At 34, Donnach O'Driscoll is probably too young to understand the significance of one of his first moves when he went to work for the Luxembourg media giant, CLT - he closed Radio Luxembourg. For people of a certain age Radio Luxembourg was pop music. It figures in the memories of so many middle-aged people, especially those working in radio. Luxembourg was closed in 1990, but was carried on satellite for another two years. By the time Mr O'Driscoll closed Radio Luxembourg, its audience was so small it hardly figured on any audience measurement system. But, with an eye to any future nostalgia market, CLT still owns the name.

Donnach O'Driscoll is now CLT-Ufa's vice-president for British activities. CLTUfa is the newly-merged media company made up of CLT and the German company Bertelsmann. Its formation earlier this year created Europe's largest broadcasting company controlling 22 television channels and 23 radio stations.

Mr O'Driscoll's journey from UCD and Trinity College in the mid-1980s to being director of 17 radio and television stations, including being chairman of Atlantic 252, the long wave station that broadcasts to Britain on an Irish frequency from Co Meath, is one that includes a certain amount of luck.

A chance discovery of a scheme operated by FAS for graduates seeking experience abroad led him to banking in the US and then to Luxembourg, when, quite by coincidence, the former president of the European Commission, Mr Gaston Thorn, was seeking a Chef de Cabinet after he had returned to the business world in Luxembourg. One of his interests was CLT.

CLT is the oldest commercial broadcaster in Europe, founded in 1931. It has broadcasting interests in most countries in Europe, with the emphasis on France, Germany and the Benelux countries. Again there was a coincidence that CLT had, in a joint venture with RTE, just launched Atlantic 252 only three months before O'Driscoll joined Thorn's staff.

Atlantic had problems and Mr O'Driscoll, being Irish, was asked to become involved. There was the problem of planning permission for the transmission mast in Co Meath and more urgent commercial problems in Britain where the new station was not allowed to become part of the official audience measuring system.

The question of the mast was dealt with in the Supreme Court, but it was not until 1993 that Mr O'Driscoll was able to prove just how big 252's audience really was when the station was admitted to the audience measurement system.

From then Atlantic 252 started making money. It broke even in 1993, it made profits of £200,000 the following year, £2.5 million in 1995 and £1.6 million last year.

CLT is, he says, a conservative company. Unlike Murdoch's News Corp, its growth is based on starting new companies. "It understands defining businesses, and identifying openings and then using frequencies to develop projects."

Atlantic 252 is in many ways a typical CLT project. It identified an opening, a national audience for pop music in Britain, found a frequency, the Irish long wave frequency, 252, and worked with a local partner, in this case RTE, which now owns 20 per cent, and a local management team.

CLT decided it had to get into the British market as it was such a large advertising market. "It was decided that CLT should be put on the map in the UK. We were strong in Germany, strong in France, and the Benelux countries. We don't really understand the Mediterranean. We never succeeded in Spain and we are uncomfortable with the regulatory environment in Italy. The UK was a gaping hole for us."

Mr O'Driscoll was placed in charge of CLT's entry to the British market. He had wanted CLT to buy Capital Radio, when it was valued at £70 million. It is now valued at about £450 million. Similarly with GWR. In those days its market capitalisation was £20 million. Today its value has jumped to £200 million. His view of the undervalued nature of British radio was ignored. CLT would start up new projects, by acquiring licences, as it had always done.

CLT gave Mr O'Driscoll a dispensation to buy one existing radio station. He was allowed to buy Country 1035, a small AM country music station in London, so he could show the industry CLT was serious about operating in Britain.

It has since won five licences over the past year or so, ranging from very small franchises to a regional licence in the east midlands and X-FM, the last London licence to be awarded. It also won Talk Radio UK, the national talk radio licence. CLT was also part of the consortium that won the licence for Channel 5, Britain's last terrestrial television franchise, where O'Driscoll is an alternative director.

The application process left him feeling "uneasy". He still has no idea how a rival bid, from Virgin, came in at exactly the same as the consortium CLT was part of. The size of the bid was decided in a hotel room, booked in a fictitious name, and only written on paper, rather than stated out loud. The consortium, which included Pearson, United News And Media along with CLT, finally won on the quality threshold.

Earlier this year it appeared that the company that had emerged from the merger of CLT and Bertelsmann might seek to divest itself of its British interests, including Atlantic 252.

Bertelsmann's strategy was geared very much towards Germany and its battle with the rival, Kirch Group. The merger seemed to pull CLT back towards the continent, leaving Britain to Murdoch. The European media environment is being shaped at the moment, with giant media companies moving in and out of mergers and agreements, trying to place themselves in the most advantageous position to take advantage of the growth in subscription television, digital and other developments. The CLT/Bertelsmann merger was a triumph for Bertelsmann. It instantly made the company number one by taking over CLT's German interests, and taking out a rival, CLT itself.

It allowed Bertelsmann not just to catch up, but surpass Kirch. Now, however, there is a new mood, one of consolidation. Kirch and Bertelsmann are co-operating on its joint own channel, Premier, and the same consolidation is expected to take place within the British CLT-Ufa interests. CLT is now expected to seek new partners, with more cash and also expertise. This will affect Atlantic 252, of which CLT now holds 80 per cent, which is expected to seek a new partner that can bring something new to the station.