I must add my voice to the chorus of complaints over the new programming of Maine Public Radio. I have enjoyed and supported MPR for 28 years. I regret that my relationship with the station has come to an end and I strongly object to the “spin” that the spokespeople for the station have put on their defense of the new programming.

For example, in his ironically titled op-ed piece “Maine Public Radio improves its service” in the Dec. 8 edition of the Bangor Daily News, Russ Peotter accuses your newspaper of “conveniently” leaving out some information. However, when Peotter complains that the Met is not willing to offer the opera at another time, he fails to mention two important facts.

First, the Met has been coming to us and goes to many listeners across the country as a live broadcast. Some people may have been so lulled by music program hosts’ repetition of the term “live recording” (a contradiction in terms?) that they no longer understand or appreciate the difference between the two. For others, one of the glories of the Met broadcast is that it is a live broadcast; we hear it as it is being performed. To listen to a tape of the performance at a later time is to place us at yet another remove from that Saturday’s opera.

Second, the Met brings with it its own underwriter. Perhaps the reason Texaco has chosen to underwrite the Met’s Saturday matinee performance all these years is to prevent them from being cut from programming schedules in such states as Maine, that must work hard for every dollar of support. Another irony.

Nancy MacKnight

Orono