Listeners choose 'O'Donnell Abú as the identification tune signal for the Irish national station.
Over several days in February 1936, Twenty tunes were played for listeners to Radio Athlone. The purpose was to let the listeners select a suitable identification tune signal for the Irish national station. By a large majority, the tune selected was 'O'Donnell Abú'.
In all, 968 letters were received. There were 260 votes for 'O'Donnell Abú'. This was by far the highest number of votes. The second favourite tune was 'Fáinne Geal an Lae' with 151 votes. 'The Blackbird' received 88 votes, 'My Lagan Love', 58, and 'Brian Boru's March', 52.
Dr T.J. Kiernan, Director of Broadcasting, placed an order with a German firm to have the electrical device for recording the signal installed. Wavebands were crowded and electrical interference was a common problem, which meant that these "tuning signals" were very useful for finding a station at a time when Radio Athlone was on air for only part of the day.
'O'Donnell Abú' remains the station identification signal for RTÉ and can be heard each morning at 05.30 on RTÉ Radio 1, just before the daytime programmes begin.
Listen here to 'O'Donnell Abú'.
Title: |
'O'Donnell Abú' |
Clip Duration: |
00:41:00 |
Material Type: |
Audio |
Clip Title: |
'O'Donnell Abú' Becomes 2RN Station Identification Signal 1936 |
Information: |
The image accompanying this clip is taken from the television documentary 'A Road 50 Years Long' broadcast 22 April 1976. |
Local Keywords: |
O'Donnell Abú, Music, Radio Athlone, 2RN, RTÉ, Broadcasting, Radio, 1930s |
Coverage: |
Ireland |
Topic: |
The Media |
Publisher: |
RTÉ |
First Broadcast Channel: |
2RN |
Production Year: |
1936 |
Country of Production: |
Ireland |
IPR Restrictions: |
Rights Reserved - Free Access |
Rights, Terms and Conditions: |
Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives. If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us. RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us. |
Item Type: |
part/extract |
Sound: |
Mono |
