Raidió Fáilte (; meaning "Welcome Radio") is an

Irish-language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the ...

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popula ...

station, broadcasting from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, 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 ...

. It started broadcasting under its current licence on 15 September 2006 having operated as a

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

station for some time prior to that. The station can be heard on 107.1 FM in the Belfast area, and online through a live stream on the station's website. It is broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week and was broadcast from the cultural centre Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich on the Falls Road for several years and subsequently from The Twin Spires Centre on Northumberland Street off the

Falls Road, Belfast The Falls Road () is the main road through West Belfast, Northern Ireland, running from Divis Street in Belfast City Centre to Andersonstown in the suburbs. The name has been synonymous for at least a century and a half with the Catholic com ...

. In October 2018 the station moved to a state-of-the-art new building on the junction of the Falls Road and the Westlink motorway.

History

Raidió Fáilte began airing on a part-time basis from Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich in the 1990s. Raidió Fáilte was re-launched in

Belfast City Hall Belfast City Hall ( ga, Halla na Cathrach Bhéal Feirste; Ulster-Scots: ''Bilfawst Citie Haw'') is the civic building of Belfast City Council located in Donegall Square, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It faces North and effectively divides the comm ...

on 15 September 2006 when Station Manager Fergus Ó hÍr introduced guest speakers Ferdia Mac an Fhailigh, Chief Executive of

Foras na Gaeilge (, " Irish Institute"; ) is a public body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the island of Ireland, including both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was set up on 2 December 1999, assuming the role ...

, and Bob Collins, Commissioner of the Equality Commission. A recorded message from the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...

welcoming the launch of Raidió Fáilte was played at the start of broadcasting.

Programming

Programmes are aimed at the Irish-speaking community in Belfast. A mixture of

traditional Irish music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

, rock and world music and can be heard, together with current affairs and sports coverage and chat. Special programmes relating to

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church services through the medium of Irish have also been broadcast.

References

* * * * *

External links

Official website
Former pirate radio stations Radio stations in Northern Ireland Community radio stations in Ireland Mass media in Belfast Radio stations established in 2006 Irish-language radio stations 2006 establishments in Northern Ireland {{Europe-radio-station-stub

History

Programming

See also

References

External links