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Press Releases
New time, same place for Blas - be there!
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From Monday 30 October, 91Èȱ¬ Radio Ulster's lively Irish language programme Blas will be broadcast five days a week at 7.00pm.
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To celebrate, presenters and long-time friends Lynette Fay and Karen Kirby will be leaving their regular Blas studio in 91Èȱ¬ Broadcasting House, Belfast for a week of special programmes in Londonderry.
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From Monday 30 October until Friday 3 November, Lynette and Karen will be bringing Blas live from Derry to celebrate Oireachtas na Gaeilge, the annual festival which celebrates the best in traditional Irish arts - from song, music and dance to storytelling, drama and literature.
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Karen says: "I'm thrilled that we'll be offering Radio Ulster listeners a regular appointment at 7.00pm with the Blas team from Monday through to Friday.
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"It's a great opportunity to attract new listeners at an earlier stage of the evening, maybe as they're stuck in traffic or making their way home!
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"We look forward to the listeners joining us all week at 7.00pm."
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Lynette says: "Being the only Monday to Friday Irish language programme on Radio Ulster, our audience has to make an appointment to tune into the programme.
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"Listeners have often said to me that they got the time mixed up and perhaps missed a feature or guest they were very interested in.
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"Now that Blas is on at the same time Monday to Friday, that won't happen anymore!
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"Also, Blas and Arts Extra will now broadcast back to back, with Arts Extra going out at 6.30pm.
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"Regular listeners to Blas will know that our programmes regularly carry arts features: interviews, reviews and performances. We now have a great opportunity to further the co-operation which already exists between the two programmes and perhaps look to more joint ventures, especially outside broadcasts."
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This year's festival is being held in Northern Ireland for the first time in eight years, and in Derry for the first time ever.
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Blas will be at the heart of Oireachtas na Gaeilge, broadcasting live from Monday to Thursday from 91Èȱ¬ Radio Foyle to bring listeners all the interviews, reviews and local reports.
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And on Friday 3 November at 6.30pm, Blas will host a special hour-long concert from the Calgach Centre, featuring the Gaelic Hit Factory duo John Spillane and Louis de Paor and the well-known piper Tiarnán Ó Duinchinn.
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And Blas regulars should also listen out for a song or two from Karen and Lynette themselves, who have been practising singing since they grew up together in Donaghmore, Co Tyrone.
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Lynette says: "It's always a pleasure to have John Spillane and Louis de Paor join us on the programme. They, and Tiarnán Duinnchinn, the other musician involved in Friday's outside broadcast, have been great friends of the programme for years.
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"Hopefully, this friendship will come across during Friday's hour-long special. That's the thing about speaking Irish - we are lucky to have a very close relationship with the audience, the listener, and that's what makes my job so enjoyable.
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"While the biggest Irish Language festival in the world is in Derry for the first time, I hope that as many GaeilgeoirÃ, Irish speakers and/or enthusiasts as possible join us for the party.
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"If you can't be there in person, I hope that by tuning in to Blas, Radio Ulster listeners will get a sense of just how alive the Irish language is in the north and that Irish speakers have a great time of it!"
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Blas - Radio Ulster's lively 30-minute magazine programme, featuring all the best Irish music, entertainment, chat, news, reviews, previews and views in general - was originally broadcast at 7.30pm from Mondays to Thursdays and at 7.00pm on Fridays.
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The programme's new regular slot at 7.00pm, Monday to Friday, is part of ongoing schedule changes to make listening more enjoyable and finding programmes much easier for listeners with increasingly busy lives.
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Karen and Lynette present Blas on Mondays and Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7.00pm. Eoghan Ó'Néill presents the programme on Wednesdays at 7.00pm.
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JM4
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