RTÉ Statement: Longwave
Essential maintenance and interruption to Longwave service
The transmission equipment to enable the broadcast of the Longwave (LW) service has been in continuous operation for over 29 years. It now requires urgent attention.
Having made the commitment to sustain the service, and while other long term alternative solutions continue to be explored, RTÉ has to undertake significant remedial works on elements of the transmission equipment, mainly the antenna/mast, which will guarantee the continuance of the LW service for a minimum of further two years. Given the height of the mast this work has to happen now in advance of the winter.
In order to facilitate this essential maintenance, and to ensure the safety of those undertaking the work, the Longwave service will go off air on Wednesday 4th September and Thursday 5th September 2019, from 9.30am until 4.30pm.
This initial outage is to facilitate the preparatory work for a subsequent more extensive and essential body of work to maintain this service. This larger body of maintenance work will be carried out between Tuesday 10th September and Thursday 17th October.
During both of these times, RTÉ Radio 1 will not be available via LW.
RTÉ is communicating this information to LW service listeners on RTÉ Radio 1 LW, and advising them of the various alternatives currently available, which include RTÉ’s online services, apps and the RTÉ Radio Player and through Virgin, SKY and Freesat on televisions.
We remain mindful of the role that RTÉ plays in keeping Irish people in the UK and beyond informed and connected with home. Whilst the temporary suspension of service is necessary, we are confident that this investment will help to sustain the LW service for the medium term.
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