Radio Kerry is a full-service, licensed

radio 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 transmit ...

station that operates from the franchise area of

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

in Southwest

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Radio Kerry was established in 1989 and began broadcasting on 14 July 1990. The station headquarters are in

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County ...

, the principal town of

, with a remote studio in

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Castl ...

. The original studios were based at Park View, Tralee, New Street, Killarney and The Barracks, Cahersiveen. In April 1995, Radio Kerry HQ moved to a custom-designed building in Tralee town centre with digital

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

, production and editing facilities incorporating a television studio. Shortly afterwards, the station moved its Killarney studio to Rock View, off High Street, Killarney and the Cahersiveen studio was re-located to the O'Connell Centre in the town. Today, there are approximately 70 people employed at the station in

full-time Full-time or Full Time may refer to: * Full-time job, employment in which a person works a minimum number of hours defined as such by their employer * Full-time mother, a woman whose work is running or managing her family's home * Full-time fat ...

part-time Part-time can refer to: * Part-time job, a job that has fewer hours a week than a full-time job * Part-time student, a student, usually in higher education, who takes fewer course credits than a full-time student * Part Time Part Time (styliz ...

and

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

positions.

Broadcast

Radio Kerry broadcasts 24 hours a day, with a mix of live music and talk programmes between 7 am and 11 pm daily and music through the night from 1 am to 7 am. Many programmes are also broadcast from Radio Kerry's Killarney studio. The station broadcasts on five frequencies - 96.2, 96.6, 97.0, 97.2 and 97.6 MHz FM stereo throughout the county of Kerry. The station can also be picked up in parts of the surrounding counties of

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

and Clare. The RDS PS (identification) is simply "Kerry". The station streams live online using the Windows Media Audio, aacPlus and MP3 formats. It was available on the DAB trial which was available in Dublin City and County and parts of the greater North East region. The multiplex which carried it was using a frequency licensed for all of Ireland. The trial ceased operating on Monday 1 December 2008. Radio Kerry had an audience market share of 54% of all radio listeners in Kerry.

Frequencies

Development

In March 1999, Radio Kerry introduced an Outside Broadcast Unit which enabled the station to broadcast from towns and villages all over the county. In early 2005, the 6 broadcasting studios at Radio Kerry's Tralee Headquarters underwent a complete refurbishment. Also around this time there was a major investment to upgrade facilities at all 6 transmission sites. In June 2005, the new Radio Kerry Killarney studios were opened at Glebe Lane in the town. In September 2005, Radio Kerry completed the acquisition of

Shannonside Northern Sound Shannonside Northern Sound is a dual radio franchise which operates across counties Cavan, Monaghan (Northern Sound Radio), Leitrim, Longford and Roscommon (Shannonside FM) in Ireland. It has a 46.9% market share. History Shannonside FM a ...

. This gave the Radio Kerry group access to the counties of

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who built ...

& South Leitrim through the Shannonside FM service and the counties of

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

and

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7 ...

through the Northern Sound Radio service. Shannonside FM broadcast on 95.7, 97.2, 104.1, and 104.6 MHz. Northern Sound broadcast on 94.8, 96.3 and 97.5 MHz. Shannonside and Northern Sound have studios in Longford, Cavan and Monaghan and also stream live online using the Windows Media Audio format. As a result, the Radio Kerry group is now the largest independent radio group in Ireland. Radio Kerry's share of the commercial radio

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

in Ireland stands at 11 %. The maximum market share allowed in

by a single radio company is 17.9 %. Early 2007 saw the introduction of a brand new outside broadcast unit. It contains the very latest in digital broadcasting and IP technology which allows programmes to be transmitted over PSTN, ISDN and satellite.

Awards and recognition

Radio Kerry's programme presenters and producers have been awarded

Jacob's Awards The Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

PPI Radio Advertising Awards for commercial production, ESB

Community Games Aldi Community Games is an Irish independent voluntary organisation and National Governing Body providing opportunities for children and young people to grow and develop in a positive and healthy way while experiencing a wide range of sporting and ...

Awards for consistent commitment to community games reportage and McNamee Awards for its sports programmes. It has also received a BT award for technical innovation. In October 2005, Radio Kerry was named BCI/ Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Limited (PPI) Irish Local Station of the Year. Radio Kerry has also been named Local Radio Station of the Year in 2007 and 2010. In December 2005, it received 1st place in the 2005 BCI New Adventures in Broadcasting Awards for the "Keys To The Kingdom" programme series which focused on the uniqueness of being from County Kerry. In October 2006, the Radio Kerry Sports Team were awarded a PPI Radio Award for Sports Coverage, in particular the way which All Ireland Gaelic Football Campaign of 2005 was brought to the listeners.

Radio Kerry Training

Radio Kerry Training was established in September 2005. It designs and delivers targeted training packages for the radio sector and plays a role in identifying and developing new talent for entry-level positions in the industry. Primarily, Radio Kerry Training delivers the

City and Guilds of London Institute The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies – to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has ...

Diploma in Media Techniques 7501 (Radio Production)

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

course, run in conjunction with FÁS - Ireland's Training and Development Authority.

Charity

Among other projects, the Radio Kerry Bingo supports four charities.

Sister Station

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord missing, County Kerry Adult contemporary radio stations in Ireland Mass media in County Kerry News and talk radio stations in Ireland Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland