RTÉ Lyric FM (stylised as RTÉ lyric fm) is an Irish classical-music and

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

radio station, owned and operated by

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

. The station, which is based in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, was launched in 1999 and is available on FM throughout Ireland (in some areas also on

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dąb, ...

), on Sky Digital satellite in Ireland and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and via the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

worldwide. As of 2021, RTÉ Lyric FM attracts a weekday audience share of 2.1%. The current head of the station is Sinéad Wylde.

History

RTÉ Lyric FM developed from FM3 Classical Music, which began broadcasting on 6 November 1984. FM3 broadcast classical music on the

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (; "Radio of the Gaeltacht"), abbreviated RnaG, is an Irish language radio station owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The station is available on FM in Ireland and via satellite and on the Inte ...

network at breakfast time, lunchtime and in the evenings. The station was rarely marketed, except via promotions on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

, and had low listenership ratings. It was probably best known for occasionally

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...

ing the stereo sound track of movies being shown on the RTÉ television channels prior to RTÉ's deployment of NICAM digital stereo. As Raidió na Gaeltachta expanded broadcast hours FM3's service hours changed to 19:30 'til 01:00 and 06:30 'til 08:00. Eventually it stayed on air until breakfast time when RnaG came back on. On 1 May 1999, RTÉ put in place an additional national FM transmitter network, and it was decided to separate FM3 from Radio na Gaeltachta, and expand its remit to include other types of minority music. The resulting station was Lyric FM (currently styled ''RTÉ lyric fm''). It also moved from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

to Limerick as part of a policy of regionalisation. At the time of the station's launch, RTÉ lyric fm's digital studios in Cornmarket Row, Limerick, were the most advanced in the country. RTÉ Lyric FM won PPI National Station of the Year for the second time in 2004. In May 2009, the station celebrated 10 years broadcasting. This was celebrated with a concert by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and

RTÉ Philharmonic Choir The RTÉ Philharmonic Choir is an Irish choir, part of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. Organisation The choir is part of RTÉ Performing Groups, and the chorus master is Mark Hindley. The choir members, all of whom commit their services entirely ...

. Current presenters include Marty Whelan, George Hamilton,

John Kelly John or Jack Kelly may refer to: People Academics and scientists * John Kelly (engineer), Irish professor, former Registrar of University College Dublin *John Kelly (scholar) (1750–1809), at Douglas, Isle of Man *John Forrest Kelly (1859–1922) ...

, Liz Nolan, Paul Herriott, Niall Carroll, Lorcan Murray, Bernard Clarke, Aedín Gormley, and Ellen Cranitch. As part of RTÉ's calls for better funding a Prime Time report was produced about the closing of the service, this caused public reaction calling for the service to be saved. RTÉ refuted these claims saying that they planned to move the service from Limerick city and maintain it out of Dublin and Cork. Later RTÉ attended the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): **Dáil Éireann ...

communications committee were various local representatives complained to RTÉ that the service should not be moved from Limerick City. This was followed by a large debate on funding public service broadcasters/media in

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland r ...

, as a stop gap measure the Government granted RTÉ an extra €10 million in funding to help them fund services such as RTÉ Lyric FM, in 2020 RTÉ cut funding to Lyric FM by 16%. Funding in 2020 was €5.5m down from €6.5m in the previous year.

References

External links

RTÉ lyric fm — Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rte Lyric Fm Classical music in Ireland Classical music radio stations Culture in Limerick (city) Mass media in County Limerick Radio stations established in 1999

Lyric Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from ...

1999 establishments in Ireland