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Radio Telefs IreannRadio Telefs ireann (RT; English: Radio and Television of Ireland) is the national state broadcaster of Ireland. The radio service began on January 1 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on 31 December 1961. Principal stations Television Telefs ireann began broadcasting on 31 December 1961, the opening address was given by the then President of Ireland Eamon de Valera. Television opened up a completely new world to the Irish people. Topics which were hitherto not discussed in Ireland, such as abortion, contraception and various other controversial topics, were now openly being discussed in television studios. The Late Late Show, which began in July 1962 and is still running as of 2005, and its original host, Gay Byrne, pioneered many of these discussions and has been credited with being a major influence in the changing social structure of Ireland. Colour television started in 1972, and in 1978 Ireland's second television channel, RT Two, known for many years as Network 2, began broadcasting. Both RT One and RT Two provide round-the-clock broadcasts seven days a week, providing comprehensive coverage of news, current affairs, sport, music, drama and entertainment. Most of the broadcasts are in English, including programming imported from Britain, the United States and Australia. However Irish language programmes, such as Nuacht (the news) and Largas (insight) have been an integral part of the schedule. In 1996 a new Irish language TV service, Teilifs na Gaeilge, since renamed TG4, began broadcasting for the first time though much of its programming is English movies and sport which are often unrelated to the language or Ireland for that matter. TG4 is owned by a subsidary of the RT Authority, Serbhis Telefis na Gaelige Teoranta, however legislation exists that can provide for its separation. (For more details see the separate article on TG4). RT's monopoly on TV broadcasting in the Republic only ended in 1998, with the launch of the commercial channel TV3. RT One, RT Two and TG4 are also available in Northern Ireland (coverage and inclusion on cable systems varies), and from 1995 to 2002, there was also a channel in Great Britain Tara Television, which carried RT programming, though not Irish sport coverage like the highly GAA or Gaelic games, as broadcasting rights had already been licensed to another channel, Setanta. Tara closed due to disagreements between RT and the other companies. Ironically, RT One, Network 2 and TG4 are available throughout Great Britain and Ireland via satellite on Sky Digital, although these are encrypted (for rights reasons, according to RT), and anyone wishing to view the channels needs to obtain a Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland subscription (Family Pack or higher). There has been criticism that RT is not available free on Sky Digital in the Republic (there is no use of "free to view", a non-subscription viewing card, as was used by the BBC). From the outset, RT had faced competition from British TV channels such as those of the BBC and UTV, broadcasting from Northern Ireland, whose signal spilt over into the Republic. RT's approach was pragmatic, as it introduced cable television in the 1970s, initially known as RT Relays, and subsequently as Cablelink, although it later sold its stake in the company, which is now known as NTL Ireland. In the late 1980s, more competition came from satellite television, especially from Sky based in the UK. In 2003, RT's reality TV show Cabin Fever (TV Show) made international news when the ship, on which contestants where scheduled to remain for eight weeks, with one person voted off each week by viewers and forced literally to "walk the plank" was thrown into chaos when the sailing ship on which the show was taking place hits rocks near Tory Island, off the Irish coast, and later sank (On Friday the 13th!). All the contestants escaped unharmed. Three personalities have worked with and continue to work with RT since 1962: See also: List of RT television programming Radio The first voice broadcast of 2RN, the original radio callsign for Radio 1, took place on November 14, 1925 when an announcer said, "Seo Raidi 2RN, Baile tha Cliath ag tstil", meaning "This is Radio 2RN, Dublin testing". Regular Irish radio broadcasting began on January 1, 1926. 2RN later became known as Radio ireann. Now, RT has a nationwide commnications network with an increasing emphasis on regional news-gathering and input. Broadcasting on Radio 1 provides comprehensive coverage of news, current affairs, music, drama and variety features, agriculture, education, religion and sport, mostly in English but also some Irish. RT 2FM is a popular music and chat channel, while RT Lyric FM serves the interests of classical music and the arts. RT Raidi na Gaeltachta, an exclusively Irish language service, first began broadcasting in 1972. Formerly RT operated a radio station in Cork - RT Radio Cork - as an opt-out of RT Radio 1, but this was closed down in the early 2000s due to low listenership figures. A slightly adapted version of Radio One is broadcast on longwave and Sky Digital as RT Europe. RT Arts RT