Licensed radio broadcasting in Ireland is one element of the wider media of Ireland, with 85% of the population listening to a licensed

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

service on any given day.

History

Ireland as a radio pioneer

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi ( ; ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegraphy, wireless tel ...

, the Italian inventor and the father of long-distance radio transmission, had a significant connection to Ireland as a descendent of the influential Jameson family, and the country played a crucial role in his early radio experiments. The earliest known radio broadcast in Ireland took place on 6 July 1898, when Marconi set up a wireless telegraphy link between

Rathlin Island Rathlin Island (, ; Local Irish dialect: ''Reachraidh'', ; Scots: ''Racherie'') is an island and civil parish off the coast of County Antrim (of which it is part) in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's northernmost point. As of the 2021 ...

and Ballycastle. This communication system was established on behalf of Lloyd's. Guglielmo Marconi

In 1907 Marconi International Marine Communication Company the world's first transatlantic wireless telegraphy service in the world in

Clifden Clifden () is a coastal town in County Galway, Ireland, in the region of Connemara, located on the Owenglin River where it flows into Clifden Bay. As the largest town in the region, it is often referred to as "the Capital of Connemara". Frequen ...

. The station conducted the first successful transmission of the first commercial wireless messages across the Atlantic Ocean between Clifden and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. The station remained in operation until the late 1920s, when it was closed due to advancements in more powerful transatlantic wireless stations.

Modern Radio

Morse code Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...

transmission on 24 April 1916 from the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

in Dublin by the rebels during the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

is considered the first broadcast in Ireland. Regular radio broadcasting in Ireland began with 2RN's test transmissions in 1925. 2RN has since become

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 ...

, which celebrated 90 years of uninterrupted broadcasting in January 2016, making it amongst the oldest continuously operating (if not the actual oldest), continuously public service radio station in Europe.

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 ...

launched in 1972, and RTÉ Radio 2, now

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 ...

, launched in 1979. Commercial radio was outlawed in Ireland until 1989, leading to the development of

Irish pirate radio Pirate radio in Ireland has had a long history, with hundreds of pirate radio stations having operated within the country. Due to past lax enforcement of the rules, the lack of commercial radio until 1989, and the small physical size of the co ...

. Upon legalisation, licences were advertised and awarded on a franchise system explained in the article for a national service and a network of regional services covering the country. These all took to the air during 1989 and 1990, and although the national service (

Century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

) eventually failed, all the local services lasted until their licence was revoked, or still exist. Additional licences have been added on an erratic basis since the late 1990s. An "international" service, Atlantic 252, also operated on 252kHz

long wave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, datin ...

between 1989 and 2002, although it was aimed solely at the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was never subject to the authority of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) and was operated under RTÉ's remit as a joint venture between RTÉ and CLT-UFA. After a short period as a sports station (TeamTalk), the frequencies reverted to sole RTÉ control and were used as an additional frequency for RTÉ Radio 1 until transmissions ceased in April 2023, with running costs cited as the reason. In Ireland,

Community Radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

has been active since the late 1970s. However, it took until 1994 before the Independent Radio and Television Commission established an 18-month community radio pilot project to explore and evaluate the potential offered by community broadcasting in an Irish context. This project went operational in 1995, when licenses were issued to eleven community and community of interest groups across the country. 2004 saw the establishment of CRAOL the Community Radio Forum of Ireland.

Licensing

Aside from the stations operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), radio stations in Ireland operate under sound broadcasting contracts issued by the

Coimisiún na Meán () is the regulator of broadcasting and online media in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The commission was established in 2023 as a successor body to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The commission came into being on 15 March 2023 under ...

. This body replaced the

Broadcasting Authority of Ireland The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI; ) is a former broadcasting authority which regulated both public and commercial broadcasting sector in Ireland. It was established in 2009, effectively replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Irel ...

(BAI) in 2023 and supervises and regulates RTÉ, commercial Independent National, Regional, and Local Radio stations, as well as the non-profit

stations, Institutional Services and Temporary Services.

Transmission

All stations broadcast on FM, and RTÉ Radio 1 also broadcast on 252 kHz

until April 2023, which was mainly intended for reception outside Ireland. RTÉ radio services are also available

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

on digital satellite, as is

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

, and a number of recently licensed services or applicants have used satellite transmission to homes as part of the licence applications.

Medium wave Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...

( AM) licences were issued for new commercial stations for Limerick and Galway in 2002, although these services never reached the air and were later withdrawn. A medium wave licence was awarded for quasi-national religious service Spirit Radio. During 2006, a group, Choice FM, applied for and received permission to broadcasting on MW in the Dublin area over a period of thirty days. The "easy listening" radio station relayed its FM programming on 1278 kHz MW and operated opt-out programming at various times. The group is said to be interested in obtaining one of the four MW channels that are allocated to the Dublin area, however the future schedule for licensing does not indicate that any MW licences will be offered on a permanent basis. During 2007, a radio station called The Rock obtained a temporary classic rock music service. The station broadcast on 94.9 FM and also on 1278 kHz MW. The Rock was operated by the same group that operated Choice FM during 2005 and 2006, although different MW facilities were used by the group during 2007.

Ownership

Raidió Teilifís Éireann and Bauer Media Audio Ireland dominate the national radio broadcasting sector. RTÉ operates Radio 1, 2FM, the Irish Language station RnaG, and classical station Lyric FM. The two national commercial stations are both owned by Bauer Media Audio Ireland - Today FM and Newstalk. Ownership rules were relaxed in the mid-2000s, which saw several companies buying up local and national commercial stations, including

Scottish Radio Holdings Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) was a Scottish media company which owned 22 radio stations, and around 30 local newspapers in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. History SRH had its origins in the 1970s when Glasgow was awarded the ...

, who sold their stations to

Emap Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was ac ...

, who eventually sold on those stations to Denis O'Brien's

Communicorp Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group. History Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that ...

. The ownership of commercial radio in Ireland is largely by two companies; Bauer Media Audio Ireland which owns two national, one regional and two local stations, and

News Broadcasting News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either video production, produced local programming ...

, which owns six local stations. The rest of the stations, mostly small services, are generally owned by local businesses, with notable proprietors of stakes including

Thomas Crosbie Holdings Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) was a family-owned media and publishing group based in Cork, Ireland. Its largest publication was once the ''Irish Examiner'', the third largest daily broadsheet newspaper in the Republic of Ireland. History and rec ...

, the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and the Mid Western Area Health Board. Until 31 March 2021, RTÉ also broadcast six DAB stations. These stations are now available via other digital platforms. ;Local Radio owners * Bauer Media Audio Ireland - 98FM,

SPIN 1038 SPIN 1038 (or simply SPIN; pronounced "spin one-oh-three-eight") is a local radio station in Dublin, Ireland. It is owned by Bauer Media Audio Ireland and broadcasts on 103.8 FM under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Auth ...

and Red FM *

FM104 FM104 is an independent local radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited (unconnected with, and not to be confused with, Capital Radio plc), and is a sub ...

, Dublin's Q102, Cork's 96FM, C103, Limerick's Live 95 and

LMFM LMFM is an independent local radio station based in Drogheda, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In terms of listenership, It is the largest radio station in Ireland outside of Dublin and Cork (city), Cork broadcasting to a population in excess of 30 ...

*Raidió Phobail Chiarraí Teoranta - Radio Kerry, Shannonside FM, Tipp FM, Clare FM * Tindle Radio Group - Midlands 103 *

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 ...

- Galway Bay FM

National stations

RTÉ (national public service broadcaster)

Independent national radio

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 ...

(formerly ''Radio Ireland'') - popular music with some speech programming *

- news and talk radio *

Radio Maria Radio Maria, formally known as The World Family of Radio Maria, is an international Roman Catholicism, Catholic radio broadcasting service founded in Erba (CO), Erba, province of Como, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan, diocese of Milan ...

Ireland - religious radio on the digital terrestrial platform

Multi-city and county radio

Broadcasting to

Greater Dublin The Greater Dublin Area (GDA; Irish: ''Mórcheantar Bhaile Átha Cliath''), or simply Greater Dublin, is an informal term that is taken to include the city of Dublin and its hinterland, with varying definitions as to its extent. At the expansive ...

(

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 ...

city and

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

; limited parts of

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

and

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

city and

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

city and

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 ...

city and

and

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

: * Classic Hits Radio - music service for over-45s * Spirit Radio - Christian and religious service aimed at over-15s; launched on 27 January 2011 with FM frequencies in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. In July 2012 the station as required by its licence introduced its planned AM transmission on 549 kHz medium wave to increase coverage to nationwide.

Independent regional radio

* Beat 102-103 - Counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and South Tipperary. * Spin South West - Counties Kerry, Clare, Limerick, North Tipperary, and south west Laois. * iRadio (NW) - Counties Galway, Mayo, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal. * iRadio (NE and Midlands) - Counties Kildare, Meath, North Laois, Carlow, Louth, Westmeath, Offaly, Cavan and Monaghan. All services are licensed for "youth" content, no franchises area geographically overlap, and the entire country is served apart from County Wicklow and the cities and counties of Cork and Dublin, both of which have "youth" licensed services (Red FM and SPIN 1038 respectively). Beat 102-103 was the first to air, and was a pilot for the rest of the system. In 2011, i102-104 and i105-107 merged to become one

iRadio Contemporary hit radio stations in Ireland Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland 2023 mergers and acquisitions ...

entity.

