The Radio Centre is Irish broadcaster

Raidió Teilifís Éireann Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...

's main production and control centre for their national radio networks. The building is located on the

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

campus at Donnybrook in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. Construction of the building commenced in June 1969 and was completed in April 1971.

History

Since 1928 Irish radio, (

Radio Éireann Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

), had been housed in the

GPO GPO may refer to: Government and politics * General Post Office, Dublin * General Post Office, in Britain * Social Security Government Pension Offset, a provision reducing benefits * Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a Thai state enterpris ...

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections ...

, in the centre of Dublin, in cramped and unsuitable accommodation. With the imminent arrival of television, a site was acquired in 1960 for the building of a television production centre in South Dublin. (see

RTÉ Television Centre The RTÉ Television Centre is a television studio building which is owned by Ireland's national public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. It is part of the RTÉ campus located at Donnybrook in South Dublin. The building houses th ...

) From the beginning it was the intention that the radio service should also join television on a broadcasting campus at Donnybrook. However it was not until the late 1960s that the detailed planning and construction began that would accommodate on-site a new centre for radio production. Once construction of the building had finished in April 1971 the phased move from the GPO began, but it was not until September 1973 that the first live broadcast was made from the Radio Centre. By May 1974 all broadcasting from the GPO had ceased, and RTÉ radio had become firmly ensconced in its new purpose-built home at Donnybrook.

Building

The building is on two floors, above ground are the various programme offices, and below ground covering a greater area are the studios, thirteen in all. The studios have been built underground for greater soundproofing. The largest, Studio 1, is 340sq metres and at 10m high it reaches to the top of building. This studio was designed for live orchestral performances and other large productions, and incorporates an elevated audience seating area. The other twelve studios are grouped around studio 1 and a small courtyard which extends up through the building giving daylight to the below ground corridors and control rooms. The courtyard contains a bust of

Seán Ó Riada Seán Ó Riada (; born John Reidy; 1 August 1931 – 3 October 1971), was an Irish composer and arranger of Irish traditional music. Through his incorporation of modern and traditional techniques he became the single most influential figur ...

a former assistant director of

. As well as the studios and their respective control rooms the subterranean floor of the building contains a Master Control Room, switching racks, computer servers, and tape archives. From this building emanates most of RTÉ's radio output on two national channels

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

, and

RTÉ 2fm (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

, as well as a number of digital radio channels available online. RTÉ's two other national radio channels are broadcast from outside Dublin. Classical music station

RTÉ Lyric FM RTÉ Lyric FM (stylised as RTÉ lyric fm) is an Irish classical-music and arts radio station, owned and operated by RTÉ. The station, which is based in Limerick, was launched in 1999 and is available on FM throughout Ireland (in some areas a ...

is based in Limerick city, and Irish language station

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (; "Radio of the Gaeltacht"), abbreviated RnaG, is an Irish language radio station owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The station is available on FM in Ireland and via satellite and on the Intern ...

is based in Casla, County Galway. All news bulletins on radio still come from a studio in the Television Centre where the main newsroom is situated, this allows for convenient access to both the radio and television news studios.

Future development

In 2009 RTÉ announced its long-term plans for the redevelopment of the entire Donnybrook site, including the Television Centre and the Radio Centre. The project envisages the gradual replacement over a ten to fifteen-year period of most of the current 1960s and 1970s buildings on the Donnybrook site with a purpose-built modern building complex designed for the digital and high-definition age.

References

External links

fybush.com: RTÉ Radio Centre, Dublin, Ireland 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:RTÉ Radio Centre Raidió Teilifís Éireann Buildings and structures in Dublin (city)