THE new national independent radio licence will be awarded by the end of next month at the latest, according to sources.
The 10 members of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC), which heard detailed oral submissions from the five applicants yesterday, will meet again on February 8th and their decision is expected by the end of next month.
Such a timetable would allow the winner of the 10 year licence to begin broadcasting by the autumn, enabling the new station to tap into the lucrative end of year advertising market.
As the five consortiums bidding for the national radio licence made their pitches yesterday, the ghost of Century Radio, which collapsed five years ago, hung over the hall at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.
Everyone, the broadcasters business people and the many media and communications students present, knew that each of the five groups seeking the licence must convince the IRTC that it was safe, healthy and in place for the long haul.
It was probably the memory of Century that made bidders offer a cautious vision of a new national radio station.
Four of the five applicants offered a mix of talk and music, indicated that the music would be adult orientated, that Irish language programmes would be included in the programme schedules, that there would be special emphasis on news and current affairs, and that the target audience would be aged between 25 to 45. All suggested £3.5 million as the cost of starting up.
The legacy of Century was the context of much of the questioning from the chairman of the IRTC, Mr Niall Stokes. Were the shareholders fully committed? How much was being invested? Could the shareholders increase their investment if initial losses were more than envisaged?
He also asked questions concerning agreements with trade unions, about proposed salary levels, and in the case of one station questioned the length of the working day.
One station did not conform to the consensus. Energy Radio promised to offer a radio service to a much younger audience, of 15 to 24 year olds.
Its chairwoman, Ms Lucy Gaffney, claimed there were one million potential listeners, who were having to tune into pirate and foreign stations to hear their preferred music.
The Energy consortium is headed by 98 FM in Dublin and three other local stations.
Success by the Energy consortium would be welcomed by local stations, as competition for their older listeners would be reduced.
However, the IRTC wants to license a station that will offer a mix that could be described broadly as public service radio. The current IRTC has maintained that public service radio can exist in the independent sector and that this form of radio is not the sole preserve of RTE.
The Irish Secretary of the, National Union of Journalists, Mr Eoin Ronayne, said that the union already had problems with a number of the stations involved in various consortiums. If the successful station was unwilling" to reach agreement with the NUJ, then industrial action would follow, he warned.
Mr Ian O'Leary, chief executive of the Association of Independent Radio Stations, said his members, the local stations, were viewing the establishment of a national commercial station with some trepidation.
The IRTC, as the regulatory body, must take into account the, effect any new station might have on existing radio stations, he said.