RTÉ Radio

Sunday December 18th

The Irish Experience (11pm)
Paschal Mooney visits the Irish Centre in Manchester for a pre-Christmas celebration of music and chat with the Irish Diaspora, both old and new.

The Curious Ear: Lumps of Coal (7.45pm)
Adults complain that, when they were children, bold kids still got presents. In this Curious Ear, children tell stories of boldness at Christmas, and Clíona O'Carroll from UCC Folklore tells scarifying tales from European Christmas traditions.

Wednesday December 21th

The John Murray Show Music Special (9am)
RTÉ Radio 1 broadcasts a John Murray Show Music Special featuring The Coronas, Wallis Bird, The Lost Brothers, Jack L, Sharon Shannon amongst others. Expect Christmas Carols as you've never heard them before from some of Ireland's best loved performers and rising talent.

Saturday December 24th

Countrywide Christmas Breakfast (8.10am)
A bright start to the Christmas weekend as Damien O'Reilly and the CountryWide team feature the events, people and happenings that bring colour and life to communities, towns and villages across the country.

Joe Duffy's Christmas Special live from Grafton Street (9am)
Join Joe Duffy for his traditional Christmas Eve broadcast live from Dublin's Grafton Street. On the programme, Joe and the Funny Friday crew will be joined by the Hallelujah Gospel Choir, singer/songwriter Eoin Glackin, and Dublin band the Delerentos.

A Junior Christmas (1pm)
Kenny Heffernan visits Glendeer Farm in Westmeath to learn all about reindeer; Seven-year-old Ellie Kenny reports from the streets of Dublin at Christmas time; and we hear from school children in Co. Offaly who talk about what Christmas means to them. Perfect listening for parents and children together. Presented by Daráine Mulvihill. This programme is a simulcast with RTÉ's dedicated children's digital radio station, RTÉjr Radio.

Documentary on One: The Reindeer Left Behind (1.30pm)
Over the course of the night of Christmas Eve 2010, an incredible series of events took place involving Santa Claus, his six reindeers, and the Mulready family who live on a remote farm outside New Ross, Co. Wexford.

Mooney with Santa (2pm)
Join Derek Mooney and Santa as he prepares for his epic journey around the world.

Driving Home for Christmas with Maxi (5.15pm)
As the last preparations are made, presents wrapped and journeys almost completed, Maxi takes us home with music, chat and travel news and also keeps on eye on Santa's progress from the North Pole.

The Documentary on One: Logan Way (7pm)
As the last preparations are made, presents wrapped and journeys almost completed, Maxi takes us home with music, chat and travel news and also keeps on eye on Santa's progress from the North Pole.

The Curious Ear: Star Boy (7.45pm)
Joe Brennan brings the story of Star Boy and his cool toy box to the stage for children at An Grianán Theatre, recording during the Earagail Arts Festival 2011.

Poetry of the Nativity (8pm)

Christmas Gala Concert with The Three Sopranos (9pm)
Celine Byrne, Regina Nathan and Cara O'Sullivan, three of Ireland's foremost sopranos, share the stage for the first time, with favourite operatic arias and ensemble pieces, seasonal carols, sacred and Christmas songs, festive orchestral music, and a performance of The Night before Christmas, narrated by actor and Après Match star, Risteárd Cooper. In association with the RTÉ NSO.

Midnight Mass (11pm)
Fr. Richard Sheehy celebrates mass from the Parish Church of Rathmines, Co. Dublin.

Sunday December 25th

Cathal Murray's Christmas (6am)
A bright start to the Christmas weekend as Damien O'Reilly and the CountryWide team feature the events, people and happenings that bring colour and life to communities, towns and villages across the country.

A Christmas Irish Voice with Brendan Balfe (8am)
Drawing on multiple sources and archives, Brendan Balfe presents a seasonal entertainment of words and music from Irish artists and performers.

Christmas Miscellany (9am)
This edition of the programme, a seasonal collaboration with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, was recorded recently at The National Concert Hall. Guest contributors include Paul Durcan, Christine Dywer Hickey, Rita Ann Higgins, Julie Feeney and Paddy Moloney.

Christmas Morning Mass (10am)
Christmas Day mass from St. Andrew's Church,Westland Row, Dublin. The celebrant is Fr. John Gilligan. Jean Monaghan leads the Westland Row Choir.

Christmas Day Service(10.50am)
A Service for Christmas Day from Cloughjordan Methodist Church, Co Tipperary, led by Rev Brian Griffin.

