Today was going to be the day

Two Five Two

RTE were going to terminate their longwave service, thanks to brave campaigners the service will now continue for at least 20 more years. Ordinary Irish people in Britain 1, Middle class South Dublin Libertarians, Nil.

Ursus Horribilis

Cowardly person who keeps registering new accounts then closing them - 0

Dipole Keith

What a waste of electricity, Who even has Longwave on a radio nowadays, the times have changed, Surely there’s family & friends that can hook the older generation up with listening to RTE radio online

Ursus Horribilis

These "elderly" folk must be about 100 now. I've aunts and uncles in their mid 70s who use smartphones and iPads. One living in UK listens to a local Irish station every day on TuneIn.

Odyssey 2005

Dipole Keith wrote: »

What a waste of electricity, Who even has Longwave on a radio nowadays, the times have changed, Surely there’s family & friends that can hook the older generation up with listening to RTE radio online

2 house radios and two car radios,all four have LW !

JustAThought

Nice to see the older generation being supported. Thank God for the sole.voices of fairness inna wilderness of apathy and digital brutalisation

Ursus Horribilis

I would love to know how many of these "helpless" elderly people in the UK are tuning into longwave.

Former Former

Rational evidence-based decision-making; 0
Serial complainers who've already forgotten about LW; 1

Big away win there.

dxhound2005

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

I would love to know how many of these "helpless" elderly people in the UK are tuning into longwave.

There was research and a survey done in 2016. They seem to have gone to some length to ensure participation. Around 3,200 Irish people in Britain responded. Questioned about their state of health, only a small minority reported it as poor.

https://www.irishinbritain.org/cmsfiles/Images/RTE/FINAL-Exec-Summary-for-uploading-to-website.pdf

ford fiesta

It is not just elderly people that listen to Radio 1 on Long Wave

Guy:Incognito

If anyone should be the deciding factor on RTE policy and how money is spent, it should definitely be people in Britain...............

Harry Palmr

I'm glad they've kept it as it means I can flick from NT on FM to Radio 1 on LW in an instant!

elperello

A lot of those older Irish people in the UK are not well off.
They left this country out of necessity in hard times in the 60's/70's.
It is right that we allow them to have the comfort of some contact with their cultural roots.
They are for the most part not tech savvy and digital solutions are not appropriate for them.

Sleeper12

What a waste of money and bandwidth. Its shocking how our license fees get wasted

I don't believe RTE broadcast anything that isn't available online in the UK. Well not only that, there is much more content online & y don't have to listen to it live if it doesn't suit you.

Ursus Horribilis

Has anybody ever actually come up with figures as to how many of these older people are listening on 252? And more importantly, how many more years does RTE propose to spend money on this farce?

Sleeper12

Ursus Horribilis wrote:

Has anybody ever actually come up with figures as to how many of these older people are listening on 252? And more importantly, how many more years does RTE propose to spend money on this farce?

Age isn't an excuse imo. My mother is in her late 80s and has a laptop for the last 5 years. She's slow typing and searching but she gets there in the end.

I think it's wonderful that Irish people all over the world can avail of RTE Radio online. I haven't even a problem with the younger ones using vpn and watching rte player. The cost of the longwave bugs the hell out of me