The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has awarded a recently-formed business consortium an FM radio licence covering Carlow and Kilkenny, with two existing stations losing out.
The consortium is CK Broadcasting, which was incorporated in April and which proposes to operate as "KCLR - the heart of the two counties".
The largest single shareholder of CK Broadcasting is John Purcell, a public relations consultant who also chairs the consortium and who is a former chief executive of Radio Kilkenny, which will now cease broadcasting. He owns a 20 per cent stake.
Companies with shares in the applicant group include People Newspapers and Setanta Media Holdings, with 12.6 per cent each, as well as Irish Radio & Media Holdings, with 17.6 per cent.
The company said KCLR would bring a "fresh approach" to bear on local radio with "a broad-based service providing a comprehensive mix of news, current affairs, special interest and access programmes".
Promising a contemporary style, Mr Purcell said that while the station would be local it would not be parochial.
The commission's decision to modify the franchise areas for these two counties and Kildare was the subject of High Court proceedings taken earlier this year by CKR Ltd, which operates the existing CKR FM in Carlow and Kildare. The application for a judicial review was withdrawn, clearing the way for the BCI to continue the licensing process.
Unsuccessful applicants for the licence were the Kilkenny Community Communications Co-Operative Society - the group behind Radio Kilkenny and Carlow Kilkenny Radio, which is 50 per cent-owned by Mr James Reddy, chairman of CKR FM, which must also now cease broadcasting in Carlow.
The chairman of Radio Kilkenny, Fianna Fáil councillor Mr Joe Reidy, said yesterday that in common with everyone else at the station he was "shattered and in a state of shock" after the BCI decision was confirmed ahead of separate oral hearings in Portlaoise.
The consortium behind CKR FM also lost out in the second race within its existing franchise area, with County Kildare FM Radio Ltd of South Main Street, Naas, Co Kildare, being awarded the FM licence for Kildare. The new station will broadcast as KFM.