The RTÉ Radio Centre is the main production and control centre for the national radio networks of the Irish public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. The building is located on the

RTÉ (; ; 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, ...

campus at Donnybrook in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. Construction of the building commenced in June 1969 and was completed in April 1971. Along with a number of other buildings on the campus, it is included in Dublin City Council's Record of Protected Structures (Ref. No. 8888)

History

Since 1928 Irish radio, (

Radio Éireann Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to ...

), had been housed in the GPO on

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry ...

, in the centre of Dublin, in cramped and unsuitable accommodation. With the imminent arrival of television, a site was acquired in 1960 for the building of a television production centre in South Dublin. (see

RTÉ Television Centre The RTÉ Television Centre is a television studio building which is owned by Ireland's national public service broadcaster . It is part of the RTÉ campus located at Donnybrook in South Dublin. The building houses the main production studios ...

) From the beginning it was the intention that the radio service should also join television on a broadcasting campus at Donnybrook. However it was not until the late 1960s that the detailed planning and construction began that would accommodate on-site a new purpose-built centre for radio production. Once construction of the building had finished in April 1971 the phased move from the GPO began, but it was not until September 1973 that the first live broadcast was made from the new Radio Centre. By May 1974 all broadcasting from the GPO had ceased, except for presentation announcements which continued to be made from the old Henry Street studios until 8 November 1976.

Building

The building is on two floors, above ground are the various programme offices, and below ground covering a greater area are the studios, thirteen in all. The studios have been built underground for greater soundproofing. The largest, Studio 1, is 340sq metres and at 10m high it reaches to the top of building. This studio was designed for live orchestral performances and other large productions, and incorporates an elevated audience seating area. The other twelve studios are grouped around studio 1 and a small courtyard which extends up through the building giving daylight to the below ground corridors and control rooms. The courtyard contains a bust of

Seán Ó Riada Seán Ó Riada (; born John Reidy; 1 August 1931 – 3 October 1971) was an Irish composer and arranger of Irish traditional music. Through his incorporation of modern and traditional techniques he became the single most influential figur ...

a former assistant director of

. As well as the studios and their respective control rooms the subterranean floor of the building contains a Master Control Room, switching racks, computer servers, and tape archives. From this building emanates most of RTÉ's radio output on two national channels

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 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 the station in 2010 w ...

, and

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 ...

, as well as a number of digital radio channels available online. RTÉ's two other national radio channels are broadcast from outside Dublin. Classical music station

RTÉ Lyric FM RTÉ Lyric FM (stylised as RTÉ lyric fm) is an Irish classical music, jazz and arts radio station, owned and operated by RTÉ. The station, which is based in Limerick, was launched in 1999 and is available on 96-99 FM throughout Ireland (in ...

is based in Limerick city, and Irish language station

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 inter ...

is based in Casla, County Galway. All news bulletins on radio still come from a studio in the Television Centre where the main newsroom is situated, this allows for convenient access to both the radio and television news studios.

Future development

In 2009 RTÉ announced its long-term plans for the redevelopment of the entire Donnybrook site, including the Television Centre and the Radio Centre. The project envisages the gradual replacement over a ten to fifteen-year period of most of the current 1960s and 1970s buildings on the Donnybrook site with a purpose-built modern building complex designed for the digital and high-definition age.

References

External links

fybush.com: RTÉ Radio Centre, Dublin, Ireland 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:RTÉ Radio Centre Raidió Teilifís Éireann Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) 20th-century architecture in the Republic of Ireland