RTÉ to mark 100 Years with special broadcasts live from the GPO this Thursday, January 15
Live broadcasts from RTÉ 2FM Breakfast with Carl, Roz & Aisling, RTÉ Radio 1 Today with David McCullagh, RTÉ lyric fm’s The Full Score, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta Tús Áite and RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena
This year, RTÉ is marking 100 years of public broadcasting in Ireland with a year-long series of special broadcasts, projects and performances, celebrating the history while also looking to the future of public service media.
The centenary year will be officially launched on Thursday 15 January, with live broadcasts from the GPO in Dublin beginning at 6am and finishing at 8pm. The GPO is a special place for this celebration as it was the transmission location for Irish radio from 1928 and was the building that housed Radio Éireann until 1976.
The first broadcast took place right around the corner on Little Denmark Street.
At 7.45pm on 1st January 1926, the precursor to RTÉ, then 2RN, delivered the fledgling new Irish state’s first public radio transmission. From those first crackling transmissions to the wide range of audio, video and social media services which are now part of daily life, for 100 years, public service media has remained a trusted and essential voice in Irish life. Across that century RTÉ, in its guises as 2RN, Radio Éireann, Teilifís Éireann and latterly RTÉ, has been at the centre of Irish life, informing, engaging and entertaining the nation across an expanding range of services.
For a century, RTÉ, as Ireland’s national public service broadcaster – and more recently, with the expansion of its services beyond radio and television broadcasting, as Ireland’s national public service media organisation – has helped shape our national identity, telling our stories, good and bad, in English and in Irish, celebrating our achievements, supporting creative talent and bringing people together for important national moments – cultural, political and sporting – and preserving these valuable shared memories.
Programming this Thursday will be broadcast, in English and in Irish, across RTÉ 2FM, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ lyric fm and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, bringing listeners together to mark this historic milestone.
RTÉ 2FM Breakfast, with Carl, Roz & Aisling will kick-start the day live from the GPO, with their own signature take on Irish events from the last 100 years.
RTÉ Radio 1 Today with David McCullagh will take over at 9am and will feature panel discussions on Irish history, society, sport and music with leading voices from across public life including GAA President, Jarlath Burns, music presenters Dave Fanning and Jenny Greene, Professor of modern Irish history Diarmuid Ferriter, Dublin South Central Historian-in-Residence, Cathy Scuffil and Archivist and author Catriona Crowe. The programme will also include reflections on the evolution of radio advertising and live music from The Henry Girls, Zoe Conway and John McIntyre.
RTÉ lyric fm’s The Full Score with Liz Nolan will mark the centenary with a special programme featuring the Army No. 1 Band, who played the first music heard on 2RN. Tenor Gavan Ring joins them for a number of songs, including two which were performed during that first 1926 broadcast. The symmetry with the original broadcast continues as harpist Aisling Lyons plays music from the era alongside contemporary compositions. Guest speakers include Mairéad Delaney, archivist with The Abbey Theatre, who will illustrate arts life in Ireland in the 1920s and 1930s and Lieutenant Colonel Fergal Carroll, director of the Irish Defence Forces School of Music, on the role of the School and its bands, past and present, as ambassadors for Ireland.
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Tús Áite, presented by Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, will take over from 5pm. The programme will include conversations about the history of the broadcasting service, a look through the archives and special guests will share their memories of Irish radio, including the historian Iarfhlaith Watson, an expert on national identity and Irish-language broadcasting. Doireann Ní Bhriain will share her memories of visiting her mother Neasa Ní Annracháin’s workplace, Raidió Éireann as a child, as well as her own career in radio and drama. Ian Lee will reflect on his experience as a radio producer and presenter in Donnybrook, and Síle Ní Bhaoill will recall stories from the control room, major landmark broadcasts and her experience as a pioneering woman in sound engineering among men.
RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena will mark the centenary with a special programme, featuring live music from piper Louise Mulcahy, and Paul Noonan and Brian Crosby, formerly of Bell X1 but now performing as Pilgrim. Arena will also explore writing and the enduring relationship between artists and radio as a creative and cultural space with Booker Prize winning novelist Paul Lynch, Walter Scott Prize winning novelist Christine Dwyer Hickey and Oscar nominated filmmaker Colm Bairéad.
Morning, lunchtime and afternoon RTÉ Weather forecasts will also be broadcast live from the GPO. In addition to the normal forecast, we’ll also get an insight into what the forecast was this day 100 years ago.
Listen live on Thursday, January 15 across RTÉ radio stations and listen back on the RTÉ Radio Player.
Running across the rest of this year, RTÉ will mark this centenary by presenting a curated programme of content across our services as well as special performances and outreach initiatives from the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
-ENDS-
Date: 13 January 2026