The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has awarded the licence for a new religious broadcasting service to Spirit Radio.
Spirit Radio was one of two consortiums that made presentations at a BCI public hearing last month. Spirit and the other consortium, Yes Radio, were selected last January by the BCI from five applicants.
Spirit Radio's chief executive Dave Heffernan said yesterday the team was "delira and excira" on hearing the news. He congratulated the BCI on granting the licence in a climate where "quite a lot felt there was no need for one".
He noted that Ireland was the only country in Europe that did not have such a radio station.
Spirit would be "a Christian and a religious station" reflecting Ireland's growing religious diversity but also reflecting the majority composition of the State, he said.
Following the public hearing on March 26th, the BCI had sought clarification on matters raised at the hearing, he said. These related to the transmission site, financing, marketing, staffing and expected audience share.
The consortium has bought a 20-acre site near Athlone and intends broadcasting from there,planning permission allowing, on the old Athlone medium wavelength. It planned an FM service for five urban areas initially, with a further 15 such FM services in other urban areas to follow.
The station aspired to a 5 per cent audience share nationally within four to five years, he said.
Seventy per cent of funding would come from donations, with 30 per cent from advertising. Spirit had already secured substantial funding from donors to cover the start-up years, and was confident this would be later sustained by listeners, he said. It was anticipated that staffing levels would be "appropriate" to the service.
The radio station would be "niche-marketed", while programming would be music- and talkbased, with 60 per cent of music content by Irish and international Christian artists from the beginning.
News would be supplied by the INN news service, with two reporters employed in-house.
Spirit Radio has 11 directors, with Andrew Callaghan of Price- Waterhousecoopers to be added.
Its chairman is Peter Coyne, former chief executive of the Dublin Docklands Authority.
Other directors include Jacki Ascough, former music director at KSBJ Houston, Texas; Seán Ashmore, chief executive at Dublin's Country Mix 106.8FM; Carol Browne, Milltown Institute, Dublin; Basil Good, owner of the Isaacs group and a member of the Dublin City Centre Business Association; Dick Jenkins, president of EMF Broadcasting in the US; Mary Seery, chief executive of YMCA Dublin; Fr John Harris OP; Dave Heffernan, former chief executive of East Coast FM; Tom McGuinness, owner of Houseware Products Ltd; and Paul Sheehan, former chief executive at Radio Kerry and now with the Simon Community.