About Us
Celtic FM first broadcast on Australia's biggest public community radio station, Sydney's 98.5 FM in 1993. The weekly show has been listened to by hundreds of thousands of Irish people and Irish Wannabees catching up on their Irishness!
SYDNEY'S 98.5 FM & DIGITAL '2000 LANGUAGES'
SAT:11AM - 12PM & MON DRIVETIME :4PM - 5PM
It all started when…
our small (not4profit) Irish Community Broadcast Group joined over 40 other ethnic groups at Multicultural Community Radio Australia (MCRA) back in 1993 to keep the community informed about the happenings back on the island of Ireland. This was a time when Northern Ireland was in flames and Australia media reporting was at best ill informed. Talk back hosts thought nothing of telling Irish jokes on air although they stayed away from other ethnic groups at the time - grossly insulting to our community here, especially those who had recently left Northern Ireland. We set about empowering our listeners and brought some stories to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). They welcomed us saying '...It's too easy for us to press the record button on BBC World Service and relay their version of events...'
We challenged the acceptable norm of casual racism toward our community live on air on 2GB, 2UE & Nova, Sydney.
In the days before the internet, $3.20 per minute phone calls to Ireland largely helped our community keep in touch. We soon added to this and sourced our news directly from Ireland. Our musical news heritage was born after we contacted Hotpress and asked Irish artists to send us their material . Luka Bloom was one of the first to respond !
Notable guests over the years have been two Irish Presidents, Dr. Mary Robinson & Dr. Mary Mc Aleece, two Irish Prime Ministers, Albert Reynolds & Bertie Ahern. Irish rugby players Hugo Mc Neill, Brendan Mullin, Michael Bradley, Brian O' Driscoll, Victor Costello and in 2018, Devin Toner, Tadgh Beirne & James Ryan and former player and coach, Munster's Donal Lenihan.
Dozens of Irish music artists have joined us for a chat on our shows including The Corrs, Dónal Lunny ,The Walls & The Stunning, Mary Black, Mundy,Clannad, Declan O'Rourke , Damien Dempsey, The Coronas, The Frames & Glen Hansard ... to name but a few!
In the new digital era, we followed the World's 2nd ranked Rugby Union nation , Ireland, on its first ever 3 match series in Australia - Brisbane, Melbourne & Sydney. We met hundreds of the Irish Diaspora from the entire island of Ireland, shared their thoughts & songs on social media . Ireland won the series 2 -1, recording their first win on Australian soil since 1979 .
There's so much more to come!
Meanwhile, listen in to our podcasts.
