First air date 1 May 1999 | Language(s) English, Irish | |
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Broadcast area Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
Worldwide (mainly the United Kingdom on satellite) Slogan Where Life Sounds Better Frequency FM 96.7–99.6 (95.2 northeast) MHz
Digital terrestrial television Format Classical music and the arts | ||
RTÉ lyric fm is an Irish classical-music and arts radio station, owned by the public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The station, which is based in Limerick, was launched in 1999 and is available on FM throughout Ireland (in some areas also on DAB), on Sky Digital satellite in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and via the Internet worldwide.
Contents
History
RTÉ lyric fm developed from FM3 Classical Music, which began broadcasting in November 1984. FM3 broadcast classical music on the RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta network at breakfast time, lunchtime and in the evenings. The station was rarely marketed, except via promotions on RTÉ Radio 1, and had low listenership ratings. It was probably best known for occasionally simulcasting the stereo sound track of movies being shown on the RTÉ television channels prior to RTÉ's deployment of NICAM digital stereo.
As Raidió na Gaeltachta expanded broadcast hours FM3's service hours changed to 19:30 till 01:00 and 06:30 till 08:00. Eventually it stayed on air until breakfast time when RnaG came back on.
In 1999, RTÉ put in place an additional national FM transmitter network, and it was decided to separate FM3 from Radio na Gaeltachta, and expand its remit to include other types of minority music. The resulting station was Lyric FM (currently styled RTÉ lyric fm). It also moved from Dublin to Limerick as part of a policy of regionalisation. At the time of the station's launch, RTÉ lyric fm’s digital studios in Cornmarket Row, Limerick, were the most advanced in the country.
RTÉ lyric fm won PPI National Station of the Year for the second time in 2004.
Recent history
In May 2009, the station celebrated 10 years broadcasting. This was celebrated with a concert by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and RTÉ Philharmonic Choir. Current presenters include Marty Whelan, George Hamilton, Gay Byrne, Liz Nolan, Carl Corcoran, Eamonn Lenihan, Paul Herriott, Niall Carroll, Lorcan Murray, Tim Thurston, Bernard Clarke, Aedín Gormley, Trish Taylor Thompson, Donald Helme, Ellen Cranitch, Gerry Godley and John Kelly.
RTÉ lyric fm attracts an audience share of 1.6%. The current head of the station is Aodán Ó' Dubhghaill.
Recent schedule changes have caused some dissent amongst listeners and the station has been accused of dumbing down. A petition was also launched to save the Sunday early morning programme "Gloria" presented by Tim Thurston.
Budget
References
The following figures were issued by RTÉ as part of their Annual report 2012
Income
Total Costs
Profit and Loss
Breakdown of Irish Productions
The table below outlines RTÉ LyricFM's total in-house and commissioned programming by genre in 2008 and 2012: