Radio in Ireland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Licenced Radio in Ireland is one element of the wider Media in Ireland, with 85% of the population listening to a licenced service on any given day.

Contents 1 Licencing 2 Transmission 3 Ownership 4 National stations 4.1 RTÉ (national state broadcaster) 4.2 Independent National Radio 5 Independent Regional Radio 5.1 Youth licences 6 Independent Local Radio 6.1 Dublin ILRs 6.2 Cork ILRs 6.3 Leinster ILRs 6.4 Munster ILRs 6.5 Connacht/Ulster ILRs 7 Community Radio 8 Special Interest Services 9 Institutional Services 10 Temporary Services 11 Defunct stations 11.1 RTÉ radio 11.2 Independent Local Radio 11.3 Independent National Radio 12 Future stations 12.1 Independent National Radio 12.2 Independent Regional Radio 12.2.1 Youth licences 12.2.2 Country & Irish licences 12.3 Independent Local Radio 12.3.1 Dublin ILR 12.3.2 Multi-city ILR 13 External links

[edit] Licencing

Aside from the stations operated by Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), radio stations in Ireland operate under sound broadcasting contracts issued by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI). This body supervises and regulates the commercial Independent National, Regional, and Local Radio stations, as well as the non-profit Community Radio stations, Institutional Services and Temporary Services.

This article deals with the legal radio stations of the Republic of Ireland. For a discussion of the extensive illegal broadcasting scene in Ireland, see Irish pirate radio.

[edit] Transmission

All stations broadcast on FM barring the RTÉ DAB Multiplex, which broadcasts on VHF Band III; and mediumwave and longwave versions of RTÉ Radio 1 mainly intended for reception outside of Ireland.

Mediumwave licences have been issued for commercial stations for Cork, Galway and Limerick, although these services never reached the air; and a mediumwave licence is currently being offered for a quasi-national religious service.

[edit] Ownership

Ownership of commercial radio in Ireland is largely by three companies. Emap, with three stations, Communicorp/Radio 2000 with 4, soon to be 5; and UTV Radio with 5. The rest of the stations, mostly small services, are generally owned by local businesses, with notable proprieters of stakes including Thomas Crosbie Holdings, the Roman Catholic Church and the Mid Western Area Health Board.

[edit] National stations

[edit] RTÉ (national state broadcaster)

• RTÉ Radio 1 (formerly Radio Éireann – mainly news and current affairs)
• RTÉ 2fm (formerly Radio 2 – mainly pop and rock music)
• RTÉ Lyric FM - classical music and arts programming.
• RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta - Irish language programmes.
• The RTÉ DAB Multiplex and the stations it carries

[edit] Independent National Radio

• Today FM (formerly Radio Ireland) - Popular music with some speech programming.
• Newstalk (quasi-national) - Speech-based.

[edit] Independent Regional Radio

[edit] Youth licences

• Beat 102-103 - Counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and South Tipperary.

Two new services have been licenced for this format, i105FM for Galway, Mayo, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal; and Spin South West for Kerry, Limerick, Clare, North Tipperary and South-West Laois. One remaining licence, covering the rest of the country barring counties Cork and Dublin, is currently being advertised.

[edit] Independent Local Radio

There are 25 commercial stations (Independent Local Radio - ILR) licensed on a regional franchise basis. Often several counties of Ireland are covered by one station only, but Dublin and Cork have several:

[edit] Dublin ILRs

Except for the two original ILR licenses - 98FM and FM104 - each additional ILR license in Dublin was awarded for a specific format, intending on meeting demands which it was felt that 98FM and FM104 were not catering to.

• 98FM - General service
• FM104 - General service
• Dublin's Q102 - Service aimed at older listeners.
• Spin 1038 - Service aimed at youth
• Dublin's Country Mix 106.8 - Country and Irish-driven service.
• Phantom FM - Alternative rock music service

Newstalk have been awarded a quasi-national licence, and have returned their Dublin ILR licence although retaining its frequency. It is not known if this licence will be re-advertised.

[edit] Cork ILRs

• 96FM and 103FM County Sound (dual franchise) - General service
• Red FM - Youth-driven service.

[edit] Leinster ILRs

• East Coast Radio - County Wicklow
• KCLR 96FM - Counties Carlow and Kilkenny
• Kfm - County Kildare
• South East Radio - County Wexford
• Midlands 103 and Midlands Gold - Counties Laois, Offaly, and Westmeath (split service)
• LMFM - Counties Meath and Louth

[edit] Munster ILRs

• Clare FM - County Clare
• Live 95FM - Limerick City and County
• Tipp FM - County Tipperary
• Radio Kerry - County Kerry
• WLR FM - Waterford City and County

[edit] Connacht/Ulster ILRs

• Galway Bay FM - Galway City and County
• Ocean FM - County Sligo, North Leitrim, and South Donegal.
• Mid-West Radio - County Mayo
• Shannonside FM - Counties Longford, Roscommon, East Galway and South Leitrim. Dual franchise with Northern Sound Radio, covering Counties Cavan and Monaghan.
• Highland Radio - County Donegal.

[edit] Community Radio

Community Radio covers specific local communities or communities of interest. These operate on a non-commercial basis. In Ireland the BCI requires that community radio stations subscribe to the AMARC Community Radio Charter for Europe. Community radio in Ireland is represented by CRAOL.

• Ballinasloe Community Radio 102.8 FM – Ballinasloe, County Galway (click here to listen live)
• Cashel Community Radio - Cashel, County Tipperary
• Claremorris Community Radio - Claremorris, Co. Mayo
• Connemara Community Radio - Letterfrack, Co. Galway
• UCC Campus Radio - University College Cork plus overspill to Cork City
• CRC FM Community Radio Castlebar - Castlebar, Co. Mayo
• CRY 107.2FM Community Radio Youghal - Youghal, East Cork
• Dublin South FM - South Dublin
• Dundalk 100 FM - Dundalk, Co. Louth
• Flirt FM - Galway (community of interest, students)
• NEAR FM 101.6FM North East Access Radio - North Dublin
• ICR FM Inishowen Community Radio - Carndonagh, Co. Donegal
• Phoenix FM - Blanchardstown, Dublin
• Raidio na Life - Dublin (Broadcasts in the Irish language)
• Radio Corca Baiscinn - Kilkee, Co. Clare
• Tallaght FM - Tallaght, Dublin
• RosFm - Co. Roscommon
• Tipperary Mid West Community Radio - Co. Tipperary
• West Dublin Access Radio - West Dublin
• West Limerick 102 - Co. Limerick
• Wired FM - Limerick City

[edit] Special Interest Services

Special Interest Services resemble ILRs in most ways, but must be of specialist interest - e.g. heavier local interest content, or specialist music. Only one such station is currently licenced, Dublin City Anna Livia, who brand themselves as DCAL FM on-air.

[edit] Institutional Services

The BCI may also issue licenses to institutions, such as hospitals and colleges, for the provision of low-powered FM services.

At present, there are six such stations in operation; all of them are hospital radio stations with the existing student radio stations operating under community radio or temporary licenses.

• Beaumont Hospital Radio - Beaumont Hospital, Beamount, Dublin
• CUH FM Hospital Radio - Cork University Hospital, Cork
• Mater Hospital Radio - Mater Hospital, Dublin
• Regional Hospital Radio - Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick
• South Tipperary General Hospital Radio - South Tipperary General and Maternity Hospital, Tipperary, Co. Tipperary
• St. Ita's Hospital Radio - St. Ita's Hospital, Portrane, Co. Dublin

[edit] Temporary Services

Stations may also be licensed to operate for shorter periods, with temporary licenses allowing stations to operate for up to thirty days in a given twelve month period.

These licenses may be used by stations providing a service to coincide with local, cultural and sporting events or festivals.

Another group of stations to avail of this type of license are those that are being run as pilot projects; successful stations may later be established as Community Radio stations.

[edit] Defunct stations

[edit] RTÉ radio

• Atlantic 252 - a joint venture with RTL, eventually failed financially
• Radio Oglaigh na h-Éireann 1960s-era shortwave service offering Radio Éireann programming to Irish UN Forces serving in Congo, ended when no longer needed
• RTÉ Radio Cork, (previously 'Cork 89FM' and 'Cork Local Radio') an opt-out of Radio 1 for the Cork area on mediumwave and secondary FM transmitters, closed due to lack of interest
• RTÉ mobile Community Radio station, existed during the late 1970s and 1980s, this station provided temporary community radio services to towns and cities around the country.

