Galway Bay FM is an Irish independent local radio station and operates under a licence from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. Established in 1989, the station broadcasts from studios in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

, serving the city and

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Programming

The programming format is a mixture of music, news, sport, current affairs and local issues. Programmes are generally in English, although the station features some

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

programmes. There is an opt-out service with alternative programming for Galway city on weekday evenings using the 95.8 MHz frequency.

History

The station was originally launched as Radio West in 1989 and was the first legal local radio station in Galway. Radio West changed its name to Galway Bay FM in 1993. In 2006, the ''

Connacht Tribune The ''Connacht Tribune'' (''An Curadh Connachtach'') is a newspaper circulating chiefly in County Galway, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Ge ...

'' newspaper bought the station outright, having previously owned 27% of it. In 2024 Galway Bay FM had the largest market share of listeners in

at 23%, with 115,000 weekly listeners. This was four percentage points ahead of RTE Radio 1 and

Today FM Today FM is an Irish commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a licen ...

. In June 2025, it was announced that the station had been sold to Bay Broadcasting Limited, owners of Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio in an estimated seven figure deal.

Alumni

* Gareth O'Callaghan (

RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...

, 4fm) * Adrian Lydon (

RTÉ News and Current Affairs (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

) * Marc Roberts * Keith Cunningham (

, RedFM)

References

External links

Official website

Galway Bay FM Live Stream
Culture in Galway (city) 1989 establishments in Ireland Mass media in County Galway Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland {{Europe-radio-station-stub