A consortium including former trade union leader Con Scanlon and pub owner Louis Fitzgerald has lost out in the race to win a new radio licence for the southwest.

Mr Scanlon and Mr Fitzgerald were joined in the Fresh FM group by radio executive Peter Benson, John Conroy head of Merrion Stockbrokers, and Michael Lynch of Lynch Hotels. However, this group has not made the final shortlist of two for the licence.

Instead, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has shortlisted Red FM of Cork and Spin FM, a station owned by Denis O'Brien. Oral hearings will take place on July 17th in the Castleroy Park Hotel in Limerick and a final decision is expected to be announced in September.

The licence is for a youth service in Kerry, Limerick, Clare and parts of Tipperary and Laois.

The Red FM group contains a number of people with media experience including Dermot Hanrahan, the former chief executive of FM 104 and Thomas Crosbie Holdings, owner of the Examiner and Sunday Business Post and a large number of local papers.

The two major investors in the Clare People newspaper are also involved in this group. The Limerick Post is also backing this bid. The consortium has set up a company called Carrarush Limited to make the application.

Spin FM has been operating a youth service in Dublin for several years. Following a difficult start, the station has built up a strong market share in the capital. The name of the company behind its application is Spin South West Ltd.

Regional stations are a relatively new phenomenon in Irish radio. The most prominent regional station is Beat FM, covering the southeast. The new licence, while regional in nature, also has a specific youth focus. While regional stations are a rarity in Ireland, they are common in the UK and the US.

The BCI also announced yesterday that a group called Flirt FM has been awarded a 10-year community licence to operate a service in Galway city.