Competition promises to be intense when three new commercial radio stations hit Dublin's airwaves in the new year.
The Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) yesterday announced its choices for new 10-year licences in three categories.
The Spin FM consortium won the contract for a music-led service aimed at 15- to-34-year-old listeners, the so-called "dance" licence. Lite FM was the choice for the music-driven 35-plus niche, the "easy listening" service. Each of them beat off three competitors.
An all-talk station for the capital has also been licensed. News Talk FM will offer a "rolling news" service, with headlines every 20 minutes, to tempt RTE Radio 1 listeners who want a more compact presentation of the day's events.
The community-based Irish-language station, Raidio na Life, has been awarded a new five-year licence. No licence was granted in the "special-interest" category.
Several questions were raised at yesterday's press conference about "cross-ownership" of licences. Radio 2000, the company which operates an existing pop-music station in the capital, 98FM, has a 25 per cent stake in the new youth station, Spin FM; 98FM also would own 15.2 per cent of the shares in News Talk.
Mr Conor Maguire SC, chairman of the IRTC, said the board was convinced that Radio 2000's role in Spin FM was a "passive shareholding". Mr Ken Hutton, general manager of 98FM, said News Talk had "a very diverse shareholding".
The consortium behind News Talk includes all 20 of the local stations around the State, which are linked through Independent Network News, including 98FM's local rival, FM104.
However, the dance-music station Pulse FM, which ceased broadcasting illegally three months ago, failed in the youth category in spite of the involvement of U2's manager, Mr Paul McGuinness.