Random fact – did you know Christmas FM is big in Japan?! True story.
Each day the texts flow in from around Ireland and more and more Christmas FM are hearing from their listeners abroad. It feels amazing how in these times of instant digital gratification – where you can flick on Spotify for endless Christmas tunes or yell at Alexa to deliver the festive songs – more people than ever are tuning in.
But we should not be surprised as the human touch is the secret sauce that will never go out of fashion. Radio is one of the oldest mediums and what it offers is connection – to speak directly with people in real time.
We all need to feel we are part of something, and radio is like a trusty companion we can have droning away in the background – the chats and the music give us a boost.
Christmas FM has been on the go since 2008 and from the start we have listeners from outside Ireland right around the world.
Get in touch from inside Ireland and across the globe!
Christmas FM charity text line is for those in Ireland but on the station’s website is a contact button so those abroad can send an email.
In the early years there was always nearly an Irish connection, from the start embassies abroad got the word out, but these days randomers abound.
There are many hundreds of listeners in Japan for instance.
Messages are streaming in from unusual places such as Nuuk in Greenland, and quite a large number of streams in Newfoundland, Canada.
In Ukraine Christmas FM is getting quite popular with a listener in Dnipro, in Eastern Ukraine, near the front lines last year getting in touch to say the station had kept them going.
There are a growing number of listeners in Armenia, a few in Kyrgyzstan, in Mauritius, Zambia, Malawi. In Lebannon and Israel the station is building steam.
There are a couple of listeners in Kyrgyzstan- a small town in far northeastern Norway, close to the Finnish and Russian borders. There’s listeners in Antartica, Christmas Island and Lapland – maybe relatives of Santa, who knows.
A Happy Listener in SA
What gave Christmas FM the idea to write about their lovely listeners abroad was a message from Sinéad Harrington who lives with her three girls (Iseult, Aarya and Portia) and husband Noel, near Durban in South Africa.
The family moved to SA in 2021 for Noel’s work – he is an assistant coach for the Sharks rugby team -. and Sinéad says Christmas FM helps keeps them in touch with home
“Christmas FM goes on first thing in the morning until last thing at night. The girls love to sing and dance to the music and it certainly helps with the festive cheer!
The music reminds us of such happy memories celebrating Christmas in Sneem Co Kerry and also makes us feel closer to home too. The station is very much part of a tradition for us now”.
Co-founder Garvan Rigby says they cannot believe how big Christmas FM has grown over the past sixteen years.
“We are amazed how much of a tradition it has become in Ireland and also abroad we are increasing our listeners each year, it always stuck a chord with the Irish abroad but now it’s much wider than that.
Last year we had five million streams in Ireland and the same number abroad, people tell us they have grown up with us, that the station is part of Christmas for them,” he said.
