Healy radio group wins radio licence in northwest

Dan Healy, former chief executive of 98 FM and NewsTalk, and Deborah Fagan, a former accountant who worked with Denis O'Brien, are leading the group that has won the new youth radio licence for the north-west.

Mr Healy, who left NewsTalk last year, has a 13 per cent stake in the winning group, i105 FM, while Ms Fagan, who was previously financial controller with Mr O'Brien's Communicorp group, has a similar stake.

Mr Healy said the company would be investing €3.4 million in the station and that the company behind it, I Radio Limited, wanted to become "long-term force" in Irish radio. He said over the next few years it would like to gain about six licences and invest about €20 million in the resulting stations.

The application the company submitted to the BCI states: "For our younger population, from Castletownbere to Malin Head, they are becoming 'bloggers' and 'podcasters'. They are creating content themselves. In this changing environment broadcasters must find a way to connect to their audiences no matter who or where they are."

The application said the group wanted to create a brand name that was not imported from other markets but a unique identity: "One that connects to an audience that is blogging, podcasting and believes that they control the content they consume [ and] interacts with them because not only is it the place where they hear the music they love all day, but is also a portal for their other interests."

The licence has been awarded to this group by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI). A major shareholder in the project is Boundary Radio Limited, which has a 31.3 per cent stake. This group is closely related to Boundary Capital, the asset project management group established in 2002 and run by Niall McFadden and Declan Cassidy.

A 10 per cent shareholder is Cormac McAlinden, the founder of a number of well-known printing businesses including Lithographic Universal and Mac Publishing in Bray. The barrister Richard Nesbitt has a 3.7 per cent stake in the station. A large number of the other shareholders are based in the west of Ireland.

The licence has been awarded following a competition and BCI oral hearings. Among the losing consortiums were Spin FM, which is associated with Mr O'Brien; Vibe FM, led by serial radio entrepreneurs Tim Collins and Padraig O'Dwyer; and Red FM, which is already based in Cork. There was also an entry from Fresh FM, a group backed by hotelier Brian McNiff, pop promoter Louis Walsh and the founder of Supermacs, Pat McDonagh.

The i105 FM service has been awarded a licence "in principle" and detailed negotiations will now begin with the BCI. The service will cover Galway, Mayo, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal.