Some well-known names behind competing bids

Beat 101 WLR FM is leading the Beat 101 bid and would have a 30 per cent share in the company

Beat 101 WLR FM is leading the Beat 101 bid and would have a 30 per cent share in the company. Its managing director, Mr Des Whelan, is chairman of the Beat 101 board.

Mr Whelan in turn owns 30 per cent of WLR.

Principle Management, which is 90 per cent owned by U2 manager Paul McGuinness, would have a 20 per cent stake in Beat 101.

Both Mr McGuinness and the other Principle Management shareholder, Mr Trevor Bowen, are members of the Beat 101 board.

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Mr Vince Power, chairman of the Mean Fiddler group, would also have 20 per cent and is a board member.

Mr Redmond O'Donoghue, chief executive of the Waterford Wedgwood group and former chairman of Bord Fáilte, is a board member and would have 10 per cent.

People Newspapers, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Independent News & Media, would also have 10 per cent. Its managing director, Mr Ger Walsh, is a member of the proposed station's board.

Mr John Purcell, the managing director of Communications Strategies in Kilkenny and a former chief executive of Radio Kilkenny, would have a 5 per cent stake and also be on the board.

The remaining five per cent of the company's share capital would be made available to senior staff over a number of years.

POWER FM SBS Broadcasting, which was established in 1990 and has television stations in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Hungary and Romania, and 18 national, regional and local radio stations in a number of countries, would have a 51 per cent stake in Power FM.

Ten Alps Broadcasting, founded by Sir Bob Geldof in 1994 as Planet 24 (Radio) Ltd, would have 20 per cent.

Mr Colm Dunphy, a lecturer at Waterford Institute of Technology, and Mr Stephen Silby, formerly of Capital Radio in London, would each have 6 per cent.

The two ran the Waterford pirate station ABC Power 104, which closed in October.

Mr Barry Connolly, the managing director of Richmond Marketing Ltd and former general manager of 98FM in Dublin and 96 FM in Cork, would have a 9 per cent stake.

Ms Barbara Nugent, the chief executive of the Sunday Business Post, would be chairwoman of the new station and hold a 3 per cent holding.

Mr Stephen Ryan, who is operations director for the radio division of SBS Broadcasting, would be chief executive of Power FM and also hold a 3 per cent stake.

The remaining 2 per cent shareholding would be held by Mr Eugene McCarthy, the venture capitalist and former chairman of the Economic and Social Research Institute.

Chris Dooley

Chris Dooley

Chris Dooley is Foreign Editor of The Irish Times