WLR

We Are The Sound Of Waterford WLR has been Waterford’s favourite radio station for decades , the voice, the banter, the soundtrack to everyday life here in the Déise. Our story began in the late 1970s, when almost a hundred independent stations sprang up to offer listeners something fresh beyond RTÉ Radio One. In Waterford, a few local stations were already buzzing with energy, playing to younger audiences. Then, when 2fm launched in 1979, WLR leaned into what made us different, being proudly, unmistakably local. By 1989, after years on the air, we became one of only two stations in Ireland to make the leap from pirate to licensed broadcaster. On September 9th, we officially went live from our George’s Street studios. From the start, Waterford tuned in to familiar voices like Timmy and Nicola at Breakfast, Billy McCarthy on Déise AM, Tony Weldon’s Sunday Morning Melodies, and Eddie Wymberry on Evening Echoes. In 1998, we opened new studios in Dungarvan, bringing WLR’s sound to the west of the county. As national radio surveys evolved, WLR consistently ranked among Ireland’s top performers for both reach and loyalty, proof that when local radio is done right, people feel it. Always looking ahead, we launched Beat FM in 2002 to give younger listeners in the Southeast a station of their own. To power both brands, we built The Broadcast Centre at Ardkeen, nine state-of-the-art studios and a video space that set a new standard for local broadcasting. That same year, we made history again with Ireland’s first local TV licence for Waterford @ Eight. In 2018, we added another string to our bow with Absolute Irish Radio, an online station celebrating Country, Trad, and Classic Irish music. Ownership evolved over time, Thomas Crosbie Holdings partnered with Managing Director Des Whelan in 2007, and The Irish Times Group joined in 2018, but our mission stayed the same: great radio for Waterford. Fast forward to today: WLR reaches half of Waterford’s adults every single day (50,000) and seven in ten every week (70,000). Our team of broadcasters, producers, and journalists live and breathe local, bringing you shows like The Big Breakfast Blaa with Ollie Carroll and Dymphna Nugent, Déise Today with Damien Tiernan, The Live Wire with Gemma Delaney, Spin Home with John Keane, and WLR Gold with John O’Shea. When it comes to news and sport, WLR is still where Waterford turns first, on air, online, or on the app. With more than 1.7 million page visits a month to WLRFM.com, we’ve become a truly multi-platform broadcaster, keeping Waterford people connected no matter where in the world they are. In a crowded media landscape, our secret’s simple: talent, hard work, and a genuine love for this county. We love Waterford. We are WLR.