North West Radio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
North West Radio (NWR) was a radio station that broadcast to south Donegal, north Leitrim and Sligo from 1989 to 2004, it was a sister station of Mid-West Radio (MWR) and was replaced by Ocean FM. The station had studios in Sligo and Donegal Towns.
Throughout its history, NWR topped listener polls and had won several high profile awards. At the time of the removal of its licence it was the most listened to local station in Ireland with a daily listenership figure of 64%.[1]
The decision to give the licence to Ocean FM was a controversial one and spilt the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) three votes to three with the chair casting the deciding vote in favour of the new station. The Commission argued that it had done so because the link up between NWR and MWR meant that not enough programmes were being produced in the north west and that the station did little to attract younger listeners.[2] These claims were denied by the CEO of NWR and MWR Paul Claffey wwho said that it amounted to Dublin telling people in the north west what kind of station they should listen to.[3]
The decision was also unpopular with the residents of the northwest, a group to save the station was established and around 5,000 marched on the Dáil in Dublin demanding a reversal of the awarding of the licence away from NWR.[4]
North West Radio stopped broadcasting on midnight 30 September 2004, with Amhrán na bhFiann the last track played.
