Highland Radio


Highland Radio is the local radio service for the County Donegal franchise, operating under a licence from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Headquartered at the Mountain Top in Letterkenny, the station may also be received across the border in the city of Derry and the rest of that county, as well as County Tyrone, County Fermanagh and parts of County Antrim.
Highland began broadcasting on 15 March 1990, and is currently franchised until 2024. It is currently Ireland's Number One Local Radio Station, a claim backed up by having both the highest market share of any local station within the Republic of Ireland. Highland Radio employs 21 full-time and 40 part-time employees.
Its flagship current affairs programme is 'The Nine 'til Noon Show' and is presented by Greg Hughes.
On 12 August 2012, Highland Radio received an international exclusive interview with Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt live on air from the Olympics in London.

History

On 31 May 2005, it was announced that the station was to be purchased by Scottish Radio Holdings for €7 million. However, SRH itself was acquired by Emap 21 days later. The deal was cleared by both the BCI and the Irish Competition Authority. Emap's sole changes to the station were increasing the bandwidth of their web streams from 20 kbit/s to 128 kbit/s, with no format or presenter changes.
Denis O'Brien's Communicorp was the highest bidder for Emap's Irish operations when that company decided to sell its radio stations, buying FM104, Highland Radio and Today FM on 14 July 2007. In October 2007, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland approved Communicorp's proposed takeover of Today FM and Highland Radio, but not FM104. The deal was completed by January 2008. Due to a Competition Authority decision, Communicorp was required to sell-on FM104, which it did immediately upon its acquisition. O'Brien offloaded Highland Radio in mid-2008.
Orangold, a company owned by the Rabbitt family, completed the purchase of Highland Radio from Denis O'Brien's Communicorp Group in July 2008. Gerry Rabbitt is a founder shareholder of Galway Bay FM and was managing director of Galway Bay FM for 10 years.

Highland Radio News

Highland Radio News team is headed by Greg Hughes and includes Catherine Gaffney, Michaela Clarke, Donal Kavanagh and Rory Williams.
Highland Radio News airs their own bulletins Mondays to Fridays on the hour from 7.00am until 7.00pm. There are currently three main extended news bulletins Mondays to Fridays at 8.30am, 1.00pm and 5.00pm. From 8.00pm until 12-midnight, Highland Radio airs hourly live news bulletins provided by Newstalk in Dublin.
Highland Radio News has a limited provision of local news over the weekend. Saturdays have local bulletins on the hour from 10.00am until 2.00pm. Newstalk provides news bulletins at 8.00am, 9.00am and then on the hour from 3.00pm until 12-midnight. On Sundays, Highland Radio only provides one bulletin of local news at 6.00pm. Newstalk provides the rest of Sundays news output on the station on the hour from 8.00am until 12-midnight.
During Christmas, Easter and Bank Holidays, Newstalk provide the only news bulletins on the hour.

Presenter and schedules

Daytime presenters

'Highland Radio News Team: Greg Hughes, Donal Kavanagh, Catherine Gaffney, Michaela Clarke

Evening presenters

Evening schedule