The Sunday Times - Business
October 10, 2004

Some of the biggest egos in the country will cram into the Conrad Hotel in
Dublin tomorrow when two wannabe broadcasting groups go head to head in a
public hearing for a licence to run an alternative rock radio station in the
capital.

Phantom FM has the backing of Paul McGuinness, the U2 manager, Trevor Bowen,
his business partner, and Denis Desmond, founder of McD, Ireland's biggest
concert promoter.

Zed FM, a consortium headed by former FM104 boss Dermot Hanrahan, also
features a formidable line-up including Niall Stokes, publisher of Hot Press
magazine along with Jim and Peter Aiken, the well-known concert promoters.
Bob Geldof, the rock star turned global anti-poverty campaigner, completes
the team.

The meeting is considered crucial, as it will be the last chance the
protagonists have to influence the Broadcast Commission of Ireland (BCI)
before it awards the licence next month for a station that is expected to
begin transmitting next July...

Of the stations broadcasting in Dublin, Q102, Spin FM, NewsTalk and Country
FM have yet to turn a profit. All are recent entrants to the market and
opinion is divided as to whether or not an alternative rock station can be
profitable.

"At best they'll have a 4% market share..." says Al Dunne, a former
shareholder in Lite FM before its ?15m purchase in 2002 by UTV, the
Belfast-based broadcaster. Dunne now runs Unique Media, which represents
Q102, Lite's new brand, Ocean FM, which recently hit the airwaves in the
northwest last week, and Beat FM, the regional station in the southeast...

Hanrahan, Zed's chairman, is obviously among the believers and said
extensive research had shown an appetite for seminal Irish music, British
alternative rock and punk/new wave alternatives among other genres. He is
confident there is a listenership for little-known artists such as Nina
Hynes, The Things and Halite.

"We've done our projections and we're confident that this can be a station
that will turn in a profit of a few hundred grand each year," he said.
"There's plenty of experience in the consortium. I was involved in FM104
when it launched in 1989 and Jim Aiken was a shareholder. Hot Press has
arguably been the only outlet for rock in Ireland for years so we know what
we're doing. We're not in this for the short haul." ...

Commercial radio has proved to be a nice earner for many investors since it
took to the airwaves in 1989 but the likely introduction of new licences
throughout the country could change the landscape over the next five years.

(Abridged version of article at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...300031,00.html )