Highland Radio is the local radio service for the

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

(North) franchise, operating under a licence from the

Broadcasting Authority of Ireland The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) ( ga, Údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann) was established on 1 October 2009 effectively replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) ( ga, Coimisiún Craolacháin na hÉireann). The BAI is ...

(BAI). Headquartered at the Mountain Top in

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

, the station broadcasts throughout a large swathe of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

(especially West Ulster), with it being received in the nearby city of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

and in much of the rest of

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

, as well as in large parts of

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

and

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

, and in parts of

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

. Highland began broadcasting on 15 March 1990, and is currently franchised until 2024. It is currently Ireland's 'Number One Local Radio Station', a claim backed up by having both the highest market share of any local station within the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. Highland Radio employs 21 full-time and 40 part-time employees. Its flagship current affairs programme is ''The Nine 'til Noon Show'', which is presented by Greg Hughes. On 12 August 2012, Highland Radio received an international exclusive interview with Jamaican sprinter

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight- ...

live on air from the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in Stratford in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

History

On 31 May 2005, it was announced that the station was to be purchased by

Scottish Radio Holdings Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) was a Scottish media company which owned 22 radio stations, and around 30 local newspapers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. History SRH had its origins in the 1970s when Glasgow was awarded the third licence for ...

for €7 million. However, SRH itself was acquired by

Emap Ascential plc, formerly EMAP, is a British business-to-business media business specialising in exhibitions & festivals and information services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Ric ...

21 days later. The deal was cleared by both the BCI and the Irish Competition Authority. Emap's sole changes to the station were increasing the bandwidth of their web streams from 20 kbit/s to 128 kbit/s, with no format or presenter changes.

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...

Communicorp Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group. History Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that ...

was the highest bidder for

's Irish operations when that company decided to sell its radio stations, buying

FM104 FM104 is an independent local radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited (unconnected with, and not to be confused with, Capital Radio plc), and is a sub ...

, Highland Radio and

Today FM Today FM is an Irish national commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a lic ...

on 14 July 2007. In October 2007, the

Broadcasting Commission of Ireland The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) ( ga, Údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann) was established on 1 October 2009 effectively replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) ( ga, Coimisiún Craolacháin na hÉireann). The BAI is ...

(BCI) approved Communicorp's proposed takeover of Today FM and Highland Radio, but not FM104. The deal was completed by January 2008. Due to a Competition Authority decision, Communicorp was required to sell-on FM104, which it did (to

UTV Media Wireless Group Limited is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and with radio operations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and ...

) immediately upon its acquisition. O'Brien offloaded Highland Radio in mid-2008. Orangold, a company owned by the Rabbitt family, completed the purchase of Highland Radio from Denis O'Brien's Communicorp Group in July 2008. Gerry Rabbitt is a founder shareholder of

Galway Bay FM Galway Bay FM is an Irish independent local radio station and operates under a licence from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. Established in 1989, the station broadcasts from studios in Galway, serving the city and County Galway. Programmi ...

and was managing director of Galway Bay FM for 10 years.

Highland Radio News and Sport

The Highland Radio News team is headed by Greg Hughes and includes Catherine Gaffney, Michaela Clarke, Donal Kavanagh, Rory Williams (replaced by Emma Rose Callaghan), Daniel Brennan (temporarily) and Aaron McShane. Highland Radio News airs their own bulletins Mondays to Fridays on the hour from 7.00am until 7.00pm. The news service gives extensive coverage of local news and events from across the City of

and

Counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

, Londonderry, and Tyrone. There are currently three main extended news bulletins Mondays to Fridays at 8.30am, 1.00pm and 5.00pm. From 8.00pm until 12-midnight, Highland Radio airs hourly live news bulletins provided by

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Autho ...

in Dublin. Highland Radio News has a limited provision of local news over the weekend. Saturdays have local bulletins on the hour from 10.00am until 2.00pm.

provides news bulletins at 8.00am, 9.00am and then on the hour from 3.00pm until 12-midnight. On Sundays, Highland Radio provides local news from 1.00pm -6.00pm. Newstalk provides the rest of Sundays news output on the station on the hour from 8.00am until 12-midnight. Highland Radio gives extensive coverage to all the main sporting events held in

, and

, as well as in the city of

. The station broadcasts the results of all major Irish League fixtures played in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, in addition to broadcasting the results of all major

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

fixtures played in the

. During Christmas, Easter and Bank Holidays, Newstalk provide the only news bulletins on the hour.

Presenter and schedules

Daytime presenters

* Rory Farrell * Catherine Gaffney * Greg Hughes * John Breslin * David James * Ivan Boreland ''Highland Radio News Team:'' Greg Hughes, Donal Kavanagh, Michaela Clarke. Catherine Gaffney, Emma Rose Callaghan (currently on leave, replaced by Daniel Brennan), Aaron McShane (coming soon)

Evening presenters

* Tommy Rosney * Marty Friel * Pio McCann (died in October 2020) * Aidan Murphy * Bernard Harper * Rory Farrell *Joe Deckz * Paul McDevitt * Caroline McDermott * Rosemary Herraghty * Colm Ferriter * Jean Curran * Kevin Furey

Daytime schedule

Evening schedule

References

External links

Official website

JNLR listenersip summary

– RTÉ article {{coord missing, County Donegal Adult contemporary radio stations in Ireland Contemporary hit radio stations in Ireland Country radio stations in Ireland Mass media in Letterkenny News and talk radio stations in Ireland Radio stations in Ireland Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland