The shape and spectrum of Irish radio owes its existence to one man, Mr Ray Burke. As the minister with responsibility for communications a decade ago, Mr Burke removed RTE's broadcasting monopoly, created the Independent Radio and Television Commission, and oversaw the introduction of local radio.
His tenure as minister in the late 1980s and early 1990s was revolutionary for Irish broadcasting - but highly controversial. The opposition accused him of bias and croneyism, and claimed his actions were motivated by anger at RTE's critical coverage of Fianna Fail during elections.
Mr Burke struck back in typically robust fashion, saying he wanted only to level the playing pitch for all broadcasters, and to create choice in the market.
At the time Mr Oliver Barry was a showband manager and concert promoter who wanted to move into the potentially lucrative area of broadcasting. A lifelong Fianna Fail supporter, he was friendly with many in the party's higher echelons and he helped to organise ard-fheiseanna during the Haughey era. Indeed, Mr Haughey appointed him to the RTE Authority for a three-year spell in the mid-1980s.
Mr Haughey, who was anxious to break RTE's monopoly, made sure Mr Burke stayed with the communications portfolio through three cabinet reshuffles. After the June 1989 election Mr Burke held the bizarre split portfolio of justice and communications.
The chairman of the RTE Authority during the 1980s was another showbiz impresario, Mr Fred O'Donovan, who was also one of the members of the Burke-appointed IRTC. The commission was chaired by Mr Justice Seamus Henchy; other members included public relations executive Ms Terry Prone and travel agent Ms Gillian Bowler. The IRTC, which acted independently of the minister, was charged with awarding one national and 25 local licences.
Century Communications Ltd, controlled by Mr Barry and Wexford millionaire businessman Mr James Stafford, was one of four applicants for the first independent national radio licence in 1989. Mr Barry drafted in filmmaker Mr Muiris Mac Conghail and PR adviser Ms Mary Finan as consultants to Century.
The IRTC held private and public meetings to adjudicate on the applications for this licence, and for the other licences which were awarded over the same period. In a process which attracted widespread publicity and not a few extravagant promises, applicants were invited to make presentations to the commission on their vision for the future of Irish broadcasting.
According to media reports at the time, Century was considered an outsider at first. The Irish Times reported it was the bid most favoured by Fianna Fail.
The exact ownership of Century was somewhat unclear. Mr Barry told the IRTC that he and Mr Stafford would tell the commission if they intended to dispose of a controlling 51 per cent of the company. No decision had been made as to who would be offered the other 49 per cent, he told Mr Justice Henchy. Chris de Burgh and Terry Wogan owned minority stakes.
In January 1989 the IRTC reached a consensus decision to give Century the licence. But the new station's start-up was delayed by an argument with RTE over transmission fees.
At this point Mr Burke made a crucial intervention. RTE had been demanding a £614,000 annual fee from Century for broadcasting s the latters its signal on RTE's nationwide transmission network. In March 1989, Mr Burke forced RTE to drop its price by a third, effectively saving Century almost £200,000.
Two months later, in May, Mr Barry gave Mr Burke £35,000 to help with election expenses. The contracts for Century Radio were signed in July and the station went on air in September. The following year Mr Burke made a second intervention designed to encourage broadcasting alternatives to RTE, including Century. He first proposed ending 2FM as a pop music station, but dropped this proposal in the face of massive criticism. Then he introduced a Broadcasting Bill which set a capon RTE's revenue, and envisaged the diversion of up to £6 million to commercial broadcasting. The proposal represented a potential lifeline to Century, which by then was in deep trouble. Bereft of listeners and advertising, the station was losing up to £20,000 a week.
By then Mr Barry was angry with the minister and the IRTC for what he believed was their failure to force other stations to stick to the 20 per cent news quota condition of the new licences. Mr Burke's Broadcasting Bill came too late to help him.
Century eventually folded in November 1991, leaving Mr Barry with huge debts. In March 1992 The Irish Times reported that the company was unable to pay redundancy awards of £15,000 each to 40 of its former staff. The Revenue Commissioners were owed over £150,000.
Asked about his gamble in broadcasting shortly after Century was launched, Mr Barry said he regarded radio as a "risk business. But then the whole nature of my business was always risk."