Radio in the Republic of Ireland
The earliest known radio broadcast in Ireland took place on 6 July 1898, when Marconi set up a wireless telegraphy link between Rathlin Island and Ballycastle.
The station conducted the first successful transmission of the first commercial wireless messages across the Atlantic Ocean between Clifden and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada.
A Morse code transmission on 24 April 1916 from the General Post Office in Dublin by the rebels during the Easter Rising is considered the first broadcast in Ireland.
An "international" service, Atlantic 252, also operated on 252kHz long wave between 1989 and 2002, although it was aimed solely at the United Kingdom and Ireland.
This body replaced the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) in 2023 and supervises and regulates RTÉ, commercial Independent National, Regional, and Local Radio stations, as well as the non-profit Community Radio stations, Institutional Services and Temporary Services.
Medium wave (AM) licences were issued for new commercial stations for Limerick and Galway in 2002, although these services never reached the air and were later withdrawn.
During 2006, a group, Choice FM, applied for and received permission to broadcasting on MW in the Dublin area over a period of thirty days.
Raidió Teilifís Éireann and Bauer Media Audio Ireland dominate the national radio broadcasting sector.
The two national commercial stations are both owned by Bauer Media Audio Ireland - Today FM and Newstalk.
The rest of the stations, mostly small services, are generally owned by local businesses, with notable proprietors of stakes including Thomas Crosbie Holdings, the Roman Catholic Church and the Mid Western Area Health Board.
There are 25 commercial stations (Independent Local Radio - ILR) licensed on a regional franchise basis.
Dublin City FM are essentially a community station with specialist traffic reports around rush-hour periods.
The BAI may also issue licenses to institutions, such as hospitals and colleges, for the provision of low-powered FM services.
One such temporary licence station was Sunrise Radio, which broadcast poly-lingual programming in the Dublin area for several months from March 2006.
