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Irish bishop plays TV critic

What to watch on Easter holiday? Nothing!

KENNETH HAYNES

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Thursday, April 9, 2009, 12:28 PM

Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:28 PM

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On a given day, 85% of the population of Ireland listens to a licensed service on Irish radio. The first broadcast on Irish radio took place in 1925, with 2RN’s test transmissions. 2RN later became RTE Radio 1, which was continuing to broadcast as of 2006, making it one of the oldest continuously operating public stations not just in Irish radio, but in all of Europe. RTE, which stands for Radio Telefis Eireann, is the Public Service broadcaster of Irish Radio. RTE Radio 1 offers the full spectrum of Irish radio, from news and current affairs to music and sport. RTE’s second national radio station, RTE 2fm, plays popular music. It has a special place in Irish radio as the station that is the first to play any new single released by U2. 2fm started broadcasting in 1979. In 2008, 2fm was the second most popular station in Irish radio after RTE1. One of the main commercial stations in Irish radio is Today FM, which was originally Radio Ireland. Today FM plays a mix of music and news and current affairs. Along with the national stations, Irish radio also features regional and local stations. While Ireland had been one of the first countries in Europe to go into radio, it was a relative latecomer to television. The state operated on a shoestring budget for much of the time after its formation in 1922, and the Department of Finance would not approve of anything it deemed to be a 'luxury' that the people could do without; Irish TV fell into this category, though this did not mean that Irish TV was completely absent, south of Northern Ireland. When the BBC activated its Divis transmitter in July 1955, it was strong enough to be seen in much of Ireland, roughly north of a line from Sligo, running down to Wicklow. Ulster Television, the Northern Ireland contractor for ITV, followed in October 1959; however, the picture quality was considerably lower for viewers in the Republic than it was for those in Northern Ireland. In the late 1950s, a Television Committee was formed; their goal was to set up an Irish TV service with as little financial commitment from Dublin as possible. It initially recommended setting up a service along the lines of ITV, plus five mountaintops as transmission sites, which were also equipped for FM radio transmission. However, since President Eamon de Valera was somewhat wary of Irish TV, nothing more of consequence was done until Sean Lemass succeeded him as Taoiseach in 1959. A year later, Radio Eireann was converted from an arm of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs into a semi-state body and given responsibility for television. Telefis Eireann began broadcasting on New Year's Eve, 1961. The opening address by President de Valera described the benefits and disadvantages of the new medium; he went on to say that "Like atomic energy, it can be used for incalculable good, but it can also do irreparable harm." Irish TV opened up a completely new world to the Irish people. Topics which were hitherto not discussed openly and soberly in Ireland, such as abortion, contraception and various other controversial topics, were now being discussed in Irish TV studios; The Late Late Show, which began in July 1962 and is still running as of 2009, and its original host, Gay Byrne, pioneered many of these discussions, and has been credited with being a major influence in the changing social structure of Ireland. In 1977, a new Fianna Fail government came to power, and as one of its many promises, the government quickly authorized a second Irish TV channel to be run by RTE. RTE 2's mandate was to provide alternative television. The new Irish TV channel went on the air in November 1978. In 1987, RTE 2 was renamed Network 2. Although Irish language programs, such as news bulletins (Nuacht) and the long-running documentary series Leargas ('Insight'), have been an integral part of the schedule, a new Irish-language TV service, Teilifís na Gaeilge (now TG4), began broadcasting in 1996. RTE developed its only major studio complex outside Dublin in Cork. RTE Cork, opened in 1995 and became a huge success. It also became a large contributor to network output on both Radio One and RTE One. In January 2007, RTE announced plans to launch a channel, with the working title of RTE International, which would offer programs from RTE One and Two as well as TG4. British terrestrial TV channels are now commonly available throughout the Republic, but the number of channels received varies depending on the region. Despite this availability, RTE still manages to achieve over 50% of the total Irish TV audience for all channels.

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Irish bishop plays TV critic

What to watch on Easter holiday? Nothing!

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