Lentorama 2022: It Happened on Easter

Day 3: RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta goes on air

The debut of an Irish language radio station in Ireland may not seem that important, but when this station went live on April 2, 1972, it was a big step for people who were trying to revive the Irish language after years of suppression. 

There was an intent to provide Irish language radio from the founding of the Irish state, but economic considerations frustrated those plans. The one Irish radio station in operation did broadcast some Irish language programming, but that amount dwindled over time, a trend that accelerated in the 1950s and '60s as the new Irish broadcaster, RTE, focused on providing more profitable content.

This raised the ire of Irish language supporters, and the issue of Irish language radio was swept up into a broader civil rights campaign to promote Irish in official publications and services. This campaign spawned an Irish language pirate radio station, whose success finally prodded RTE to launch an official Irish language radio station. 

You will not be surprised that one of the first things aired on the station was Easter Mass. 

The station continues to air, and has provided 24 hour service since 2001. An Irish language TV station launched in 1996, and there are several local Irish language stations as well. In 2005, the station relented a bit with respect to the majority language in Ireland and allowed music with English language lyrics during a late night show (11pm to 1am), with the first song played being "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes (as chosen by listeners, which is kind of surprising for 2005).