Protective notice has been served on 21 employees at community-based radio station, Radio Kilkenny, which is set to close next Tuesday.
The station has failed to reach agreement with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) on terms for an extension of its licence. This would have seen the station stay on the air until November 30th.
Head of news at the station, Ms Sue Nunn, said on air yesterday that the board of the station had not met staff to explain its position and voluntary contributors had been left in limbo.
The station received a letter from the BCI this week clarifying conditions under which it would have allowed the station to continue broadcasting until November 30th.
A new station, KCLR FM, which won the licence for an extended franchise area, taking in Carlow and Kilkenny, at the expense of Radio Kilkenny, cannot press ahead with its plans to go on air because of a Supreme Court appeal by the board of Radio Kilkenny.
Chief executive of KCLR FM, Mr John Purcell, has said he cannot enter into contracts or rent premises until the Supreme Court appeal is brought to a conclusion.
The chairman of the board of Radio Kilkenny, Cllr Joe Reidy (FF), has said the board is waiting for legal opinion before deciding on taking a case to the European Court of Justice and before pursuing the Supreme Court appeal.
He confirmed that the station was happy with 50 per cent of the conditions attached to the proposed licence extension.
However he said he would not accept the allegation that the station was in breach of Section 9 of the Broadcasting Act regarding balanced programming.