Irish Radio in London

[rlogue]

I've started a thread on the lack of Irish Radio in London in the Media UK Radio Chatter forum - however the usual chorus of 'why would THEY need it' is on there.

[stayin alive]

bet Hot 99 fm would go down a treat with the brits ......lol

[Mike]

Actually I think its a Disgrace that RTE never had (apart from a brief period in the 1940's) a shortwave service. Ireland is one of the few countries in the world with more of its citizens overseas than at home and many countries a lot smaller and/or poorer than Ireland managed to establish such a service. True rTE is on satellite and the internet nowadays but not everyone can afford a computer and many people still dont have access to a decent (unmetered/broadband) ISP

As for London given the Irish are the largest minority community there there should be some provision made. True Irish people dont have the same language barrier that other communities may experience but they still like to be able to keep up with events "at home". Most people would be satisfied to even have decent reception of RTE radio One

[John G]

RTE currently does have a shortwave broadcast - the first half hour of 5-7 live - Schedule from thir web site:

Shortwave
A half-hour information bulletin from RTE Radio 1 is available daily on short-wave
around the globe. Target areas, frequencies and times are as follows:

21630 kHz (Africa) 1830-1900 UTC/GMT.
15280 kHz (SE Asia, including Australia) 1000-1030 UTC/GMT.
6155 kHz (Central America) 0130-0200 UTC/GMT.
l3640 kHz (Central and Eastern America) 1830-1900 UTC/GMT.
15315 kHz (Middle East) 1800-1830 UTC/GMT.

[Billy Dane]

I think there's a definite case for an Irish station in London and acroos the UK. It's not going to happen on analogue though, it will no doubt happen when digital takes off more.

[Painted Press]

RTe on shortwave? do you know who provides the TX facilities john? I never knew that RTE had any programming on short wave at all. also, mike, what short wave broadcasting did Radio Eireann do in the 40's?

[Mike]

RE had a couple of 1.5kw(remember the bands werent as crowded and there were few if any 500Kw powerhouses on)transmitters at Athlone from which they broadcast to Europe and North America. A lot of the programming was relays of the domestic service but there had to be "repeat performances" (RE didnt have tape recorders at the time) for different time zones.

It was realised that more powerful transmitters were needed however during the war it was difficult to obtain even spare parts for the existing transmitters. In 1948 they got a government grant but decided to spend the money improving the domestic service (AFIK it was used to set up a new orchestra) which was still on very limited hours and shutdown the SW.

Apart from Radio Dublin and some hobby pirates Ireland didnt make any more shortwave broadcasts until the 1990's and even then it was using hired transmitters in Britain and the USA

[John G]

RTE is leasing transmitters from Merlin Communications... I'm not sure of the transmitter locations - I'll look into it...

[John G]

These are the Merlin transmitter sites used by RTE:

·21630 kHz (Africa) 1830-1900 UTC/GMT. Ascention Island

·15280 kHz (SE Asia, including Australia) 1000-1030 UTC/GMT. Singapore

·6155 kHz (Central America) 0130-0200 UTC/GMT. Rampisham, England

·13640 kHz (Central and Eastern America) 1830-1900 UTC/GMT. Sackville, Canada

·15315 kHz (Middle East) 1800-1830 UTC/GMT. Rampisham, England

[eireman]

rte should be avadable on lw252 now

[scanman]

Not really, esp with internet radio streams from all counties !

the 2001 census shows a 10% drop in Irish residents in the 33 London Boroughs - since the 1991 census, when there was NO
internet available!