Century Radio could have been made to work if there had been a steadier hand on the tiller at board level, a former chief executive of the company told the Flood tribunal yesterday.
Mr Michael Laffan criticised the Century directors as too involved in the day-to-day business of the company.
He said he became chief executive of Century on May 1st, 1989. He had a three-year contract but left nine months later because of his dissatisfaction with the company.
He told the tribunal he had been approached by Century about the job while he was managing director of the Irish section of Electrolux. When he joined Century he understood from the founding directors, Mr James Stafford and Mr Oliver Barry, that funding would not be a problem.
Mr Laffan said he was required to make 40 per cent cost reductions within five or six weeks of going on air. There was a degree of panic among directors, he said.
"I believe the business could have been made to work if there had been a much steadier hand on the tiller at board level," Mr Laffan said. "I've never experienced directors so involved, and I've been an MD in four companies".
The involvement would even be down to the purchase of flowers, or cleaning expenses or mileage, he said.
Asked if, while he was chief executive, he knew the minister for communications, Mr Ray Burke, was going to meet the company's bankers, Mr Laffan replied that he would not have been aware of that.
Referring to negotiations between Century and RTE and the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC), Mr Laffan said: "There was a degree of anger and frustration which always seemed to bestride the discussions between Century and RTE".
RTE did not and would not welcome Century as a competitor and saw the station as coming into its territory and using its equipment. At the same time Century was approaching high-profile people such as Gay Byrne and Marian Finucane, and there was an underlying anger at this.
Mr Laffan said he had never been aware Mr John Mulhern was a director of the company.