Following the devastating news that TXFM was to be no more come the end of its license, 8radio has released a statement on the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s press release regarding no applications for the alt-rock license in Dublin.

The license in due for renewal after 10 years under Phantom FM/TXFM after their license was approved in October 2006. The license was advertised in late December 2015 and had a closing date of March 29th 2016. The BAI confirmed to GoldenPlec that as the closing date has now passed they will not be accepting any further submissions.

A committee on contract awards is due to meet in April to discuss this lack of applications and they may have something to consider if Simon Maher from 8Radio has anything to do it. The former Phantom FM founder and now proprietor of 8Radio, has added some context to the lack of their application and what they hope will happen going forward.

Simon and 8Radio put a lot of research into mounting a full license application and came to the decision to not proceed with an application due to the fact they felt “an application could be formulated that would have unseated the incumbent and also allowed for the service to develop in such a way as to maintain its ethos and independence”

The 8Radio model that they have been building with support services from other parties with commercial media experience is possible and would provide Dublin with a valuable radio station. Given the application deadline is now expired, 8Radio hope the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland will recognise the “need for a new model to maintain sustainable niche broadcasting in Ireland and that there is interest in providing such a service”. 8Radio would encourage the BAI to readvertise the Alternative Rock Licence at the earliest opportunity.

8Radio is planning a series of digital platform expansions over the next few months alongside applications for further temporary FM Broadcasts to Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway this Summer and Autumn.

Speaking today, 8Radio.com Managing Director Simon Maher said:

“Firstly, I obviously wish the staff of TXFM well. There are talented and passionate broadcasters at work there who I’m sure we will hear on Dublin radio again. From our own perpective, we are excited about the potential for 8Radio.com to continue build a business and programming model that will allow us to develop the station in a sustainable manner and maintain the ethos and values of the station. 8Radio.com was set up to provide a real alternative to other mainstream music services and to bring listeners back to traditional music radio who have been lost to streaming services such as Deezer, Spotify and elsewhere.

We hope that the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland will open the licencing process for the Alternative Music licence in Dublin as soon as possible and we look forward to putting our case to the Authority as to why we believe that 8Radio.com are best placed to provide such a service under a sustainable model of operation.

We’re also going to work to expand 8Radio.com’s reach this year and we’re also planning further Temporary FM broadcasts in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway this Summer and Autumn. Every day, more and more people listen to us to hear the music they like and the trust our audience puts in us pushes us all to work extra hard to make 8Radio.com better. Listeners trust us, because we respect them and that’s exactly how it should be.”

It’s exciting to hear that while TXFM may be leaving us in October, that already there is interest in an Alt-Rock license replacement and from the former Phantom FM man himself. Largely any application will now need to prove itself as financially viable for the future, which 8Radio seem confident of being able to showcase to the BAI.

Another thing to consider in a re-opened process is perhaps the re-emergence of Zed FM, who lost out 10 years ago to Phantom FM (in what ended up being a legal battle from Zed FM who felt Phantom had “bullied” their way to the license, which was eventually thrown out as not a matter for the courts to decide). TXFM and 8Radio were the only ones to register interest in the Alternative Rock license and TXFM became the first Denis O’Brien station to not automatically have the license renewed and then made the decision not to re-apply due to the lack of finding a way to make TXFM commercially viable.

Can Simon Maher and 8Radio find a way to make alternative rock license a commercially viable entity, we’ll be following this one intently and wishing them all the best in convincing the BAI to grant it a license.