Next September, Cork's new radio station, Red Hot FM, will begin broadcasting. While its target audience will be those under 35 years, those of more mature years are also invited to listen.
Dermot Hanrahan, chief executive of Red Hot FM, has a proven record in radio for the under-35s with Dublin station FM104. He says the core audience is more likely to be in the 25-year age bracket. Everything about the station, he says, will be approached scientifically and no chances will be taken.
"We know exactly what we're doing and who our audience is. We are not trying to be all things to all people."
If a disc jockey at the station decided to play his own choice of music, it would be regarded "as a very serious matter" because the music would also be scientifically researched.
It would be the most contemporary "hot-hit music, 80 per cent of which is not available in Cork right now. There are only two radio stations in Ireland which allow their DJs to play their own music and both of them are in Donnybrook," says Mr Hanrahan.
The licence allowing Red Hot FM to become Cork's second independent radio station was granted recently after hearings in the city by the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC).
The reason a second licence had become available was that RTE had pulled its local radio service out of Cork at 6 p.m. on January 30th last year.
RTE's service in Cork was lost by default. It was underfunded, permitted to broadcast only a few hours a day, and when it began to look tired after the arrival of 96FM, with lively current affairs and slicker news bulletins, the death knell was sounded.
Mr Hanrahan says his new station will meet the requisite 20 per cent news and current affairs required by the IRTC but that's not what excites him. What does is the fact that Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures have shown that his music mix in FM104 is the right one as far as the target age group is concerned.
The Thomas Crosbie Group Ltd, owners of the Irish Examiner and Evening Echo as well as several other titles, has a 20 per cent stake in the new radio station. Making no bones of where its loyalties lay, the Evening Echo proclaimed in a front page headline last week: "The hunt is on for Red Hot Cork jocks."
The newspaper said Red Hot FM had issued "a red alert" to 96FM, promising to oust it from the top spot. Mr Anthony Dinan, chief executive of the group, has said the 20 per cent stake is an investment only, and there will be no editorial interference.
Whether the standard of locally produced radio in Cork will be enhanced by the arrival of the new station, with its commitment to "hot hits", is debatable. 96FM has come through difficult years since its launch in 1990 and at times revenue has been extremely tight.
However, last year it posted an operating profit of £1.5 million and began to attract attention within ever-vigilant media acquisition circles.
UTV weighed in some months ago with a £30 million plus offer for 100 per cent of the shareholding but was turned down by the IRTC because the offer would be in breach of the rule restricting existing media operators to 27 per cent of another company.
The watchdog body hinted, however, it would review the matter again next month. Surprisingly, it acted much faster than its own promise and last week approved a second UTV offer of £17.1 million for a 60 per cent holding in the Cork station.
Ultimately, there seems little doubt that the remaining 40 per cent of the company will also be acquired by UTV. So what will all of this mean?
The most recent JNLR figures confirmed 96FM and its sister station, 103FM, as the leader in Ireland's independent radio league. Its average quarter-hour audience is 50,437, compared with Dublin independents 98FM (32,318) and FM104 (28,938).
Against all opposition, its market share within the franchise area is 51 per cent. Its morning current affairs programme with Neil Prendeville is the driving force for the station's output up to midday and very often a serious sounding board for issues affecting the Cork region. Its essential success is based on the premise: Cork radio for Cork people.
The umbrella company for 96FM and 103FM is County Media, which also produces the weekly free sheet Inside Cork. It may become much more. Whether it will be bold enough to challenge the Evening Echo or the Irish Examiner in Cork remains to be seen.
However, 96FM managing director Colm O'Conaill believes the arrival of UTV is going to give County Media much more clout. As for Inside Cork?
"We are printing 20,000 copies a week at present and it is meeting its costs. There are definite opportunities for further development" he added.
It could be that interesting days are ahead.