Silence marked the last few minutes of live time for North West Radio yesterday before the station was pulled from the airwaves, writes Marese McDonagh.
It was an emotional time for NWR presenters and producers that marked the end of a 14-year history.
Meanwhile, executives of Ocean FM, the local radio station that will fill the airspace, were making their way to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland to sign their new 10-year contract.
Ahead of Ocean FM's debut this morning, Donal O'Shea, NWR board chairman, said: "Obviously we wish them well. Our ire is directed at the Broadcasting Commission and not at the new station."
The BCI decided to withdraw the licence earlier this year when NWR failed to meet its standards. The commission said there was too little indigenous programming and that the station also catered to an older than desired listenership, while the region is getting younger.
An appeal to the High Court on behalf of NWR was unsuccessful.
The licence, one of 25 in this country, was later granted to North West Broadcasting Limited, which trades as Ocean FM, a consortium led by Sligo businessman Pat Clifford and includes former international soccer goalkeeper Packie Bonner.
The Mayor of Sligo, Labour party councillor Mr Declan Bree, said yesterday that many people in Sligo, south Donegal and Leitrim believed a great injustice had been done to a radio station that had enjoyed a strong listenership.
He said it was difficult to understand why an outlet that won Station of the Year last year was no longer a station this year.
"I am at a loss. It is incomprehensible," he said.
It was widely agreed, and often criticised, that North West Radio had carved out a niche among local senior citizens, many of whom were regular late night telephone callers to the station.
And NWR was also renowned for abiding by its own set of rules.
"We probably broke ever rule in the radio text book," said NWR presenter and chief executive Mr Paul Claffey, whose foray into broadcasting came years before when he and a friend started a pirate station in the rest rooms of a local night club.
"We weren't slick. There were no American accents here, just people with a passion for music."
Ahead of its 9 a.m. debut this morning, Ocean FM appealed to north-west listeners to give the 24-hour station a chance.
"We are not going to be a Mayo outpost in Sligo," said the general manager, Mr Robert Walshe, alluding to NWR's links with Mid West radio.