This article is from page 60 of the 2009-01-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 60 JPG
SUBSTANTIAL start up costs have resulted in a regional radio station, which has former Irish rugby captain Keith Wood amongst its directors and main shareholders, incurring losses of almost €1 million.
According to accounts recently returned to the Companies Office Spin South West, which broadcasts to the Shannon region, had accumu- lated losses of €996,341 at the end of 2007.
The station started broadcasting in the second half of 2007 and a spokes- man said yesterday that the accounts are for the initial six months of trad- ing and reflect the high set-up costs involved in launching a radio sta- tion.
“In our business plan submitted to the Broadcasting Commission of Ire- land (BCI), we anticipate losses for the first four years of trading, but we are confident we will not alone reach but exceed targets set out in that busi- ness plan given that we have already soared to the top in terms of listener- ship figures.
‘In the space of just twelve months , we became the number one listened- to radio station and top market share for 15 to 34 year olds in the region, which is unprecedented for newly launched stations and completely bucks the trend for regional radio stations.
“The 15 to 34 year old market is the biggest spending segment in so- ciety and the one the vast majority of
advertisers wants to reach. Because SPIN South West is already the dominant force in that sector in this region means we can look forward to a very bight future indeed.”
The accounts show that Kulla- loe man, Keith Wood has 200,000 Shares in the station and also sits on the board. Also on the board 1s chief executive of Clare FM, Liam O’Shea who owns 100,000 shares.
Other shareholders include the own- ers of Clare FM, Clare Community Radio Holdings plc, Communicorp Group Ltd, Stockbyte multimillion- aire, Jerry Kennelly, John O’Connor and Setanta Radio Ltd.
Spin South West beat off competi- tion from a consortium that included
Red FM from Cork that counted An- thony Dinan, the managing director of Thomas Crosbie Holdings which owns