Arts is a division of the company which reflects the wide diversity and vibrancy of Irish culture. A whole range of programmes have profiled and documented Irish successes across all fields of the arts including Sen OCasey, John McGahern and Patrick Kavanagh, Eileen Gray, Spike Milligan and Rory Gallagher. The weekly arts show, The View, presented by John Kelly, is produced under the RT Arts division. RT Children RT Young Peoples Programmes offers a wide range of programming, bringing entertainment, stories, information, new ideas, humour, advice and more. RT Two is the main children's television channel, presenting such shows as The Den, IDTwo, S@ttitude and The Disney Club. RT Diversity RT, as Ireland's national broadcaster aims to reflect the modern and diverse Ireland that is emerging. These changes are witnessed in its programming in the RT Diversity division. The many diverse programmes that come under the RT Diversity banner include Would You Believe, Drawing the Line, Scannal! and Mono. RT Drama RT Drama continues to produce a varied and dynamic range of original fiction programming. Fair City continues to be RT's flagship evening drama serial. RT Education RT Education produces a range of programming which help people overcome their learning difficulties. Shows such as Scope, Read Write Now and The Health Squad. RT Entertainment RT Entertainment produces some of Ireland's biggest and most popular television shows. These include The Late Late Show, Tubridy Tonight, You're A Star and Winning Streak. RT Factual RT Factual produces a whole range of documentary series and single documentaries, as well as a whole range of entertaining lifestyle formats. These documentaries range from Legal Eagles, a documentary which looks at the normally closed world of the Law Library, Maybe Baby, which follows couples as they try to conceive through IVF and Desperately Seeking Surgery, in which a number of Irish people who opt to go under the knife to change their appearance are interviewed and followed. RT History RT History produces a wide selection of innovative programming, with special documentaries covering topics as diverse as Eamon de Valera and the Irish Press, Lord Haw-Haw, Kevin O'Higgins, Women of the Goldrush and Secret Sights. RT also produces The Colony, a reality history show where an Irish family will live as early 19th century colonists in New South Wales and recreate the harsh lives faced by settlers in the new land of Australia. RT Music RT Music offers a series of programming which deals with all types of music from Classical to Traditional. RT has a comprehensive range of programmes devoted to music on both radio and television. RT News & Current Affairs There is an article on this subject at RT News. RT Sport RT Sport produces some of the most definitive coverage and commentary on sporting events in Ireland and internationally. RT's coverage of the GAA Championships, the FA Premier League, Six Nations Rugby and a whole host of other sporting events is unequaled in Ireland. Other activities RT also operates a comprehensive website, rte.ie, which provides online news, sport, and entertainment services. Live streams of all of RT's national radio networks are available online. RT Television provides a teletext service on RT One and RT Two, RT Aertel, which has news, sport, and programme support information. RT Music supports two full-time orchestras - the RT Concert Orchestra and RT National Symphony Orchestra - as well as the RT Vanbergh String Quartet, RT Philharmonic Choir, and RT Cr na ng. These groups perform regularly in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. RT Music's slogan is RT - Supporting the Arts. RT Commercial Enterprises Limited publishes the RTE Guide and a number of other magazines in Ireland, as well as publishing DVDs and VHS videos of RT Television programmes, and audio tapes and compact discs of RT radio programmes or RT Music performances. RT Network Limited not only transmits RT's own channels, but also provides transmission for TV3 Ireland, TG4, and Today FM. Organisation The station operates as a statutory corporation. The board of RT is known as the RT Authority. This body is appointed by the Irish Minister for Communications, Marine & Natural Resources. The Authority is both the legal owner of RT and its regulator, a situation similar to that of the BBC Board of Governors. The Authority appoints the chief executive officer of RT, known as the Director-General. The Director-General heads the Executive Board of RT, which comprises the station's top management, including the managing directors of the main divisions - Television, Radio, and News. RTE's fully commercial activities are grouped under RTE Commercial Enterprises Limited, which is somewhat equivilant to BBC Worldwide. This division includes the largest selling television listings magazine in Ireland, the RTE Guide. RT receives income from three main sources: - The television licence fee, all owners of television sets in the State must pay a fee of EUR 152 in order to legally possess any piece of equipment capable of receiving television signals (not necessarily RT). This money is collected by An Post, and then given over minus a fee to RT.
- The sale of advertising and sponsorship on its radio and television services. Certain types of programming, most notably news, do not take sponsorship – although weather bulletins, part of all news programmes, are in reality sponsored on television by Eircom and on radio by Glen Dimplex. In January 2005 the Broadcasting Complaints Commission upheld complaints about this circumventing of sponsorship restrictions imposed by Comreg.
- The profits from products sold by RT CEL.
RT makes also some income from overseas sales of its programmes. History (This section deals with the history of RT as an organisation. For details of the development of the specific services, and especially the history of Radio ireann prior to 1960, see the separate articles on those services). Establishment Broadcasting in Ireland began in 1926 with 2RN in Dublin. From that date, until June 1960, the broadcasting service (2RN, then later Radio ireann) operated as a section of the Department of Posts and Telgraphs, and those working for the service were directly employed by the Irish Government and regarded as civil servants. In 1960, RT was established (as Radio ireann) under the Broadcasting Authority Act 1960, the principal legislation under which it operates. The existing Radio ireann service was transfered to the new authority, which was also to make provision for the new television service (Tlifis ireann) which opened on 31st December 1961. Eamonn Andrews was the first Chairman of Radio ireann, the first director general was Edward Roth. The name of the authority was changed to Radio Telefis ireann under the Broadcasting Authority (Amendment) Act 1966, and both the radio and television services became known as RT in that year. Northern Ireland RT's coverage of Northern Ireland and the Troubles has always been controversial. Under Section 31 of the Broadcasting Authority Act 1960 the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs could direct RT "not to broadcast any matter, or any matter of any particular class". In 1971, the first such directive was issued by Gerry Collins, directing RT not to broadcast "any matter that could be calculated to promote the aims or activities of any organisation which engages in, promotes, encourages or advocates the attaining of any particular objectives by violent means". Following this, Collins dismissed the entire RT Authority over an interview with an (unidentified on-air) source which had been the then chief of staff of the Provisional IRA. n 1977, Conor Cruise O'Brien, the then Minister, issued a new directive. RT was now explicity banned from broadcasting statements by spokespersons of Sinn Fein, the Provisional IRA, or any other organisation banned in Northern Ireland. This order was very rigorously enforced by RT (following the earlier controversy), so much so that no person suspected of membership of Sinn Fin was allowed to appear on the station, in any capacity. This lasted until 1994 when it was allowed to expire. Century Radio and the cap on RT revenue In 1990, the Minister for Communications, Ray Burke, announced that in order to allow the independent broadcasting sector (but especially the then in trouble Century Radio) to develop, RT's advertising revenue would be capped (Broadcasting Act 1990). This did not help Century at all, but seriously hampered RT's financial position, so much so that at the Flood Tribunal it was later revealed by the then RT chief financial officer that RT would have gone bankrupt, had the cap not been abolished in 1993. RT was also instructed by the Minister to reduce its transmission fees for Century to less than IEP 200,000. This was far below the commercial rate. Future of RT In 2004, RT and the Minister for Communications, Marine, and Natural Resources agreed that in future, RT would operate under a Public Service Broadcasting Charter. Unlike the BBC's Royal Charter, this is non-binding and RT's existence is not dependent on it. Nevertheless this is a substantial change in how RT operates. It is also suggested that future legislation will abolish the current RT structures and change the station into a limited company incorporated under the Companies' Acts, and separate the regulatory role, perhaps to an expanded Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (which would be renamed the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland). However legislation on this matter is still to be published. Further reading Jack Dowling, Lelia Doolin, Bob Quinn, Sit Down and Be Counted: the cultural evolution of a television station, Wellington Publishers Ltd., Dublin, 1969. See also External links
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