RTÉ Radio


RTÉ Radio is a division of the Irish national broadcasting organisation Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Radio broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels nationwide.
The first voice broadcast of 2RN, the original radio callsign for what would eventually become RTÉ Radio 1, took place on 14 November 1925 when Seamus Clandillon, the station director, announced on air: "Seo Raidió 2RN, Baile Átha Cliath ag tástáil", Irish for "This is Radio 2RN, Dublin testing". Regular Irish radio-broadcasting began on 1 January 1926. However, people in most of Ireland could not receive 2RN's signal at the time. When faced with numerous complaints from Cork regarding the writers' inability to tune in to the signal, Clandillon remarked in The Irish Radio Review, a magazine dedicated to the service, that they did not know how to operate their sets. A second station, 6CK, was established in Cork in 1927.

Channels and availability

History

A high power station was established in Athlone, in 1932, to coincide with the staging of the Eucharistic Congress. 2RN, 6CK and Athlone became known as "Radio Athlone" or, in Irish, "Raidió Áth Luain" and were receivable across virtually the entire country. Radio Athlone was officially renamed "Radio Éireann" in 1938.
Radio Éireann had limited programming hours and a rather conservative programming policy. It was barely tolerated by most Irish listeners, and was often shunned in favour of BBC stations and Radio Luxembourg. This did not really change until Radio Éireann became free of direct government control in the 1960s.
In June 1969, work had begun on the new Radio Centre at Donnybrook. Construction of the building was finished in April 1971 and after a period of fitting-out and transition, live broadcasts began on 24 September 1973. By May 1974 the move from the GPO in O'Connell Street,, was complete.
Now, RTÉ has a nationwide communications network with an increasing emphasis on regional news-gathering and input. Broadcasting on Radio 1 provides comprehensive coverage of news, current affairs, music, drama and variety features, agriculture, education, religion and sport, mostly in English but also some Irish. RTÉ 2fm is a popular music and chat channel which commenced broadcasting as RTÉ Radio 2 on 31 May 1979, Brendan Balfe being the first voice to be heard on the station at midday, when he introduced the first presenter, Larry Gogan. RTÉ lyric fm serves the interests of classical music and the arts, coming on air in May 1999, and replacing FM3 Classical Music, which had catered for the same target audience and time-shared with RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, an exclusively Irish language service, which first began broadcasting on Easter Sunday, 2 April 1972. Formerly RTÉ operated RTÉ Radio Cork, a local radio service in Cork, but this closed down in the early 2000s.

Future

RTÉ operates multiplex 1 on the Irish digital radio platform, having launched nine digital-only channels from May 2007 as part of a trial to see what demand existed for new radio services. Most of the channels were an extension of the main Radio 1 and 2fm stations, focusing on particular genres. On 30 November 2008 the trial was brought to an end with the commercial multiplex being suspended pending regulatory guidance, while RTÉ also changed the line up of its stations. The day after the end of the trial, two of the stations were turned off, with six being officially launched, namely RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Chill/RTÉ Junior, RTÉ Choice, RTÉ Gold, and RTÉ Pulse.
The two stations that were ended were RTÉ Digital Radio News, which played the most recent Radio 1 news bulletin on loop and RTÉ Playback, a listen again service with content from Radio 1 and 2fm. Despite not officially being launched, the RTÉ Radio 1 Extra service also continues to be broadcast, however the AM Radio 1 service has traditionally been used for opt-out programmes, although it was not called Radio 1 Extra until the trial.
At the moment, only 44% of the country is able to pick up the RTÉ DAB service, mainly in greater Dublin, Limerick and Cork areas. Despite this limited output from DAB, RTÉ's radio stations are broadcast on digital and cable television, and will also be included in the new digital terrestrial television service to be launched in 2009.
A survey carried out by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs showed that demand for an Irish language radio station aimed at a younger audience than RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta was high. This means that RTÉ might have plans to launch such a radio station.
On 6 November 2019, RTÉ management announced that, as part of a major cost-saving program, all its digital radio stations would be closed.

FM frequencies

Main transmission sites

Longwave

RTÉ Radio One, is relayed on long wave.
TransmitterService areaFrequencyERP
Clarkstown, Summerhill, County MeathIreland, UK252 kHz300
100

Shortwave

RTÉ from time to broadcasts on the Shortwave bands aimed at the Irish Diaspora, for example the RTÉ Radio One coverage of GAA All-Ireland Finals in recent years.
RTÉ Broadcasts one hour a day
TransmitterService areaFrequencyTimes
Bloemendal, Meyerton, South AfricaAfrica5840 kHz19:30-20:30 UTC

Special frequencies for GAA All-Ireland Finals

The Meyerton transmitter site in South Africa was used to relay this 17540 kHz in 2012.
TransmitterService areaFrequencyTimes
East Africa17725 kHz2-5pm
East Africa11620 kHz5-6pm
Southern Africa7405 kHz2-6pm
West Africa7505 kHz2-6pm