Athlone - Broadcasting

Broadcasting

Between 1931 and 1975 the main radio transmission centre for Irish radio was located at Moydrum, Athlone (GC: 53°25′14″N 7°52′52″W / 53.42056°N 7.88111°W / 53.42056; -7.88111). The original call-sign was 2RN (a wordplay on the song "Come back to Erin"). It subsequently became known as "Radio Athlone" and could clearly be heard throughout Europe, and as far as Moscow. This changed as bandwidth allocations were accorded at the Helsinki Declaration.

It operated at a power of 60 kW (further increased to 100 kW in the 1950s). As antenna a T-antenna was and is used, which is spun between two 100 metres tall guyed masts with square cross section and which are insulated against ground. Many old radio sets in Europe had the "Athlone" dial position marked near the end of their tuning scales.

In the late 1970s the station reopened on a new dial position of 612 kHz for "Radio 2" (later known as RTÉ 2fm). Moydrum was also the location of Ireland's short lived Shortwave international radio service that was closed down in 1948 due to lack of money. Today, RTÉ's Midlands studios are located in Athlone, at St. Mary's Square. The local radio station is Midlands 103. Many also tune into Shannonside.

A new radio station i102-104fm has recently been launched. This station will be geared to the 18-34 age group in the midlands and north-east. And again in affirmation of Athlone's broadcasting roots yet another station is about to be launched on a nationwide basis, using the 612 kHz band, with a Christian emphasis.

As well as this the Athlone Community Taskforce and several members of Roscommon community radio station RosFM have begun broadcasting from the Athlone area under the banner of Athlone Community Radio. The first broadcast was 15 March 2008 and was set to run every Saturday and Sunday for the following 15 weeks until the end of the temporary license they received. They received a 10 year licence on 14 January 2011 from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.They broadcast on the frequency of 88.4 FM