RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
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| Raidió na Gaeltachta | |
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| Broadcast area | National - Ireland |
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| First air date | 2 April 1972 |
| Format | Irish-language |
| Owner | Radio Telefís Éireann |
| Website | www.rte.ie/rnag |
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (RnaG; Irish for Radio of the Gaeltacht) is the Irish-language radio service of Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) in Ireland, and is available on 92-94FM (102.7 in the Northeast) in Ireland and via the Internet. It began broadcasting on 2 April 1972, and was the second legal radio station in Ireland. Initially RnaG broadcast for only a handful of hours a day and was only available in or near the three largest Gaeltacht districts, but following the putting in place of a fourth RTÉ national radio transmitter network (used for Lyric FM), the station expanded to 24 hours from 1 October 2001. Listnership figures are hard to come by as the station does not make payments to be included covered in the JNLR listenership survey. Some critics allege this is because the station dont want it to be widely known how low their listenership is. Defenders of the station point out that as it doesnt carry advertising (the only Irish radio station not to do so) paying to be included in a survey organised mainly for the benefit of the Irish advertising industry would be a pointless waste of scarce funds. It is generally believed that listenership is high amongst fluent Gaelic speakers but its appeal among those learning the language is not as high as TG4.
RnaG is based in Casla, Co. Galway. It also has studios at: Gweedore, Co. Donegal; Baile na nGall in Ard na Caithne, Co. Kerry; Castlebar, Co. Mayo; and the RTÉ Radio Centre in Dublin. The station is operated by RTÉ, but has a separate advisory council, Comhairle Raidió na Gaeltachta, which is appointed by the RTÉ Authority. RTÉ also appoints the Ceannaire, or Controller, of RnaG, who has day-to-day responsibility for the service.
RnaG was long criticised by some for its "no English lyrics" policy, which kept most popular music from being played on the station and hampered its appeal to young people. Others commented that the station has provided a much-needed dedicated communication medium for Irish, which is by far a minority language in Ireland. For many years it was the only Irish-language broadcaster in the country; in recent years it has been joined by a television service, Telefís na Gaeilge (TG4), and by regional community radio stations, such as the Dublin independent station Raidió na Life.
In March 2005, RTÉ announced that RnaG would allow songs with English lyrics to be played between 21:00 and 01:00, as part of a new popular music strand. In April 2005, it was announced that the name of this strand would be Anocht FM (Tonight FM). On weeknights the strand includes a new programme, Geill Slí (Give Way), as well as the existing long-running An Taobh Tuathail slot. Anocht FM will also be broadcast at weekends with different programmes. The new service was launched on 2 May 2005 at 21:02 Irish Summer Time. The first track with English-language lyrics played was Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes, chosen by public vote.
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| Radio Telefís Éireann |  |
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Television: RTÉ One | RTÉ Two | TG4 |
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Radio: RTÉ Radio 1 | RTÉ 2fm | RTÉ Lyric FM | RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta |
