RTÉ News item about the opening of the station. Breandán Ó hEithir's report includes footage of Pádraic Ó Raghallaigh, a blessing at the station's first studio in Casla, and Raidío na Gaeltachta's first outside broadcast, a mass celebrated at St MacDara's Church in An Cheathrú Rua.

Raidió na Gaeltachta began broadcasting from its main studio at Casla in Conamara on Easter Sunday, 2 April 1972. Pádraic Ó Raghallaigh was the first head of the Irish language national radio service.

Two other studios at Baile na nGall in Kerry and na Doirí Beaga in Donegal were in use within the first year.

Three VHF transmitters (at Maghera in Clare, Truskmore in Sligo and Mullaghanish in Cork) and one local MF transmitter ensured that the service was available to all Gaeltacht areas in the west of Ireland.

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