North Connemara Community Radio believes it is different from pirate stations but is still waiting to be granted a broadcast licence.
Over a two month period the North Connemara Community Radio Group broadcast from a studio in the Connemara West Centre in Letterfrack, with a final broadcast on 31 December 1988.
The radio station was established by the local co-operative with £12,000 of equipment and a team of volunteers. It saw itself very much different from a pirate station as it specialised in collecting local folk music and culture as well as providing a platform listeners.
Mary Ruddy says the North Connemara Community Radio Group has a fully equipped studio with trained volunteers anxious to get back on the air legally.
The group is calling on the Independent Radio and Television Authority (IRTC) to give greater priority to setting up small neighbourhood radio stations. It is disappointed that no date has yet been fixed for the assessment of community licence applications.
Leo Hallissey of the North Connemara Community Radio Group says because local community is so scattered, there is a great need for the station and a licence, even if it does not make a huge commercial return.
It’s to do with the small voice which a unique voice of the west coast different to anything else that’s on the airwaves, it’s a certain degree of healthy navel gazing and also a nurturing of local culture.
He fears that a small community can become marginalised and as the North Connemara Community Radio Group is not offering a commercial viable project their voices are in danger of being lost.
It is easy to forget something very rich and rare that is in this community.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 19 December 1989. The reporter is Jim Fahy.
