IRTC gets 21 applications for six new radio licences in Dublin

The Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) has received 21 applications for six new radio licences it proposes to make available in Dublin.

No one applied for the proposed medium wave (AM) licence. The deadline for receipt of applications was noon yesterday.

There were seven applicants for the 15-34 youth-orientated service, six for the music-driven (35-plus audience), just two for the broad-based speech-driven service, five for the special-interest service, and one for the Irish-language service.

The IRTC hopes to make the applications available for public inspection from Thursday at its offices in Dublin and at Dublin Corporation's central library in the ILAC centre.

Inspection will be by appointment and for viewing purposes only. No copies of the applications will be available. Details will also be available on the IRTC web site (www.irtc.ie) early next week.

The board of the IRTC will meet to consider the applications on September 6th when it "may or may not decide to award a licence in any particular category". It is most likely a short list will be prepared at this meeting of applicants who will be invited to public hearings scheduled to take place on September 27th and 28th. The allocation of licences will be done at a board meeting on October 11th.

Applicants for the youth licence include Pulse FM, @2K, Fuse FM, Storm FM, Red 106FM, Spin FM and Kiss FM. The Hot Radio Company is behind Pulse FM's application and includes the U2 manager, Mr Paul McGuinness, on its board, as well as Mr Gerard Sheridan of Waterford Local Radio.

U2's The Edge is understood to be part of the consortium behind Storm FM's application, Spin Communications, as is Mr John Reynolds, owner of the POD night-club, and Mr Louis Walsh, manager of Boyzone.

Those behind the Red 106FM include the Dublin station FM104, Today FM, and New 95 FM in Limerick.

A financier, Mr Paschal Taggart, and a night-club owner, Mr Robbie Fox, are behind Kiss FM, a consortium which includes South East Radio, East Coast Radio, and Vibe International.

Applicants for the music-driven over-35 licence are Lite FM, Easy FM, Gold FM, Radio Dublin, Dublin Melody FM, and Sunshine FM. A radio consultant, Mr Martin Block, of Block Media, is understood to be the main figure behind Lite FM, while Mr David Harvey, presenter of Crimeline, is involved with Easy FM.

Mr Eamonn Cooke of Radio Dublin operates one of the city's oldest pirate stations which has been on the air for more than 30 years. The Leinster Leader newspaper and TV3 are part of the consortium behind Gold FM.

The two applicants for a "broad-based speech-driven" licence are News Talk 106FM and Dublin Live FM. Special interest applicants are Spirit FM (Alcatraz Communications), Dublin Christian Radio Solas FM (Actinium Ltd), Dublin City Radio (Christian Communications), Travel FM (Office of the Director of Traffic, Dublin Corporation), and RFI-Dublin (Radio France Internationale).

The sole applicant for the Irishlanguage licence is Raidio na Life (Comharchumann Raidio).