Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
RTE Radio 1 is still on FM. The significance for UK radio listeners isn’t with RTE directly, it’s that during the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s the frequency was leased by a commercial radio station called Atlantic 252 which was essential listening for teens and young adults at the time (like me). Although it was based in Ireland the station could be received across much of the western side of Great Britain, and it was the British rather than the Irish audience they were after. After Atlantic 252 closed down the frequency reverted to RTE, the Irish state broadcaster. I guess they have been using it for their main radio output since then.
For Atlantic 252 fans the end of the era was really when that station closed down, however there is something poignant in the frequency itself going permanently silent. The mast that was used to deliver it is being decommissioned and nothing will replace it. So it’s really gone for good.
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When the licence for the frequency was awarded to Ireland, one of the conditions was that any service carried must not be aimed at any audience in the Republic. In other words it is an external broadcast frequency. RTE entered into a joint venture with those that used it, but eventually ended up carrying the can, so used it to broadcast to Northern Ireland & ex-pats in the UK.
They tried to get a licence from OFCOM to operate on DAB over here, but it never got anywhere.