Independent local radio

There are 25 commercial stations (Independent Local Radio - ILR) licensed on a regional franchise basis. Often several

counties of Ireland The counties of Ireland (Irish language, Irish: ) are historic administrative divisions of the island. They began as Normans in Ireland, Norman structures, and as the powers exercised by the Cambro-Norman barons and the Old English (Ireland), ...

are covered by one station only, but Dublin and Cork have several. The majority of the ILR stations collectively own the sales house, Independent Radio Sales.

Dublin ILRs

Except for the two original ILR licenses - 98FM and FM104 - each additional ILR license in Dublin was awarded for a specific format, intending on meeting demands which it was felt that 98FM and FM104 were not catering to. The majority of stations heard in Dublin can also be heard in North East Kildare, South Meath and North Wicklow. * 98FM - general service * Radio Nova 100FM (Ireland) - classic rock music service; the Original Radio Nova (Ireland) International, Ireland's first Superpirate station by the same name previously broadcast in Dublin from 1981 - 1988 * Dublin's Q102 - service aimed at older listeners (35+); renamed in 2004, formerly 'Lite FM'. A pirate station by the same name previously broadcast in Dublin from 1985 - 1988 *

- service aimed at youth (initially licensed for dance music). *

- general service; formerly 'Rock 104' and 'Capital Radio' 104.4FM * Sunshine 106.8 - easy listening service; renamed in 2010 - formerly 'Dublin's Country'/'Country Mix'. A Superpirate station called The Red Hot Sound Of Sunshine 101 previously broadcast in Dublin from 1980 - 1988.

Cork ILRs

* 96FM and C103 (dual franchise) - C103 is aimed at older listeners, also sports and rural interest programmes. * Red FM - Music-driven service (originally a youth service)

Leinster (excluding Dublin) ILRs

East Coast FM East Coast FM (formerly known as BLB, Horizon FM, then East Coast Radio) is an Irish local radio station broadcasting from Bray, County Wicklow under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland The station operates ...

* KCLR 96FM - Counties

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

and

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

* Kfm - County Kildare * South East Radio - County Wexford * Midlands 103 and Midlands Gold - Counties Laois, Offaly, and Westmeath (split service) *

- Counties Meath and Louth

Munster (excluding Cork) ILRs

* WLR FM - Waterford City & County * Clare FM -

* Live 95FM -

City and

County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

* Tipp FM -

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

* Radio Kerry -

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

Connacht/Ulster ILRs

* Galway Bay FM - Galway City and County; commercial radio station * Ocean FM - County Sligo, North Leitrim, and South Donegal. * MidWest Radio - County Mayo * Shannonside FM - Counties Longford, Roscommon, East Galway and South Leitrim. Dual franchise with Northern Sound Radio, covering Counties Cavan and Monaghan. *

Highland Radio Highland Radio is the local radio service for the County Donegal (North) franchise, operating under a licence from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). The station began broadcasting on 15 March 1990, and is franchised until 2024. Hea ...

- County Donegal.

Community radio

covers specific local communities or communities of interest. These operate on a non-commercial basis. In Ireland, the BAI requires that community radio stations subscribe to the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) Community Radio Charter for Europe. Community radio in Ireland is represented by CRAOL. Currently there are 20 fully licensed community radio stations on air in Ireland, with offers of contracts from the

, while there are 42 stations in the process of obtaining a licence. * Belfield FM -

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

*Cavan Community Radio -

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the hi ...

* Claremorris Community Radio -

Claremorris Claremorris (; ) is a town in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, at the junction of the N17 and the N60 national routes. As of the 2017, it was the fastest growing town in the county, having seen a 31% increase in population between 2006 and ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

* Connemara Community Radio - Letterfrack,

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 ...

*Cork Campus Radio 98.3 - studio located at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

but is licensed for the general student population of

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

*CRC FM (''Community Radio Castlebar'') -

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th-century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. Wi ...

, County Mayo * CRY 104.0FM (''Community Radio Youghal'') -

Youghal Youghal ( ; ) is a seaside resort town in County Cork, Ireland. Located on the estuary of the Munster Blackwater, River Blackwater, the town is a former military and economic centre. Located on the edge of a steep riverbank, the town has a long ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

* Dublin South FM -

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

*Dundalk FM 97.7 -

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

Flirt FM Flirt FM is a licensed student radio station located at the University of Galway.Rosemary Day. Community Radio in Ireland. In: The Encyclopaedia of Social Movement Media, edited by J. Downing. Thousand Oaks: Sagpreprint/ref> It broadcasts at 101 ...

University of Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

* ICR FM (''Inishowen Community Radio'') - Carndonagh,

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

; now known as Inishowen Live. *LifeFM - County Cork * Liffey Sound FM - Lucan, County Dublin * Near FM (''North East Access Radio'') - County Dublin *Phoenix FM -

Blanchardstown Blanchardstown () is a large outer suburb of Dublin in the modern Counties of Ireland, county of Fingal, Ireland. Located northwest of Dublin city centre, it has developed since the 1960s from a small village to a point where Greater Blanchards ...

, County Dublin *Radio Corca Baiscinn - Kilkee, County Clare * Raidió Na Life -

(

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 ...

station) * RosFm -

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

*TCR FM ("Tramore Community Radio") - Tramore,

County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...

* Tipperary Mid-West Community Radio -

*ULFM -

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

*West Dublin Access Radio - County Dublin * West Limerick 102 -

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

* Wired FM -

, County Limerick *Westport Radio WRFM 98.2 -

Westport, County Mayo Westport (, historically anglicised as ''Cahernamart'') is a town in County Mayo in Republic of Ireland, Ireland.Westport Before 1800 by Michael Kelly published in Cathair Na Mart 2019 It is at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the ...

*BCRfm Ballina Community radio -

Ballina, County Mayo Ballina ( ; ) is a town in north County Mayo, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg Ra ...

*Eden 102.5 fm - Edenderry, County Offaly

Special interest services

Special interest services resemble ILRs in most ways, but must be of specialist interest — e.g. heavier local interest content, or specialist music. Only one such station is licensed, Dublin City FM, which brand themselves as 103.2 Dublin City FM on-air, and DUB CITY on RDS. Dublin City FM are essentially a community station with specialist traffic reports around rush-hour periods.

Institutional services

The BAI may also issue licenses to institutions, such as hospitals and colleges, for the provision of low-powered FM services. At present, there are five such stations in operation; all of them are hospital radio stations, with the existing student radio stations operating under community radio or temporary licenses. *CUH FM Hospital Radio - (102.0FM) - Cork University Hospital, Cork, County Cork. *Mater Hospital Radio - Mater Hospital, Dublin, County Dublin. *Dreamtime 92.6FM - S.O.S. Kilkenny Ltd, Callan Road, Kilkenny, Co. Kilkenny. *South Tipperary General Hospital Radio 93.7FM - South Tipperary General and Maternity Hospital, Clonmel, County Tipperary. *St. Ita's Hospital Radio - St. Ita's Hospital, Portrane, County Dublin.

Temporary services

Stations may also be licensed to operate for shorter periods, with temporary licenses allowing stations to operate for up to thirty days in a given twelve-month period. These licenses may be used by stations providing a service to coincide with local, cultural and sporting events or festivals. Another group of stations to avail of this type of license are those that are being run as pilot projects; successful stations may later be established as Community Radio stations, or run for a permanent license. One such temporary licence station was

Sunrise Radio Sunrise Radio is a 24-hour Asian commercial radio station, focusing on entertainment, music and news from the Indian subcontinent. It broadcasts to the Greater London area on 963/972 AM, nationally on DAB through the Sound Digital multiplex, ...

, which broadcast poly-lingual programming in the Dublin area for several months from March 2006. While its licence was renewed for the following year, it was not made permanent, and the broadcast frequency later allocated to another station.

Defunct stations

RTÉ radio

* Atlantic 252 - a joint venture with RTL, eventually failed financially. * RTÉ FM3 - Classical music/arts service, had existed prior to the launch of Lyric FM. FM3 time-shared the same national FM network as RnaG, resulting in limited broadcasting hours. * RTÉ Radio Cork (was originally 'RTÉ Cork Local Radio', changed name in 1989 to 'Cork 89FM', and relaunched again in 1994 as 'RTÉ Radio Cork') - an opt-out of Radio 1 for the Cork area on medium wave and secondary FM transmitters, closed in 1999 due to declining interest. *RTÉ mobile Community Radio station - existed during the late 1970s and 1980s, this mobile station provided temporary community radio services to towns and cities around the country. * Millennium 88FM - temporary local radio service for Dublin during 1988 and part of 1989 to mark 1988 at the year of the Dublin Millennium. * RTÉ Digital Radio Sport - a rolling service in the early days of DAB. * RTÉ Choice - international and national speech service with drama, documentary, arts, world news. Merged in 2013 with RTÉ Radio 1 Extra.

