Does anybody else think that there is much more room for improvement in Irish language broadcasting?

I think there are a lot of improvements that could be made. Firstly I would bring together RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and TG4 into one organisation to be called RTG (Raidió agus Telefís na Gaeilge) and should be made completley seperate from RTÉ. Then rename TG4 as RTG1 and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta as RTG Raidió 1.

Then I think that two or three more Irish language radio stations could be launched:

RTG Raidió 2- broadcasting pop, rock, dance music etc. all with Irish speaking presenters aimed at a younger audience, much like RTÉ 2fm.
RTG Raidió 3-broadcasting more niche music such as jazz, classical and also plays and comedy a bit like RTÉ Lyric FM.
RTG Raidió 4- broadcasting news, sport, debates etc. much like BBC Radio Five Live in Britain.

Then in television I would have three television stations:
RTG 1- this would have a similar format as RTÉ One with programming aimed at a family audience and a more mainstream channel with a lot of the same programming currently available on TG4. I would also have the news shown at midday, 7pm for an hour with more international news and at 10pm.
RTG 2- this would have a similar format to RTÉ Two childrens programming could be shown during the day with foreign programmes dubbed into Irish. American programming such as Friends, the Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle (shown on TV3) etc all dubbed into Irish. It would be aimed at a younger audience. Sport could also be available on this channel and niche sport perhaps European football leagues could be shown with Irish commentary.
Nuacht RTG- a television station broadcasting 24 hours a day with breaking news, international news etc.

What do you think of these ideas, would they work? Any better ideas? Would these channels be able to survive solely in Irish? A percentage of the license fee solely going to RTÉ at the moment could be shared among RTG and RTÉ. Television Rights for programmes could be shared between RTÉ and RTG.

One minor, rather self-serving, suggestion would be for RnaG to acknowlege the existence of Irish learners in the diasporia and beyond (and even in Ireland).

BBC Alba has some excellent shows for learners of Scottish Gaelic that RnaG could just copy, but put it all in Irish.

I actually think that there may be money in "them thar hills" (doing programs for beginning Irish learners). So that might be an incentive. But undoubtedly, for whatever arcane reason, they will never go near such a project.

Why not? They play English language music on RnaG now, maybe this could help counterbalance the surrender to the Béarla. At least beginning learners are trying to leave English.

RnaG does excellent work, and is a true public service broadcaster, i.e. no advertising, fully license fee funded.

But its purpose it to serve the gaeltacht - which it does. I don't know that there is much room there to serve Irish speakers outside the gaeltacht, never mind foreign learners.

I would like to see TnaG also becoming a fully state funded, advertising free station with an adequate budget. But on the small budget the have now, they do excellent work.

It is unfortunate that because of the way they are measured, i. viewers and advertising revenue, they are current forced to fill the holes in the schedule with popular trash.

Hopefully as digital broadcasting become more common, cheaper and easier we will get a greater variety of material in Irish.

The idea was that by serving the wider interests of Irish speakers world-wide the gaeltacht could be served better in the long run--by attracting greater interest and foreign money to the gaeltacht.

BBC Alba does well with its two learner focused progams--both really basically one program.

I agree that RnaG is in essence a noble institution that performs its function well, but perhaps a little less insularity might end up helping the gaeltacht.

A wild idea that I am sure will never be implemented.

1. Learners of Irish are not, by definition, speakers of Irish.
2. RnaG is a station for speakers of Irish.
3. Therefore, RnaG is not the place for programmes for learners of Irish.
4. Conversely, the proper place for programmes for learners of Irish is on English-language radio.

To be honest, the very idea of putting learners' material on RnaG appals me. The last thing the station needs to be lumbered with is the atmosphere of a class room. I can't imagine a bigger turn-off.

Hello,

I have been watching some TG4 at work (lucky me!). I like the fact that it is just a regular station even though I can't understand much. If I went to Italy and turned on the TV it would be in Italian. So having it as a regular station in Gaelic really gives credence to the language. It would, of course, be nice to have some educational programs on it. Too bad there are not the resources to have two stations! If they had something along the lines of Sesame Street it would serve both new speakers and Irish youth.

Anyway it is nothing for people to get "grumpy" about. The root of the problem is that the resources are so limited. An Irish friend keeps telling us how great the economy is doing. Surely there are enough resources to expand Irish-Gaelic programming either by adding a station or enhancing the current one.

Shoshana

Some really interesting suggestions here. I think that having more than one radio station and more than one television station is a great idea. That way there could still be the Gaeltacht focused RnaG but there could also be a radio channel that might have things aimed more for the learners and beginning speakers. There could be something similar for television, two channels that aim toward different demographics with some overlap in the areas of sport and dubbed programs like cartoons and sitcoms.

Beir bua agus beannacht