For the first time, RTE Radio 1 is offering an alternative to church services on Sunday morning. From early in January the service will be transmitted on the medium wave only, with the FM waveband offering Two For The Show with Brendan Balfe and O'Brien On Song with Jack O'Brien.
"We have a strong commitment to carrying the religious service on Sunday, but what we are able to do now is offer a choice for those who may not want one, particularly for those who will be attending a service and would like some music and conversation on Sunday mid-morning," said the director of radio, Ms Helen Shaw.
The split wavelength is part of RTE Radio 1's new weekend schedule starting on January 3rd. One of the new offerings is The Right Side, presented on Saturday morning by Carrie Crowley, between 10 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. It will be a magazine mix of conversation, humour and music.
Queueing For A Living moves to a 2 p.m. slot, while the weekly look at the media, Soundbyte, will be presented by Joe Duffy rather than Brian Farrell.
"What we want to do is build on our existing weekend audiences by giving people a stronger overall package with as much variety and choice as possible," Ms Shaw said.
On Sunday nights there will be a new Irish-language poetry programme and a documentary series produced by John McKenna, about people who have lived through extraordinary events.
FM3 Classical Radio will be expanding its service to 12 1/2 hours daily from January 5th. From midnight it will present Euroclassic Notturno, which will be broadcast through a European Broadcast Union satellite link-up.
Two RTE television programmes, Prime Time and Divided World, have won international awards. Prime Time won the International Year Against Racism Media Award for its film last June about refugees.
Divided World won a European Communities Award for broadcast commitment in recognition of the programme's treatment of humanitarian issues.