Independent national radio

* Century Radio - failed financially, closed in 1991.

Independent local radio

* Limerick 95 FM (Radio Limerick One) (95 MHz FM); lost franchise mid-term for stated misbehaviour - subsequently operated on a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

basis. *CKR FM and Radio Kilkenny - franchises redrawn at end of contract, Kildare area awarded to KFM, Carlow and Kilkenny to KCLR. Gentrification of Kildare by Dublin commuters led Carlow to be closer aligned with Kilkenny in the eyes of the BAI, hence the changing of the franchise areas * Tipperary Mid-West Radio - held a very small franchise for South West Tipperary. Its franchise was merged with the rest of Tipperary franchise (held by Tipp FM). The station continues, being re-licensed as a Community Radio station. * North West Radio - subsidiary of Mid West Radio; replaced by Ocean FM at end of contract. *Easy 103 - held a licence for part of Wicklow and Horizon Radio held a licence for north Wicklow. These two stations merged to become

. *Fresh 95.5 - short lived North Dublin-targeted station from

; was licensed to Meath only, relying on signal overspill. *

TXFM TXFM (formerly Phantom 105.2) was a Dublin-based radio station, founded in 1997 as a pirate radio station. TXFM broadcast under a contract awarded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). The station ceased broadcasting on 26 October 201 ...

(formerly Phantom 105.2) - alternative rock music station for the Dublin area.

Community radio

*Cashel Community Radio -

Cashel, County Tipperary Cashel (; ) is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,422 in the 2016 census of Ireland, 2016 census. The town gives its name to the ecclesiastical province of ''Cashel''. Additionally, the ''cathedra'' of the Roman Cathol ...

was a splinter group from Tipperary Mid-West Radio. *Tallaght FM -

Tallaght Tallaght ( ; , ) is a southwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The central village area was the site of a monastic settlement from at least the 8th century, which became one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres. Up to th ...

. Closed 2008. *9-7-11 FM - Dublin North West's community radio, (named after the area's postal districts) existed in the mid-1990s. *Dublin Weekend Radio - station that broadcast from

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

in the 1990s, it time-shared transmission with Raidio na Life. Facilities are now used by DCU. * Inishowen Community Radio (ICR-FM) - based in north Co. Donegal, ceased broadcasts in October 2012. *Ballyhoura Community Radio (BCR) - based in Charleville near the Cork/Limerick border. Went on air in May 2011, closed in March 2013. Frequency was 92.6 FM. *East Limerick Community Radio - FM Frequencies were 96.8 (main) and 97.3.

Institutional services

*Beaumont Hospital Radio - Beaumont Hospital, Beamount, Dublin. Closed in 2007. *Vibe 107.4FM - was a student service in Waterford I.T. *Regional Hospital Radio 94.2 - Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, County Limerick. Closed in 2018

Radio Oglaigh na h-Éireann

Radio Oglaigh na h-Éireann () was established in 1962 to provide a

short wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...

service to

Irish Defence Forces The Defence Forces (, officially styled ) derives its origins from the Irish Volunteers. Whilst the Irish for ''Defence Forces'' is , as Ó Cearúil (1999) points out, the Defence Forces are officially styled . is used in other contexts (e.g. ...

serving in

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...

missions in Congo. Daily broadcasts were made on 17.544 MHz at 17:30 UTC, using a transmitter located at the

Curragh Camp The Curragh Camp () is an army base and military college in The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It is the main training centre for the Irish Defence Forces and is home to 2,000 military personnel. History Longstanding military heritage Th ...

. Programmes, which were provided by Radio Éireann, included news, sports results, music and drama, including '' The Kennedys of Castleross''. The service was discontinued after several years, when the Irish peacekeeping mission in Congo terminated.

References

External links

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI)
The Authority licenses independent broadcasting services in Ireland * a database resource listing every radio station ever to broadcast in Ireland {{Local radio in Ireland

History

Ireland as a radio pioneer

Modern Radio

Licensing

Transmission

Ownership

National stations

RTÉ (national public service broadcaster)

Independent national radio

Multi-city and county radio

Independent regional radio

Independent local radio

Dublin ILRs

Cork ILRs

Leinster (excluding Dublin) ILRs

Munster (excluding Cork) ILRs

Connacht/Ulster ILRs

Community radio

Special interest services

Institutional services

Temporary services

Defunct stations

RTÉ radio

Independent national radio

Independent local radio

Community radio

Institutional services

Radio Oglaigh na h-Éireann

See also

References

External links