UNESCO World Radio Day – 13th February

UNESCO World Radio Day was celebrated very successfully in the offices of Raidió Fáilte, the Belfast based Irish language radio station. The Minister of Culture Arts and Leisure from the Parliament in the north of Ireland, Carál Ní Chuilín opened the day with a speech to almost 100 guests in the Raidio Fáilte offices including 60 senior students from the local schools, Irish language and other organisations and representatives of the Irish language media.  The minister, the students and other guests toured the Raidió Fáilte offices studios and took part in live broadcasts. In the afternoon a large group of Irish speakers were present for the a broadcast of the popular ‘Ronan Beo’ program which is normally broadcast on the national Irish language radio station Raidió na Gaeltachta, but for this occasion it was broadcast from the Raidió Fáilte studios and was jointly broadcast on Raidió Na Gaeltachta throughout the Ireland of Ireland, on Raidió Fáilte in Belfast, on Raidió na Life and Near FM in Dublin as well as on the European Broadcast Union. Presenters from Raidió Fáilte, Raidió na Lífe and Raidió Fáilte were in the studio for the joint broadcast, the first time ever that Ireland’s three Irish language stations made a joint broadcast. Overall the event sparked great interest and excitement amongst the large group who attended the event and has produced very positive responses amongst those who were listening to the coverage on the radio. Many of the young people present expressed an interest in getting involved in radio broadcasting activities and with other sections of the Irish language media. Raidió na Gaeltachta, Raidió na Life and Near FM were involved and took part in the day.