Just three days later, on November 14th at 6.45pm, history was made as Ireland\u2019s first test transmissions crackled to life. The voice of S\u00e9amus Hughes<\/a> carried across the airwaves, uttering words that would forever mark the dawn of Irish broadcasting: “S\u00e9 seo st\u00e1isi\u00fan 2RN Baile \u00c1tha Cliath ag triail” (“This is 2RN Dublin Testing.”)<\/p>\n We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences<\/a><\/p>\n From RT\u00c9 Archives, Brian O’Connell reports for RT\u00c9 News in 1986 on an exhibition of photographs, original recordings and memorabilia to mark 60 years of Irish broadcasting<\/p>\n Hughes was a man of many talents. Fluent in Irish and French, and a former secretary of Cumann na nGaedheal<\/a> (later Fine Gael), he brought both political experience and cultural passion to his role as the official station announcer,. A northsider by birth, Hughes had joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood<\/a> in 1911, taken part in the 1913 Lockout <\/a>and fought under Thomas MacDonagh<\/a> in Jacob’s Factory<\/a> during the Easter Rising<\/a>. Arrested and interned in England, he was released in 1917 before joining the new Civil Service.<\/p>\n In 1924, Hughes contested a by-election \u2014 losing to future Taoiseach Se\u00e1n Lemass<\/a> \u2014 but his voice soon found another stage. A well-known tenor, he was the first to publicly perform The Soldier\u2019s Song, penned byPeadar Kearney<\/a> \u2014 the anthem that would become Amhr\u00e1n na bhFiann<\/a>. His appointment as 2RN\u2019s announcer even survived a D\u00e1il committee review, despite Bryan Cooper TD’s<\/a> fears about “the immense possibilities of propaganda by means of wireless broadcasting.”<\/p>\n The earliest broadcasts also featured a plea for listeners to buy radio licences \u2014 arguably the first advertisement ever aired on 2RN. “This is 2RN, the Dublin broadcasting station. That was good, wasn\u2019t it? But we have more treats in store for you, only remember, no licenses, no programme.” Government funding of the station depended directly on the number of licences sold, and there was a palpable sense of anxiety that public support would determine 2RN\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences<\/a><\/p>\n From RT\u00c9 Archives, speech by Minister for Posts and Telegraphs J.J. Walsh to mark the opening of radio station 6CK in Cork on 26 April 1927. 6CK was the first official radio station in Cork, established as an extension of 2RN, the national station set up in 1926. The station closed in September 1930. (Sound quality is poor)<\/p>\n In November 1925, Walsh formally announced the Civil Service appointments that would run the new station. Seamus Clandillon<\/a>, a respected inspector at the National Health Insurance Commission and a noted authority on Irish folk music, was named station director. A traditional Irish speaker, Clandillon was passionate about using radio to revive the native language. Often credited with creating the c\u00e9il\u00ed, he brought deep musicality to the role and his wife, the singer M\u00e1ighr\u00e9ad N\u00ed Annag\u00e1in<\/a>, was frequently called upon to fill the airwaves when needed. Her regular appearances earned her the affectionate nickname, “M\u00e1ighr\u00e9ad N\u00ed On Again.” Dublin-born Vincent O’Brien<\/a>, musical director and former teacher of both Irish tenor John McCormack<\/a> and writer James Joyce<\/a>, completed the core team.<\/p>\n During the test broadcasts, O\u2019Brien and Clandillon performed together to entertain early listeners. An editorial in The Irish Independent captured the sense of optimism: “The Dublin Broadcasting Station will be formally opened within a few weeks, and we believe, and hope, that its influence will be the seeds of a welcome revolution in the social life of Ireland, more especially of rural Ireland.”<\/p>\n We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences<\/a><\/p>\n From RT\u00c9 DocArchive, Forty Years of Irish Radio with PP Maguire looking at the history of Irish radio, how it was perceived by the public and meets the men and women who helped make it a success. (First broadcast 1966)<\/p>\n Yet not everyone was impressed. As the test transmissions filled Irish skies, some listeners lamented that 2RN was interfering with English broadcasts. One letter-writer to The Irish Independent, signing as “Polyglot,” complained: “I, for one, shall not renew my licence if the Dublin wavelength crowds out the English and foreign stations as it did during recent tests.”<\/p>\n Another, identifying as “Cats’ Whisker,” wrote with sharp humour: “I regret that I cannot join in the grand chorus of praise of our new broadcasting station\u2026 even for a test performance. Selections from Mauritania fill me with homicidal thoughts.” From Cork, a letter signed “Corkonian” described the early broadcasts as “A perfect pandemonium of howls.”<\/p>\n Among the engineers who sought to tame this early chaos was another Corkman, William Arnold Beatty.<\/a> Trained at the School of Wireless Telegraphy on the Mardyke in Cork, Beatty joined 2RN in 1924 as Assistant Engineer under T.J. Monaghan<\/a>, who had been seconded from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs to oversee the station\u2019s launch. Beatty would go on to manage many of 2RN\u2019s first outside broadcasts and later help establish Ireland\u2019s second station, 6CK, broadcasting from the former Women\u2019s Gaol overlooking Cork city in 1927.<\/p>\n Originally, 2RN was scheduled to begin broadcasting on December 20th, 1925, but delays at the Little Denmark Street studios pushed the official opening to New Year\u2019s Day, 1926. From that moment, radio would become part of the fabric of Irish homes \u2014almost like a friendly piece of furniture!<\/p>\n We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences<\/a><\/p>\n From RT\u00c9 Archives, Douglas Hyde, founder of the Gaelic League and later first President of Ireland, officially opens 2RN on January 1st 1926<\/p>\n Playwright Brian Friel<\/a> would later capture the wonder of those early days in his autobiographical Dancing at Lughnasa<\/a>, recalling the enchantment of listening to his very own ‘Marconi’: “My first delight, indeed my awe, at the sheer magic of that radio.”<\/p>\n Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s Patrick J. Little<\/a> was Ireland\u2019s longest-serving Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and a key force behind the creation of the Radio \u00c9ireann Symphony Orchestra, Years later, he reflected that “Irish Broadcasting is the everyday story of the new Ireland, spoken with its own voice.”. That voice, vibrant and distinct, still resonates today.<\/p>\n The author is the organiser of From Broadcast to Podcast: 100 Years of Irish Radio<\/a> conference to be held on January 29th and 30th at the Aula Maxima, UCC, Cork. <\/p>\n Follow RT\u00c9 Brainstorm on WhatsApp<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> for more stories and updates<\/p>\n The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RT\u00c9<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/001936c2-614.jpg\"\/)
\nHow the Sunday Independent covered the launch of 2RN<\/p>\n