The future of the 10 employees of Cork's local radio station - pioneered by RTE more than 20 years ago as an experiment in local broadcasting - will be decided on December 16th when RTE's director of radio, E, Ms Helen Shaw, will address the Cork staff.
Following years of declining listenership figures, the local service had bottomed out at a 4 per cent audience share. Originally well received as a vital local service, the advent of independent radio some years ago, particularly in the shape of 96 FM, spelt the death knell for RTE's local programming.
The independent radio station was more in tune with the market, its news service was slicker and it struck a chord with the average person inclined to listen to radio.
Once the RTE service was to be heard in every household in Cork, but when 96 FM came on the airwaves, most of Cork's younger people began to listen to it and it was to be heard all over the city. Its daily morning talk show, hosted by Niall Prenderville, began to attract a huge listening audience and became the focal point of interactive local radio in the city. Last Wednesday, the director-general of RTE, Mr Bob Collins, told the staff at the RTE complex in Cork that the local radio station would be closing early in the new year. For many, the announcement came as no surprise because for years it had been rumoured that the service could not survive, given its listenership figures.
Mr Kevin Healy, the RTE spokesman, said that the decision amounted to a "refocusing" of RTE's regional policy and added that RTE was determined to maintain a vibrant presence in Cork.
However, when Ms Shaw addresses the staff, she will outline why television production is the way forward for RTE's local presence, but is expected to give little comfort to those who have been involved in radio. For many years RTE's Cork service has been stymied because it started at noon and finished at 1 p.m. Even extended hours meant it was a staggered service and it could not compete properly or adequately with its 24-hour independent rival.
But a number of successful television programmes, including Out of the Blue hosted by Derek Davis, Nationwide, the consumer-based programme
Streetwise and the music programme No Disco, as well as various documentaries, have been successfully produced in Cork.
Local political figures have already begun to make their voices heard in an effort to have the service retained, but it is understood that RTE's decision is final and that its local radio presence in Cork will be discontinued as planned.