and sure enough, I’d said “Miley” instead of “Smiley” although it was written in front of me. Two hours of thousands of spoken words, and listeners will pick up on the one word out of place. And rightly so! But just remember: we don’t do it out of badness or ignorance. Isn’t it human nature to get the odd word or fact wrong? We’re human too and don’t know everything about everything including the correct pronunciation of liar-a-crom-pawn!

A bit too soon

Watching Reeling in the Years 1960s, 70s, 80s 90s and 00s was nostalgic, shocking, sad, happy and funny. The first two episodes (financial crisis) of 2010s has been just stomach churning.