Friday June 21st, 2024 marks the 9th National Community Radio Day (NCRD) in Ireland. It’s the day when CRAOL – Community Radio Forum of Ireland – and its member stations across Ireland celebrate and recognise the work and commitment of members, volunteers and staff involved in this diverse and grassroot sector of the media.

Hosted by Raidió Corca Baiscinn, based in Kilkee Co Clare, this year’s National Community Radio Day theme is Access for All and will promote and celebrate volunteering and involvement in Community Radio especially by people who are gender diverse and persons with different abilities.

With a mix of live guests, pre-recorded interviews and live music, hosted by Raidió Corca Baiscinn with participation of community radio stations from the Craol network, this event will be broadcast live from Elliott Centre in Kilkee, Co Clare, between 11am and 5pm on Friday June 21st.

“Raidió Corca Baiscinn are delighted to have been chosen to host the 2024 NCRD and we promise a lively and packed 6 hours of broadcasting, with great guests and music. Community Radio Stations across Ireland promote and represent the communities they serve broadcasting content that is relevant to their areas, providing employment and volunteering opportunities and empowering individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own stories, to share experiences and, to become creators and contributors of media. Community Radio Delivers Social Benefits to their communities and Raidió Corca Baiscinn is committed to this” said Station Manager Máiréad O’Higgins Finnegan.

The CRAOL network comprises 21 fully licensed and 15 developing Community Radio stations. This special National Community Radio Day programme will be available to all Community Radio Stations to broadcast.

Community Radios aim to promote social inclusion, community cohesion and engagement, and to empower and support community broadcasters nationwide to deliver a Social Benefit to their communities, through active volunteerism, shared resources, good governance, diverse content, partnership and networking.

National Community Radio Day is supported by Coimisiún na Meán.

Some photograph’s of our epic outside broadcast live local election count in conjuction with Scariff Bay Radio from the West County Hotel over last weekend , the 8th and 9th June. Congratulations to all successful candidates.

Raidió na Life wins ‘RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR’ at the Celtic Media Festival 2024!
Raidió na Life has won the prestigious ‘Radio Station of the Year’ award at the Celtic Media Awards 2024 in Cardiff, the second time the station has won the award in the past three years.
Raidió na Life won the highly competitive category in which it was nominated side by side with 9 other stations this year: 6 BBC radio stations: BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, BBC Radio Cymru; Galicia’s Radio Galega; along with our friends at RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Raidió Fáilte.
Muiris Ó Fiannachta, Radio na Life Station Manager, said:
“It is a huge source of pride for us to win Radio Station of the Year at the Celtic Media Festival 2024 in Cardiff, especially as it comes on the heels of us winning the award in Quimper in Britanny two years ago, in 2022.
As we compete with big stations with huge resources behind them, we are incredibly proud of this achievement. We are so happy that the judges recognised that there is something special going on at Raidió na Life – the energy, the diversity, the vibrancy, the innovation, the fun and the spirit of our station; the wonderful programmes and the a wide selection of content which we broadcast to the Irish-speaking community, not only in the greater Dublin area, where we can be heard on 106.4FM, but nationwide and worldwide on www.raidionalife.ie.
This is fantastic recognition for the creative, energetic work done by our brilliant team of volunteers in Raidió na Life. It’s also a great boost to and a huge vote of confidence in our wonderful staff who perform small miracles every day, keeping the show on the road and the station on the air. When you consider that there are more staff working on some programmes on some of the other stations we competed with this year than there are working in Raidió na Life in its entirety, this truly is a huge achievement by the Raidió na Life team and I cannot praise them enough.”
Notes for the Editor:
Raidió na Life won the award for Radio Station of the Year at the Celtic Media Festival for the first time in Swansea in 2013, the first time in the history of the festival that a community radio station won the award, and again in 2022 in Quimper, Brittany. This is the third time that Raidió na Life has won the award.
Raidió na Life is a non-profit community radio station broadcasting from the heart of the capital in Dublin 1, on Amiens Street. Thanks to funding from Foras na Gaeilge, a small team of three full-time and two part-time employees are employed at the station. The station has broadcasting and training facilities that allow over 100 volunteer broadcasters – both young and old – to prepare and present radio programmes every week. People are given the opportunity to learn and develop broadcasting skills, increase their self-confidence, and practice and improve their Irish in a fun and enjoyable environment.
About Raidió na Life:
Raidió na Life has been providing an Irish-language community radio service for the greater Dublin area on an educational and community basis since 1993. The station receives financial support from Foras na Gaeilge through its Community Radio Scheme and from Coimisiún na Meán through its Sound & Vision scheme. A small team of three full-time and two part-time staff work at the station.
The broadcasters work on a voluntary basis, with around 100 people taking part every week. The station also has a voluntary Board of Directors. Hundreds of broadcasters have gained broadcasting experience in Raidió na Life for more than thirty years, among them, some of the best-known broadcasters in the country, both television and radio stars – Sharon Ní Bheoláin, Cormac Ó hEadhra, Aedín Gormley, Colm Ó Mongáin, Tristan Rosenstock, Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Barbara Nic Dhonnchadha, Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, Sinéad Crowley and many many more.
The station is renowned for the high quality of its talk programmes which cater for a wide range of age groups & special interests among Irish speakers and is also recognised for its eclectic range of music. More information about Raidió na Life is available on www.raidionalife.ie

East meets West for the election countdown!
RCB and Scariff Bay Community Radio will be bringing you coverage of the Clare election results Live Streamed from Ennis throughout the afternoon starting from 3:00PM this Saturday June 8th, Tune in to us on 92.5 or 94.8 fm, or listen live on-line on Computer, tablet or Phone from the RCB.ie homepage.