RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
The Irish-language radio service of the state broadcasts from Casla, on the road between Spiddal and Rossaveal. It began at three in the afternoon of Easter Sunday, 2 April 1972, with the Casla building not yet finished and the Kerry and Donegal studios still being built, so the first programme went out from Galway: the controller Pádraic Ó Raghallaigh opened it, President de Valera followed on tape, and Seán Ó Riada's Mass was played.
Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.
Fifty years on the air
Gerry Collins, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, announced the station in the Dáil in February 1971, forty-five years after the first Irish radio service, 2RN, had launched in 1926 with little reach beyond Tipperary. When a fourth national transmitter network was built, RnaG went to 24 hours from 1 October 2001. It carries no advertising, alone among Irish stations, and does not pay to be in the JNLR survey, though the 2011 survey gave it about 100,000 listeners a week, a 3 per cent share, comparable to BBC Radio Cymru. Since 2 May 2005 the Anocht FM strand has allowed songs with English lyrics between 9 pm and 1 am, opening with Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes, chosen by public vote, alongside An Taobh Tuathail.
Casla and the other studios
Besides Casla there are studios at Gaoth Dobhair in Donegal, Baile na nGall in Kerry, Castlebar, Ring in Waterford and the RTÉ Radio Centre in Dublin. RTÉ appoints the Ceannaire, the controller, and a separate advisory council, Comhairle Raidió na Gaeltachta. On 12 July 2024 the station's Irish-language grades won parity of pay with English-language journalists after a long union campaign. The model on this page pins the studios; TG4, its television counterpart, is a few kilometres east at Baile na hAbhann.
Questions people ask
Where is Raidió na Gaeltachta based?
When did Raidió na Gaeltachta start broadcasting?
Does Raidió na Gaeltachta have adverts?
Written from Wikipedia, "RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.