Christmas Message (1pm)
Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Alan Harper, the Catholic and Church of Ireland Primates of All Ireland, offer a Christmas message of hope and inspiration.

Mooney Tunes (1.15pm)
A special edition of the Mooney Show's award-winning concert series. Derek is joined by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at the Grand Canal Theatre with a mix of listener's choices and special guests.

About Mary (3pm)
A documentary about the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Man Who Knew Bing Crosby (4pm)
Ronan Collins talks to George O'Reilly, the Irishman Bing Crosby befriended and hears amazing stories of a friendship that lasted over twenty years.

Christmas Country with Sandy Harsch (7pm)
The origins of country music are in cowboy and western songs and in the isolated hills and hollers of the Appalachiens. Many of the songs they would sing would simply be country versions of the traditional carols, but songs were also written country style to honour the season like 'Christmas Time's A-comin'. Country Time's Christmas Special will feature music from both traditions.

Drama on One: The Hit List by John Boorman (8pm)
Brendan Gleeson and Stephen Rea star in this waspish skit written and directed by John Boorman. The celebrated director of Deliverance and Excalibur wipes the smile off the face of a toothless Celtic tiger as two white knights (and members of Mensa, Ireland) begin to blackmail the bankrupt betters who brought us here. Starring Brendan Gleeson, Stephen Rea, Emmet Bergin, Angeline Ball, Phelim Drew, Susan Fitzgerald, Kate Minogue, Bosco Hogan, Gerard Byrne, Enda Oates, Clelia Murphy, Lorna Quinn, Mary Kelly with Frankie, Quincy, Charlotte and JJ McNamara.

Miles Davis: Looking Back (10pm)
Donald Helme and Rock Fox look back at the life and music of the iconic American trumpet player and jazz genius Miles Davis who died 20 years ago this year.

Monday December 26th

Legacies with Joe Duffy (9am)
Garret Fitzgerald, Amy Winehouse, Steve Jobs and Osama Bin Laden - just some of the significant Irish and international figures who passed away this year and whose legacies will be discussed by Joe Duffy and guests this St. Stephens' Day on RTÉ Radio 1.

Irish Pictorial Boatly (1.30pm)
A show from a floating studio featuring comedy sketches by an all-star ensemble including Barry Murphy, Gary Cooke and Paul Howard.

Behind the Lines with Paul Williams (9pm)
Niall Toner gets behind the music and the man in an interview with Paul Williams recorded in front of an audience at the National Concert Hall. We find out about the man whose music made The Carpenters famous.

Tuesday December 27th

Before Your Time (1.30pm)
A quiz show hosted by Kathyrn Thomas. 15 young people born in 1989 or after, with each group representing a college, have to answer questions based on events that happened before they were born.Making life more difficult for them will be our resident panel of three senior citizens all over 60 including Barry Devlin, Ruth Buchanan and Shay Healy.

Mooney(3pm)
In this Mooney special, Abba aficionados Paul G Sheridan and Martin Jones travel to Stockholm on a musical pilgrimage to the home of the supergroup Abba

Pat Kenny's Live Music of the Year (2pm)
Pat Kenny presents some of the live music guests he has had in over the past year. From Tír na nÓg to Christy Moore and Barbra Dickson to The Secret Sisters - there are over 58 acts to choose from. Join Pat to see who made it into his Christmas stocking.

High Fidelity (10pm)
Two of Ireland's most talented stage performers, Jack L and Julie Feeney, join forces on radio with High Fidelity, a sound-map of recorded song from Thomas Edison to the iPod, from Tin Pan Alley to X-Factor. First broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm.

Wednesday December 28th

2011's Final Partings (2pm)
Baker St; Back To Black; Born Free. Just three undying pieces of music left to us by people who, sadly, we lost in the past year - Gerry Rafferty, Amy Winehouse and John Barry. In "2011's Final Partings", Jim Lockhart and guests look back on these and other voices that passed on in 2011.

Mooney(3pm)
In this Mooney special, Brenda Donohue joins Derek Mooney to relive her 24 hr 30 min Guinness World Record on the Dublin Revolver.

Thursday December 29th

Bluegrass Special: From Rathgar to Rosine - A Pilgrimage to find Bill Monroe (2pm)
A one-hour Radio Documentary presented by Niall Toner, and produced by Aidan Butler, which tells about a journey from Rathgar in Dublin to Rosine in Kentucky to try and unlock some of the mystery behind the enigma and the genius that was Bill Monroe, the Father Of Bluegrass Music.

Friday December 30th

Ten Years of Other Voices (2pm)