RTÉ radio is celebrating 100 years of public service broadcasting in Ireland with a range of special programmes transmitted from the GPO, reports RTE.
RTÉ Radio 1, Raidió na Gaeltachta, RTÉ 2fm and Lyric FM will air broadcasts from Dublin’s O’Connell Street all day, starting at 6am and concluding at 8pm, reports RTE.
The GPO served as the main transmission site for Irish radio starting in 1928 and remained the home of Radio Éireann until 1976.
At 7.45pm on 1 January 1926, the organisation that would become RTÉ – then known as 2RN – carried out the new Irish State’s inaugural public radio broadcast, which took place nearby on Little Denmark Street, reports RTE.
Over the past century, RTÉ – evolving through names such as 2RN, Radio Éireann, Teilifís Éireann and now RTÉ – has consistently aimed to document the nation’s life across a growing array of platforms.
Broadcaster, historian and author John Bowman explained that documenting the early period of radio in Ireland is challenging due to the scarcity of receivers and limited resources.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he noted that audiences were “in awe” of the emerging medium, though picking up signals proved difficult, reports RTE.
He highlighted that sports commentary ranked among RTÉ’s initial major successes.
Regarding the promotion of traditional Irish music, Mr Bowman observed that radio “had an extraordinary impact and this was both historically important because early recordings of key musicians were captured and then they were nourished,” reports RTE.
The day’s first broadcast from the GPO this morning came from RTÉ 2FM Breakfast, followed by Today with David McCullagh on RTÉ Radio 1.
Speaking on that programme, archivist and author Caitriona Crowe praised RTÉ for its comprehensive archive of traditional music aired over the past 100 years, reports RTE.
“That is part of building up an archive of things that otherwise would have been lost,” she said.
“RTÉ should be commended hugely for the way that it has preserved and made accessible acres and acres of tape and acetate discs and all the rest of it, so that we have recordings of people who are now dead and gone, a collection of songs in particular that probably are unique in Europe, reports RTE.
“This was all done on a shoestring by people who really cared about it,” reports RTE.
Professor of modern Irish history at UCD Diarmuid Ferriter pointed out there were “considerable constraints” in the initial phase of 2RN broadcasting.
Speaking on the same programme, he explained that the then-Minister for Posts and Telegraphs JJ Walsh had to follow a Dáil recommendation to establish 2RN as a state-run service, reports RTE.
“Which means that the early broadcasters are civil servants. They were working under all the constraints that civil servants have to work under,” he said, reports RTE.
“There’s often the stonewall of the Department of Finance, there was no budget there at the outset. There was no concrete detail as to how much and who could be paid. There was a skeleton staff. There was a reliance on favours for people to come into the studio. 80% of the output of radio in those early years was live music. There was only five minutes of news, and only five and a half hours of broadcasting in the day. So it was a very limited service,” reports RTE.
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Former Dublin South Central Historian-in-Residence Cathy Scuffil noted that radios were considered a luxury when 2RN started 100 years ago, with only 1% of the population owning a set.
“It would cost you ten pounds to buy a receiver, and another four to buy the microphone and/or the aerial,” she added, reports RTE.
“The average wage at the time was about a pound a week, so this was a luxury item.”
At 1pm, the Full Score with Liz Nolan on RTÉ Lyric FM will present a special edition featuring the Army No. 1 Band, who performed the very first music on 2RN, reports RTE.
Tenor Gavan Ring will also deliver several songs, including two that featured in the original 1926 broadcast.
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Tús Áite, hosted by Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, will begin at 5pm and will feature discussions on the history of the service, archive explorations and special guests sharing their recollections of Irish radio, reports RTE.
RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena will commemorate the milestone with a dedicated programme, including live performances and conversations on literature with Booker Prize-winning novelist Paul Lynch, novelist Christine Dwyer Hickey and An Cailín Ciúin’s Colm Bairéad, reports RTE.
RTÉ weather updates will also be delivered live from the GPO throughout the day.
An Post has released a commemorative stamp to honour 100 years of broadcasting.
Unveiled yesterday, An Post described the stamp – depicting an antenna with transmission signals “radiating across the nation” – as a tribute to a “historic milestone in Irish cultural life” and the development of broadcasting over the century, reports RTE.
Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan said: “When 2RN began broadcasting, this nation was only in its infancy in the first years of independence, and with limited resources, the State prioritised finding and sharing a new voice for the nation. This established, here in Ireland, a medium which to this day remains one of the most accessible and engaging forms of communication and self-expression, which is as popular today as ever with the majority of people here in Ireland still listening to radio on a daily basis,” reports RTE.
RTÉ’s Director of Audio Patricia Monahan stated that a “very important part” of RTÉ’s “remit” involves ensuring everyone’s story is shared and reflecting an evolving country.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Ms Monahan remarked that the GPO broadcasts “shows the range and variety” that RTÉ’s “portfolio delivers”, reports RTE.
She noted that the emphasis in 2026 will be to “expand” that coverage, especially through podcasting and the introduction of a new audio app before year’s end, which will help capture “more and more of Irish life today.”
She emphasised that audiences and life beyond Dublin are “very important” and RTÉ maintains a “very strong foothold” nationwide, but acknowledged that independent local radio excels in certain areas that RTÉ “can’t do” due to its national scope, reports RTE.
She explained that the two sectors complement and “work together” but extending reach outside Dublin “is definitely something we [RTÉ] need to be thinking about all the time”.
Asked if she wanted more programmes originating from the regions beyond its current bases in Cork, Galway, and Limerick, Ms Monahan replied that this forms part of RTÉ’s strategy and is under constant review: “where it makes sense, we want to do that”.
She added that reactions to Radio 1’s new schedule, introduced last November, have been “overwhelmingly positive” so far, reports RTE.
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