Listeners in the UK can receive RTÉ Radio 1 across most of the country on 252kHz Long Wave. The Irish broadcaster planned to shutdown the service on long wave in 2017, but this has been put back to June 2019. RTÉ said the long wave service would be closing due to its high cost and the relatively small number of listeners.
Whilst RTÉ Radio 1 does broadcast on digital radio in Ireland, it’s not available on DAB Digital Radio in the UK. Our research has not found any portable radios which can receive DAB Digital Radio and which would also be able to tune to 252kHz Long Wave.
There are several ways to listen to Radio 1 in the UK:
- RTÉ’s radio stations are available in the UK via satellite, with Freesat, Sky or a free-to-air receiver. Radio 1 can be found on EPG channel 0160 on Sky and 750 on Freesat.
- RTÉ services can be found in the TuneIn and Irish Radioplayer internet radio smartphone apps. The RTÉ Radio Player app also offers live and on-demand radio programmes.
- Radio manufacturers Pure and Roberts offer digital radios which can also stream online radio stations. If you have broadband and wifi at home you could replace your long wave radio with one which receives DAB, FM and online stations.
A radio which includes internet radio stations would also offer access to 2fm, Raidió na Gaeltachta and Lyric FM, as well as some digital-only stations. It’s also possible to listen to Today FM, Newstalk, 98FM and other Irish stations.
This answer was updated in 2017 to reflect the new date for closure of the long wave service.