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RADIO TELEFÍS ÉIREANN
Operational Review
RTÉ Radio (continued)
Our War, a Radio series to recognise the
role of the Irish in the First World War,
featured cross-IBD output with Television and
Publishing and was accompanied by a book
of the same title in partnership with the Royal
Irish Academy. A CD of the documentary The
Diary of Leanne Wolfe, which was awarded
the International Radio Award at the Premios
Ondas Awards in October, was distributed to
every second-level school in Ireland.
RTÉ 2fm
The schedule changes made in 2007 began
to show benefit in 2008, with The Colm
and Jim-Jim Breakfast Show, The Saturday
Show and The Gerry Ryan Show all
achieving audience growth.
RTÉ 2fm maintained its commitment to
broadcasting live music. The channel’s
coverage of the summer music festivals
equated to 46 broadcast hours of live music
and the channel doubled broadcast hours of
studio sessions with young Irish bands and
dance music commissions. The 2moro2our
played at 11 venues nationwide in spring,
and the RTÉ 2fm School of Rock talent
search, an initiative to discover new bands,
took place at the end of the year. RTÉ
2fm provided over 100 hours of live music
for its digital sister channel RTÉ 2XM and
interviews, sessions and live recordings of
over 100 artists were made available Online,
a significant addition to the coverage of
summer festivals in particular.
Operation Transformation commenced
on RTÉ 2fm’s The Gerry Ryan Show and
then partnered RTÉ Television and RTÉ.
ie. Demand for podcasting grew during the
year with podcasts of Nob Nation, The Best
of Colm and Jim-Jim and The Gerry Ryan
Show featuring high in the download charts.
RTÉ lyric fm
RTÉ lyric fm grew national reach to 4%
by the end of 2008; its evening drive time
programme Classic Drive had over 53,000
listeners each day. RTÉ lyric fm remained
the most important broadcast platform for
the RTÉ Performing Groups both in Ireland
and abroad through the EBU’s international
exchange of concerts. The new Coffee
Concerts, featuring the RTÉ National
Symphony Orchestra, were introduced and
performances from the National Concert
Hall’s Celebrity and Orchestral series
were broadcast. Lyric Lunchtime broadcast
another season of live concerts from the
National Concert Hall featuring both the
RTÉ Concert Orchestra and RTÉ National
Symphony Orchestra.
Some significant events on RTÉ lyric fm
included a concert of The Film Music of John
Barry in June with the special guest being
the composer himself, and a very successful
gig and recording at the Button Factory
in Dublin hosted by John Kelly. Together
with Opera Ireland, RTÉ lyric fm staged
a concert performance of Balfe’s opera
Falstaff involving soloists, the RTÉ Concert
Orchestra, and the National Chamber Choir
at the National Concert Hall for both CD
recording and broadcast.
In June 2008 RTÉ lyric fm played host to
the International Rostrum of Composers – an
important forum for composers of new music;
delegates attended a live performance by the
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Irish
composer Gerald Barry’s opera La Plus Forte.
In the latter half of 2008 RTÉ lyric fm was
disappointed to have to cancel plans for some
concerts which were due to be staged in
association with programmes. These events
were designed to raise public awareness of
The challenge for RTÉ 2fm, faced with ever RTÉ lyric fm but had to be cancelled due to
increasing competition from local, regional financial constraints in quarter 4 of 2008.
and national stations, is to remain the premier
music and entertainment station for the Innovations during 2008 included the
15-34 year olds. It must set the trend for appointment of a Composer-in-Residence
these listeners nationally and, in particular,
the (Elaine Agnew) and bringing
New York’s
channel must increase its audience share in Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series to
Dublin, the country’s most keenly competitive three cinemas: Dundrum and Swords in
single market.
Dublin and Dungarvan in Waterford. Six
CDs were released in 2008 including one to
mark the 50th anniversary of the death of
County Mayo-born soprano Margaret Burke
Sheridan.
RTÉ 2fm presenters, Jenny Greene and Jenny
Huston with The Coronas.
RTÉ lyric fm studio in Cornmarket Square,
Limerick.
Source: RTÉ
Note: Category “Other” includes Religion, Young Peoples,
Education and Drama
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