The State's first radio studio on an offshore island has been opened on Inishbofin, Co Galway, by the Minister of State for Rural Development, Mr Eamon ╙ Cu∅v.
The new studio has been developed by Connemara Community Radio, which takes a one-hour live link every week from the island. The radio station, based in Letterfrack, has a 30-mile range from north-west Connemara. This allows neighbouring Clare Island and Inishturk to tune in to the broadcasts on 87.8 FM and 106.1 FM.
The new studio, based in Inishbofin's Community Centre, has been given £14,000 in funding by the Department of Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, and the move has been facilitated by provision of ISDN phone links. Eight volunteers on the island have already begun producing and presenting their own programmes, and Connemara Community Radio has provided initial training.
"The live broadcast content will vary every week, depending on who is working," Mr Noel Schofield, development officer on Inishbofin, told The Irish Times. "There's a regular news noticeboard. After that, topics will range from fishing to farming to cooking and gardening, and it will depend on who we can get on the phone to interview."
Studio broadcasts will be extended during the annual arts festival which has become a feature of the national cultural calendar.
The volunteers will have no shortage of material this week, with the arrival of a group of Newfoundlanders at the weekend to stage a play over two nights. Entitled West Moon, and written by the late Al Pittman, the play had its premiere in Newfoundland a fortnight ago, before being flown straight over to Ireland.
It has been staged so far in Dublin and Listowel, Co Kerry - where John B. Keane was in the audience - and is due to travel to Kilmallock, Co Limerick, and to Garter Lane in Waterford at the end of the week. Its production manager is Liam Rellis, formerly of the Red Kettle Theatre Company.
Connemara Community Radio has been on the air for just over six years, having been awarded a pilot licence in 1994. It received a full radio licence from the IRTC in 1998.
The station has three full-time staff in Letterfrack - Linda O'Malley, Grβinne O'Malley and Bridie Cashin - and broadcasts are run by up to 80 volunteers, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Fund-raising is an integral part of the voluntary work to sustain the station. An "on-air table quiz" is the latest potential moneyspinner, planned for December. Teams will compete in up to 10 pubs extending from Leenane to Cashel to Roundstone and to Inishturk - all linked to the Inishbofin studio for the night.