Radio head is just living for Today

A senior figure in the radio industry tells of meeting John McColgan and Dan Collins to discuss their as yet unborn national independent radio station about a year ago.

"I found Collins to be affable and McColgan is an inspiring character. For me the uneasy bit was when I met [directors] Robbie Wooton and Denis Desmond."

The source "felt very clearly" that Wooton was of the view that it was all very well to try producing quality radio with a high speech content "for six months or so", and then "get on with the business of running a slick music station. And that is where they are at now." It was not the sort of station the source had wanted to see created, "yet maybe he [Wooton] is right".

As it happened Collins had parted company with Radio Ireland before it even came on air in March of last year. The station, which scored listenership ratings of below 1 per cent in August last, relaunched itself this week as 100 to 102 Today FM. The increased music content, the change in the type of music played, and the "dumbing down" of the station is seen in the industry as evidence that the debate in the boardroom about what was needed to save the station, was won by the views associated with Robbie Wooton.

While there was no split or divisive row among the directors, sources say that some lamented the need for change more than others. Wooton was seen to be more commercially-minded and ready to go with what needed to be done. McColgan was more inclined to save as much as possible of his original vision for the new station. The final make-up of the relaunched station's programming is being seen as, essentially, Wooton during the day and McColgan in the evenings. It is a lighter station with an increased emphasis on music, and is certainly no longer even a potential threat to RTE's Radio 1.

Wooton says the view that he and McColgan represent opposite poles in the boardroom debate is simply untrue. His background in music and lack of broadcasting experience are causing people to make assumptions which are incorrect. What is happening with Radio Ireland/Today FM, he says, is that it is finally getting around to doing what the founders originally set out to do.

In other words, the instincts of the industry source, who would have liked to see the new station carry a large amount of quality, speech radio, were correct.

Wooton says the initial proposal was to set up a station that was somewhere between RTE Radio 1 and 2FM and that this is what is now happening. He believes Today FM has a better chance of ending the haemorrhage of directors' funds that was occurring with Radio Ireland. The board has already sunk some £5 million into the station. Another two loss-making years are expected. There is a scheme in existence where the directors supply the funds as they are needed.

The 35-year-old Dubliner, who left a radio officer's course in Atlantic College in Leeson Park back in the mid1980s to work as a roadie for the Irish group Tokyo Olympics, seems confident he can afford to remain involved. "The losses are manageable," he says.

Wooton spent six months touring in England with Tokyo Olympics after he dropped out of college. Upon returning home he purchased a van which he hired out to touring bands. He bought a second van. Soon he was hiring out public address equipment. His efficiency and business acumen led to his services being much in demand.

In 1987, he took on management of The Hothouse Flowers and the Black Velvet Band. When he bought a 30,000square-foot premises in the Ringsend Basin in Dublin's docks and built rehearsal and recording studios there. His first customers were U2.

Wooton called his dockside premises The Factory. As well as the rehearsal and recording studios, the building also houses 15 to 20 offices which are hired out to various companies, most of them working in the music and entertainment industry. Last year David Bowie, U2 and Shirley Bassey were among the acts to use the facilities.

Wooton also owns the Columbia Bar and Grill on St John Rogerson's Quay, and has a number of other business interests, but The Factory is his primary concern.

Getting involved in setting up a radio station was first mentioned to Wooton in 1993 by Brian Molloy of Westland Studios. Accountant Joe Moreau also got involved. All three are now shareholders in the station as are John McColgan and Moya Doherty, the concert promoter Denis Desmond, Scottish Radio Holdings, ICC bank, and IIU (Dermot Desmond).

Scottish Radio has 15 per cent, ICC 23 per cent, and IIU 6.5 per cent. The remaining 55 per cent or so is divided almost equally among the six individual shareholders, making for an average holding of slightly more than 9 per cent each. A rough estimate based on this would make Wooton's investment in the station to date around £500,000.

"He's a real technical whizzo," a former prominent Radio Ireland figure says of Wooton. "He oversaw a lot of the installation of the new equipment for the station, which is state of the art. He has incredible energy. He was very hands on."

"He's very personable, very charismatic. He's flash, very flash, your average Pod (nightclub) type of person, glamorous girlfriends and so on. He is not an intellectual. He is a very hardworking guy who is into pop music. When I was there he was pushing a very strong music policy. He would have supported the McColgan vision at the beginning but he doesn't have a lot of money (compared to the other directors). So he would have been among the early panickers."

Financial problems and a miserably low listenership are not the only concerns facing the nine-month-old station. The Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) granted the station its licence on the basis that it would fulfill a certain remit. If in its search for commercial success, or survival, Today FM is seen to abandon this remit, then the IRTC will have to decide whether to take action or not.

One IRTC member who spoke to The Irish Times on Monday, the day of the Today FM launch, was downbeat. "I am deeply depressed about it. There is unease in the commission for some time about Radio Ireland. There is the constant change of personnel, the way the station is going, the way the original promises are not being lived up to. They are not receptive to advice."

The source says the "dumbing down" decision (Wooton hates the phrase) is identified with Wooton; the public service view is identified with McColgan. "The Robbie Wooton shade of opinion has won out."

"We are in a real dilemma. On the one hand, do we pull the plug and be blamed for pulling the plug? That would definitely lead to legal action." The station is being monitored "very closely" by the commission, according to the source.

But another commission source is more hopeful; "My attitude would be to give it time. You have to give them a chance. There is no way the commission has given up on this station, no way. But they must do what they told us they are going to do."

If the station does develop as a successful, researched-backed, formatted, music-driven station and the IRTC does not try to force the station to fulfill the licence remit, then the commission, as well as seeming ineffectual, will be facing the prospect of legal action from applicants who made unsuccessful bids for the licence.

It is a complex and difficult situation for the young station. The advertisers are watching, waiting and indeed anxious to reward a successful "product". But it will be August before the first listenership figures will be available for Today FM, and in any case no-one expects the new station to become an overnight success.

Wooton, who is spending a lot of his time in the station's headquarters on Dublin's Upper Abbey Street, seems to be chronically optimistic and, despite everything, enjoying himself. He has been hurt by the level of negative media comment the station has received and the scrutiny that comes with trying to set up a business while being constantly in the public eye. In the short to medium term it is unlikely that life will get any easier.