CRASH! That, readers, is the sound of Irish radio's Rule 42 going out the window. From next Monday night, Raidió na Gaeltachta will take its first steps down the road to peace and reconciliation with the world beyond the Gaeltacht by playing songs with lyrics in English.
Can we expect bonfires in Doirí Beaga, tickertape parades in Casla and an all-night hooley in Baile na nGall to celebrate the end of the ban? Will grateful pop and indie kids throughout the land throw their ragged copies of Peig in the air to mark this tumultuous event in our little nation's cultural history? Is that the sound of Paddy Pearse spinning in his grave that I can hear over a mournful lament from the massed ranks of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann pipers?
Actually, the station's decision to launch a night-time schedule under the name of Anocht FM is significant for other reasons. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, RTÉ has another dedicated music outlet on the dial. And if the broadcaster can think about one new music station, what's to stop it from thinking about a few more?
There's an argument I hear every time I open my gob about radio in this country. "We need another national radio station. A Radio One and A Half." Radio One is supposed to be one thing and 2FM is supposed to be something else entirely, so why not some- thing halfway between the two? A station not unlike BBC Radio 2, which is not as poptastic as BBC Radio 1 or as talk-driven as Radio 4. A similar station here would probably pull in a huge audience.
There are plenty of FM frequencies still available and there's always medium wave, yet there's little sign of anything being done in Montrose. 2FM is the most profitable little pop radio operation in the country (€15 million in ad revenue in 2003), so why rock the boat? Maybe no one in Montrose actually listens to radio any more.
They knew it was time to rock the boat over at Raidió na Gaeltachta. "We have a duty to provide a service to all sectors of the community," says the station's Edel Ní Chuireáin. "If we are serious about providing a youth-driven service, we cannot ignore their choice of music and preferences."
There was some kite-flying earlier this year when a survey by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland suggested 75 per cent support for an Irish-language pop station. Minister for Gaeltacht stuff Éamon Ó Cuív noted at the time that "a one size fits all approach is no longer feasible" when it came to R na G, and he promised to discuss it all with government colleagues.
Such discussions may well mean that the clever rebranding and reshuffling which has led R na G to Anocht FM is the first step towards a second R na G aimed at pop pickers who want English-language songs presented by cheesy DJs speaking Irish. But it would be far more useful as a step towards RTÉ reassessing its current radio offerings.
Good radio is about content and choice, but RTÉ has remained static for far too long. It's time for decision makers to do more than just shuffle DJs from one station to the other, cross their fingers and hope for the best.
Digital radio may well be RTÉ's trump card, so let's hope that, by then, the will to change will have arrived in Montrose.
