Newstalk 106FM, which begins broadcasting tomorrow morning, can survive as a viable, credible news and current affairs alternative to RTÉ, according to the station's chairman and editor.
The strengths of the station will be its provocative presenters and its ability to seamlessly incorporate breaking stories into its schedule, said Mr Pete Lunn, the station's programme editor, and Mr John Purcell, chairman.
Mr Lunn, who is a former assistant editor on the BBC's Newsnight programme, said he had watched over the past seven years how the news and sport talk station BBC Five Live in the UK had eaten into the audience of the older BBC Radio 4, whose programming includes arts and drama, history and science.
Aimed at the older, higher-class listenership, Radio 4 is, he says, similar in ways to RTÉ. The listenership of Radio 4, which has a market share of 12 per cent, consists mainly of older, largely female, middle-class people.
Mr Lunn said he had been very interested in the rise of BBC Five Live. That station broadcasts 24 hours a day, its programming breaking down as 70 per cent news and 30 per cent sport.
Latest figures show its market share is 4.6 per cent. NewsTalk 106FM has a similar target audience to Five Live, those aged between 25 and 54. Compared with Radio 4, Five Live has a younger, mostly male audience.
Mr Lunn said NewsTalk 106FM's research had shown that people aged 25-55 said they would move from RTÉ if they had a high-quality alternative.
And, although it was better funded and had more resources than NewsTalk 106FM, Five Live had shown how successful a new dynamic talk radio station could be.
The station will have rolling news bulletins every 20 minutes as well as news on the hour.