Stations make final bids for south-west licence
The new station will get a BCI licence to broadcast in Limerick, Kerry, Clare, North Tipperary and south-west Laois.
The short list was whittled down to SPIN and Red FM from submissions forwarded to BCI for the licence.
The BCI held an oral hearing at the Castletroy Park Hotel yesterday. It is expected the BCI will announce the winner of the licence within two months.
The Red FM presentation was made by a group headed by Anthony Dinan, managing director of Thomas Crosbie Holdings, owners of the Irish Examiner; and Dermot Hanrahan who played a key role in the success of Dublin FM 104.
The SPIN group was led by chairman Liam O’Shea and Aevann Upton, who it was stated would be general manager of the station if SPIN win the licence.
SPIN said they would have a central studio in Limerick, while Red FM said they would have studios in Limerick, Tralee, Ennis and Nenagh.
Mr Dinan said they would invest €1.6 million in the first year and a further €2.4m over the following two years to launch Red FM South-West.
Mr Hanrahan said they expected to be at break even point within five years.
Liam O’Shea, leading the SPIN South-West presentation said they had €3.8m committed by their shareholders for the new station.
They had a budget of €250,000 to promote their launch and more revenue would be available for this if it was needed, he said.
