Rock on: Bay Broadcasting goes solo on Radio Nova

Radio group Bay Broadcasting has taken full ownership of Radio Nova, buying out the other shareholders in the Dublin rock music station.

Bay, which is owned by Nova's chief executive Kevin Branigan and Michael Ormonde, has bought out radio investors Vienna Investments and Des Whelan, as well as tech investor Pat McDonagh. Bay previously had a 38 per cent stake in Nova.

The group also owns Classic Hits 4FM and is a shareholder in Dublin country music station Sunshine 106.8.

Radio Nova, which has 136,000 weekly listeners, was granted a 10-year licence by the BAI in 2010 to broadcast a rock music service to Dublin and the wider commuter belt.

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“We’ve benefitted from a very experienced and dynamic board and shareholder base up to now and this has helped us get to a very good market position,” said Mr Branigan.

Investment in programming was key to the station’s growth plans, he added.

"We've already begun a growth strategy with the appointment of broadcaster Colm Hayes as programme director earlier this year and our audience is on an upward growth curve."

The latest Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures will be published next week.