This letter is to second vehemently the recent pointed letter of Mary Lou Colbath (BDN, Nov. 9), who has protested the elimination by Maine Public Radio of such programs as the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera and the weekday afternoon music offering.

For a station that has always prided itself on its intellectual parameters, it now overwhelms its listeners with talk shows (generally numbingly boring, endless news reports (5 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.); singularly puerile shows like “Car Talk” and other programs that are geared to the simplistic tastes usually associated with the blatantly commercial stations.

While certainly not of the quality of stations like WQXR (New York) or WKDA (Pittsburgh), the morning music offering is better than nothing. How long before “My Word,” “With Heart and Voice” and “Pipe Dreams” are axed?

Maine Public Radio is an oasis gone dry.

Robert H. Newall

Orono