Legalised Irish radio has reached another point in its history as we enter a new millenium. The output is dull, drab and unenterprising. Sure, Irish radio is not without it's personalities, each of whom provoke a response and whether that response is good or bad, they do provoke a response. The likes of Eamon Dunphy, Gerry Ryan, Gay Byrne, Ian Dempsey all instantly spring to mind...problem is, that's all it's got...personalities. Take a stroll across the (legalised) airwaves and you'll basically find many versions of the same thing, chart radio.

Lite FM has recently started broadcasting and has increased choice. The only other legal alternatives to top 40 based radio are RTE Radio 1 and Lyric FM - forget it if you're under 65! Worse still, none of them seem to like taking any chances, even Dave Fanning, the most famous "alternative" dj has been forced to tone down a bit. As in the past you need to tune to the illegal stations to get what you want. Non-stop dance is provided by a number of stations, alternative radio comes in the shape of Phantom FM and XFM and country & Irish gets an airing on K.I.C. FM. It's not the same as the grand old days of pirate radio in this country though. Anyone who lived through the eighties would be hard-pressed to agree if told that today's situation is an improvement...and of course in these multimedia times where cable, satellite and the internet provide us with the opportunity to listen to radio from around the world, Irish radio has come full circle and could possibly do with another major shake-up...