In this week’s movements section we noted that: Irish funny man, Ricky Keegan, is heading back to the emerald isle after spending six months on breakfast at SAFM. Ricky at first was effusive with praise telling radioinfo, “Working in New Zealand & Australia has been awesome. Massive thank you to Shane, Guy & Craig from Austereo for giving an Irish man a break ;)” But then with that typical charming sarcasm for which his countrymen are known and loved, he said, “Hello to all the PD’s who didn’t even reply to my emails or phone calls. It appears common courtesy doesn’t exist.” What! No courtesy in Radio, could this be true?

In truth, Ricky’s not the first to have complained about the lack of response of any kind from PDs to contacts and air-checks sent by enthusiastic hopefuls who want a gig at their station.

It’s easy to see both sides. Those making the contact have more often than not put a big effort into preparing the material and sending it off. Their hopes and dreams riding on the PD’s verdict. PDs, on the other hand are the busiest of beasts. Unless they are specifically looking to fill a job at the time, they have better things to do than listen to unsolicited air-checks.

Yet, you’d think they could find a minute to send an emailed response – even if it’s just to say, we have no positions open at the moment.

What say you? Is common courtesy a luxury that Radio can no longer afford or something that should be reintroduced into the Radio’s culture from management down?