RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta

Broadcast area	National – Republic of Ireland and much of Northern Ireland
Frequency	92–94 and 102.7 MHz FM Digital terrestrial television DAB
First air date	2 April 1972
Format	Mixed network
Audience share	0.7% (150,000 listeners per week) (2008, [1])
Owner	Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Sister stations	RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ lyric fm
Webcast	WMA, Real
Website	rte.ie/rnag/

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (Irish pronunciation: [ˈɾˠadʲiːoː n̪ˠə ˈɡeːɫ̪t̪ˠəxt̪ˠə], "Radio of the Gaeltacht"), abbreviated RnaG, is the Irish-language radio service of the public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. The station is available on FM in Ireland and via satellite and on the Internet. It celebrated 40 years on air on 2 April 2012.^[2]

History

The station is the only national Irish-language radio station broadcasting across Ireland. It began broadcasting on 2 April 1972, and was the second legal radio station in the Republic of 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 RTÉ lyric fm), the station expanded to 24 hours from 1 October 2001. Listenership figures are hard to come by as the station does not make payments to be included covered in the JNLR listenership survey. It is claimed that as it doesn't 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 Irish speakers but its appeal among those learning the language is not as high as TG4 because (despite being available nationally) it is widely perceived as being oriented (as its name suggests) towards Gaeltacht residents. The station was initially established in response to the pirate radio station Saor Raidió Chonamara which ceased broadcasting once RnaG came on air.

Recent developments

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, Raidió Fáilte in Belfast and Raidió Rí-Rá.

Raidió na Gaeltachta headquarters in Casla, Co. Galway.

Budget

References

The following figures were issued by RTÉ as part of their Annual report 2012^[3]

Income

Total Costs

Profit and Loss

Breakdown of Irish Productions

The table below outlines RTÉ 2fm's total in-house and commissioned programming by genre in 2008 and 2012:

Funding

The station receives a total budget of €10.9 million for 2008.

Location

RnaG is based in Casla, Co. Galway. It also has studios at: Gaoth Dobhair (Gweedore), Co. Donegal; Baile na nGall in Ard na Caithne, Co. Kerry; Castlebar, Co. Mayo; with a smaller studio in An Rinn, County Waterford 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.

Audience share

According to the 2011 JNLR survey, RnaG has a weekly listenership of 100,000 which equates to a 3% market share.

This is similar to Welsh language BBC Radio Cymru which has 116,000 listeners and a 2.4% share.

^{[4] [5]}

Programming

Raidió na Gaeltachta

News:

• Adhmhaidin – Morning Headlines
• Nuacht a hAon – News at 1pm
• Nuacht a Sé – News at 6pm

Chat:

• An Saol ó Dheas – Life in the South
• Glór Anoir – Eastern Voice
• Ardtráthnóna – High Noon
• Rónán Beo @ 3 – Rónán Live @ 3
• Barrscéalta – Headlines
• Iris Aniar – Western Magazine
• Blas – Taste (from BBC Radio Ulster)

Sport:

• Spórt an Lae – The day's sport's news
• Spórt an tSathairn – Saturday Sport
• Spórt an Domhnaigh – Sunday Sport

Anocht FM

In 2005, the decision was taken to create a youth strand of programming after 8pm each evening until the early hours of the morning.

Some of the popular programmes are:

• An Taobh Tuathail – The Other Side
• Duan Domhnaigh – Duan Sunday
• An Ghealach Ghorm – Blue Moon
• Géill Slí – Give Way
• Tequila Tíre – Tequila Country
• Sruth na Maoile – Straits of Moyle

Irish language policy

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, Géill 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 Standard Time. The first track with English-language lyrics played was Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes, chosen by public vote.

See also

• BBC Radio nan Gàidheal – Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) radio service.
• List of Celtic-language media

References

External links

• Official Website (in Irish language)
• List of Celtic-language media
• Breandán Ó hEithir (2 April 1972). Raidio na Gaeltachta begins broadcasting (Video clip). An Cheathrú Rua, Casla, Galway, Ireland: RTÉ.