Today FM owner seeks station chief

Communicorp on hunt to fill top job after Peter McPartlin resignation last year

The “careers at Today FM” page on its website may not have any “opportunities” listed at present, but Communicorp does intend to recruit a new chief executive to the station, a spokesman for the Denis O’Brien-owned radio group says.

The position has been vacant since Peter McPartlin resigned last November. McPartlin had simultaneously served as chief executive of TXFM and he was still in situ when TXFM made an expression of interest in the station’s licence when it came up for renewal late last year.

Now that the Dublin Rock Radio consortium, one third of which is Communicorp, has decided not to go ahead with a licence application, TXFM is expected to come off air shortly with the loss of six jobs. A group fronted by Simon Maher, the founder of the pirate incarnation of TXFM predecessor Phantom, also decided not to proceed.

The spokesman for Communicorp, which also owns Newstalk, 98FM, Spin 1038 and Spin South West, said the company had no issue with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s handling of the licence renewal process. The regulator is already facing calls to readvertise the licence from other radio investors who think they can make it work.

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But whatever happens to the alternative licence, the next chief executive of Today FM won’t have TXFM to worry about too.

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery is an Irish Times journalist writing about media, advertising and other business topics