A retired RTÉ radio engineer and long-time campaigner to preserve RTÉ radio transmissions to the UK has urged Irish who save 252 LW groups not to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”.
The chair of Ireland’s Oireachtas Communications Hildegarde Naughton TD (Galway West and South Mayo) announced last week that a major antenna upgrade will ensure the transmission of RTÉ on long-wave will continue for at least the next two years.
RTÉ has repeatedly tried to axe the service on cost grounds, urging listeners here to continue listening via the internet or satellite tuners.
That has been resisted as impractical, and second best, by many older and elderly Irish, especially in the north-west, for whom RTÉ radio is deemed to combat loneliness and isolation and for whom their portable radios provide companionship.
Plans to provide a version of the RTÉ One radio service on DAB have been turned down by the UK regulator, Ofcom.
Additional story at:
http://www.theirishworld.com/reprieve-for-rte-longwave/