11th Feb 2008
RTE Lundys
If you are from the North you will know what a Lundy is, and today I can hear the mob on O’Conall Street baying for the RTE ‘traitors’ who decided to shut down the ‘national’ broadcasters medium wave output, leaving many tens of thousands of listeners in the North without coverage.
The Good Friday Agreement signed ten years ago commits RTE to extending coverage to the 32 counties. With the exception of a boost in the TG4 signal the Irish broadcaster has done damn all to deliver on this solemn commitment in the Agreement. Over the past decade I have heard every argument going. From programme rights to advertising licences, RTE has always has a selfish reason for doing nothing.
The people of Ireland are closer today then at any time in recent history. I know an orangemen on the north coast who loves RTE and he is not alone. RTE is popular in NI, but do the D4 liberatchi give a toss, apparently not.
It will take the southern government getting serious about this issue to effect change. Meantime the only major institution on this island which seems determined to live in the past is the very one which for decades was believed to be a breeding ground for liberals and ‘new irelanders’.
RTE are denying many northerners access to their own culture, sports (they have first rights to big GAA games for example) and news of their fellow countrymen and women. Hardly a credible position for a so called national broadcaster.
Busy week on O’Conall Street so please be patient if the posts are not as regular as normal. Food on the table and all that.
Before I go. Amy cleans up at the Grammys and deservedly so - what an artist. Daniel is the toast of the BAFTAS - glory to the living embodiment of the New Ireland, and, it’s a hat-trick in the States for Barack - is this the beginning of the end for the Ice Queen of Arkansas?
From a Dubliner in Antrim, my sympathies to the Saffron’s.
[...] RTE Lundys [...]
[...] for the first time ever last night. The national broadcaster’s climb down after a campaign by this blog, the Irish News other bloggers and many letter writers across the North was a great example of [...]
I hope you don’t think I’m being funny, but I think
you need to get your technical facts straight
regarding RTE closing down the 567kHz service in
favour of the 252kHz service.
I am referring to:
“leaving many tens of thousands of listeners in the North without coverage”.
In fact, domestic services in both the UK and Ireland are transmitted using VHF/FM, MW and LW. So anyone buying a radio that doesn’t have one of these bands (normally a cheap unbranded import) is shortchanging themselves.
The 252kHz service gives MUCH better coverage outside the Republic than 567kHz ever will. Mainly due to the fact that it’s a long wave service. In the same way that 198kHz (BBC Radio 4) can easily be heard on LW in the Republic, but many UK national services on MW (Radio 5, Talksport, Virgin) cannot without difficulty.
In fact it may surprise you to learn that 252kHz was used by a station called Atlantic 252 for well over a decade. It used the same power and transmitter site as RTE currently does, and their coverage was not just Ireland, but almost all of Great Britain too (except for the far South East). In fact it was even considered a “British” station at the time by most people! By comparison 567kHz MW is almost inaudible by the time it reaches most of Britain.
In a way, RTE was very lucky that Atlantic 252 closed down as it has now gained a better signal at little extra cost.
It’s also worth noting that in 2004, the 567kHz transmitter was off air for four whole months due to maintenance. I can’t remember ever reading or hearing any outrage about people not being able to listen to RTE during that time.
-regards
Duncan Hill,
Hertfordshire