[edit] Independent Local Radio

• Limerick 95 FM (Radio Limerick One) (105 MHz FM). Lost franchise mid-term for stated misbehavior - now operates on a pirate basis.
• CKR FM and Radio Kilkenny - franchises redrawn at end of contract, Kildare area awarded to KFM, Carlow and Kilkenny to KCLR.
• Tipperary Mid-West Radio - held a very small franchise for South West Tipperary. Its franchise was merged with the Rest of Tipperary franchise (held by Tipp FM). The station continues to be licenced as a Community Radio station.
• North West Radio - subsidiary of Mid West Radio. Replaced by Ocean FM at end of contract.

[edit] Independent National Radio

• Century Radio - failed financially

[edit] Future stations

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has either awarded, advertised, or announced its intent to advertise a large number of new services to launch within the next 24 months. These include a licence for an AM station, something which has never lasted commercially in Ireland, and the first attempt to licence such since 2002; as well as what will amount to four stations easily receivable in most of Dublin city and county.

It is expected these may be the last commercial analogue services to be licenced, as the FM band will be highly saturated in Dublin and the midlands of Ireland. DRM on Irelands many unused ITU-allocated mediumwave frequencies is expected to be the next round of licening, particularly as some of these allocations are 15 to 20KHz wide, which is enough for FM-alike quality with the latest DRM+ coding methods. DRM has already been used by RTÉ to broadcast some content on shortwave. Eureka 147 Digital Audio Broadcasting is also expected to be rolled out for national services, and has been in testing in 2006.

[edit] Independent National Radio

A licence for a national religious station to broadcast on mediumwave was advertised in August 2006. Five applications were received, from CCN Ireland, Radio Maria, Spirit Radio, United Christian Broadcasters and Yes Radio.

[edit] Independent Regional Radio

[edit] Youth licences

A licence for a South West Regional youth-targeted service was advertised in 2005, with three applicants respsonding. These are Red FM, an existing Cork ILR; Spin 1038, an existing Dublin ILR; and FRESH FM. Kerry, Limerick, Clare, North Tipperary and the south-west of Laois would be covered by this franchise. The FRESH FM application was not allowed proceed to the second stage; an oral hearing was held on July 17, 2006. Spin South West were awarded the licence.

A licence for a North West Regional youth-targeted service has been advertised in 2006. It would cover Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo , Mayo, Longford, Roscommon and Galway. This received 5 applications, again from Spin 1038, Red FM and FRESH FM, but with the addition of Vibe FM and i105 FM. i105 FM were awarded this licence on November 13, 2006.

A licence for the now-combined Midlands & North East regional licence was advertised in September 2006. Five applications were received, again from Spin 1038 and Red FM, i107 (same group as i105), ICE FM (part of TV3 Ireland) and FM107 (part of Midlands 103).

RedFM was essentially a pilot for this type of franchise, offering a service to a larger area than traditionally served by Independent Local Radio. On 8 September 2005 the BCI announced that it would extend independent regional radio to a number of other areas, with youth-based franchises being offered for the South West, North West, and North East and Midlands. These will cover the entire country barring counties Dublin and Cork, which each have more than one ILR as it stands.

[edit] Country & Irish licences

Two country and Irish licences will be advertised by November 2007, the first North East region covering North Kildare, Meath, Louth and parts of Cavan and Monaghan; and the second Mid West region covering Limerick, Galway, Clare and parts of Tipperary and Kerry.

[edit] Independent Local Radio

[edit] Dublin ILR

A further Dublin ILR licence will be advertised in September 2007, for a classic rock format station. This will bring the number of Dublin licenced stations back up to its former level now that Newstalk is an INR.

[edit] Multi-city ILR

An easy listening "Classic Gold" service with a single contractor holding licences for Dublin (and its "commuter belt", a yet to be defined area), Cork, Limerick and Galway stations will be advertised in April 2007.

[edit] External links

• The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) The Commission licenses independent broadcasting services in Ireland
• Radiowaves.FM A site detailing both licensed and pirate radio stations in Ireland
• RadioFeeds Ireland An up-to-date list of Irish radio stations also broadcasting on the internet