| Broadcast area | National – Ireland |
|---|---|
| Slogan | We've got the nation talking |
| Frequency | 88.2–90.0, (87.8 northeast) MHz FM and 252 kHz LW Digital terrestrial television DAB |
| First air date | 1 January 1926 |
| Format | Mixed network |
| Audience share | 23.2% All Aged 15+ (February 2009, [1]) |
| Owner | Raidió Teilifís Éireann |
| Sister stations | RTÉ Choice RTÉ Radio 1 Extra RTÉ 2fm |
| Webcast | WMA, Real |
| Website | rte.ie/radio1/ |
RTÉ Radio 1 (Irish: RTÉ Raidió 1) is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The station is a rare modern example of a mixed radio network, broadcasting a mixture of music and speech programming.
The total budget for the station in 2008 is 14,1m. It is the most listened to radio station in Ireland.[2]
Contents |
The Department of Posts and Telegraphs opened 2RN on 1 January 1926, the first Irish radio station.[3] Station 6CK, a Cork relay of 2RN, joined the Dublin station in 1927,[4] and a high-power transmitter at Athlone in County Westmeath opened in 1932.[5] From the latter date the three stations became known as Radio Athlone, later being renamed Radio Éireann ("Irish Radio" / "Radio of Ireland") in 1937. Like most European national stations at that time, Radio Éireann attempted to satisfy all tastes on a single channel. It broadcast a mixed schedule of light entertainment and heavier fare, Irish language programming, and talks. Sponsored programmes, which also featured in the schedule, tended to be lighter in tone and more popular than the programming made directly by Radio Éireann itself.
Run as part of the civil service until 1960, the Broadcasting Authority Act 1960 transferred the station to a statutory corporation, also called Radio Éireann, in preparation for the launch of its sister television station.[6] The name of the corporation was changed to Radio Telefís Éireann in 1966. As a consequence, the station was renamed RTÉ Radio. The station also began FM transmission in 1966. When, in 1979, RTÉ established a new rock and pop station under the name of RTÉ Radio 2 (now RTÉ 2fm), the original RTÉ Radio channel was renamed once again and became RTÉ Radio 1.
In 1973, The Gay Byrne Hour began, becoming The Gay Byrne Show in 1979.[7] This anchored the stations daily morning schedule until 1998. On 3 November 1984, current affairs programmes Morning Ireland and Today at Five began broadcasting.[8] The former is now the flagship programme of RTÉ News and Current Affairs on radio while the latter has evolved into the current Drivetime programme via Five Seven Live.
Radio 1 broadcasts a mixture of news, current affairs, features, arts coverage, drama, sport, music (from popular music favourites through country and traditional to world music and jazz), and general entertainment. Major weekday programmes include:
Today RTÉ Radio 1 is available in Ireland on 88-90FM and 252 kHz LW. The LW signal can also be received across the United Kingdom and parts of Western Europe. The FM service is also available online and from the Astra 2D satellite at 28° East transponder 43 (10.744 GHz horizontal, symbol rate 22000, FEC 5/6, service id 9611). Listeners can also hear a selection of RTÉ Radio 1 programmes on the WRN English Service for Europe and WRN English Service for North America. The VHF service of RTÉ Radio 1 is also available on the BSkyB EPG on LCN 0160, and in former Telewest areas served by Virgin Media in the UK on LCN 917.
The LW version of the station differs from that on VHF, with significant additional sports coverage and religious programming.
DAB broadcasts of the station began in the east of the country (on the Clermont Carn and Three Rock Mountain high power transmitters via the RTÉ DAB Multiplex) on 1 January 2006.
RTÉ Radio 1 has been carried on shortwave in DRM during specific events, including the All Ireland finals.
The station's tuning signal since 1936 has been the air O'Donnell Abú,[5] although since the advent of 24-hour broadcasting in 1997, the tune has been played just once a day, as a prelude to the start of the day's live broadcasting at 05:30 each morning (between 02:00 and 05:30, apart from the hourly news bulletins, Radio 1's output is made up of selected repeats from earlier programmes).
252 kHz was formerly used by a radio station called "Atlantic 252".
The Medium Wave transmitters of RTÉ Radio 1 were shut down at 15:00 on 24 March 2008. The main transmitter was based at Tullamore and broadcast on 567kHz. A lower powered relay in Cork at 729 kHz was also in service. Before 1975, the 567 kHz service originated from Athlone.[9] AM transmissions continue on Long Wave 252 kHz from Summerhill, Co. Meath, it is aimed to service Irish people living in Britain and uses the old Atlantic 252 transmitter. Since the closure, Second Helpings programmes at the weekend have been limited to digital broadcasts only. Among the negatives of the closure concerned the reception of RTÉ Radio One in Northern Ireland where certain areas were unable to get an FM transmission from the Republic such as parts of Belfast and county Antrim (although the LW service covers all of Northern Ireland), fishermen were another group who complained about the loss as did the elderly and a number of pressure groups.[10]
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||