Both Power FM and Beat 101 say young people are not being served by local radio stations and promise a format dominated by pop music.
A difference of emphasis is apparent, however, in the typical weekday schedule proposed by the two in their applications to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.
Power FM's breakfast show, Power Up!, a "non-stop, fast-paced, fun-packed diet of music" would run from 6 a.m- 10 a.m. It would include a 20-minute news programme at 7 a.m, the first of two main daily news bulletins. News and sports updates would be given every 20 minutes, while comedy would also be an important feature.
Beat 101's Sunny Side Up would run for three hours from 7 a.m. featuring music, hourly news and sport and a "sprinkling of gags and chat".
Slapstick music would be complemented by "attitude and wit". Listeners want one main news and sports slot from a morning show, as well as traffic updates, the station believes. "Half-hourly news updates are not popular with listeners under 25".
Power FM's Power Up! would be followed by The Power Station, a three-hour show combining music with "relevant topical debate". Elsewhere in its application, however, the station says its mid-morning schedule would be "more music intensive than the norm". "To provide a discussion format at this time of the day would see Power FM chasing an already saturated market."
Beat 101 would offer What's the Story?, "a regional and younger version of the Gerry Ryan Show, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., with more music and less unnecessary tired and offensive sensationalism". The key components would be "inclusion, involvement, relevancy, controversy and credibility intermingled with music, competitions and phone-ins".
From 1 p.m-4 p.m, Power FM's The Bit in the Middle would be music-driven, with a focus on interacting with office and factory workers throughout the south-east.
"The 'Power Team' will be delivering coffee and doughnuts to the Work Place of the Day around the region." Pre-produced features would also be an element of the show.
The Beat Mix on Beat 101 would run from 1 p.m-5 p.m, " a four-hour bonanza of quizzes, classic hits, text requests and e- mail requests". There would be no "Power Team", of course, but you might encounter the "Beat Fleet" as it roams the south-east with "giveaways and fun competitions".
Power FM's The All Music Drive would begin at 4 p.m, a three-hour programme of "music and features for the drive home", including the second main news bulletin of the day at 5.40 p.m and 20-minute updates of news, sport and travel. From 6 p.m, the format would move into "indie pop mode" and a "world of ground-breaking music".
Beat 101, on the other hand, would offer the Chart Beat at 5 p.m, a four-hour programme of hits "including the 20 most popular songs in the south-east". Film reviews, soap gossip, celebrity news and the "Surf Club", a guide to the best internet sites, would also be incorporated into the show.
