RADIO LISTENERSHIP figures published last month were music to the ears of Kevin Branigan, chief executive of new Dublin rock station Radio Nova.
The ratings gave Nova 120,000 weekly listeners – a strong start for a station only on air 18 weeks at that stage.
“We’re off to a good start,” he told me over coffee this week. “We’re looking forward to the next [JNLR] book in May.”
Nova, which is aimed at the 25-54 age group, went live on September 1st and according to Branigan is “on budget” with its finances.
The station had forecast revenues of €1.6 million for its first year (end August 2011) with costs running at just more than €2 million.
Nova was projected to hit break even in year three but Branigan believes this could be achieved by the end of 2011.
“We’re ahead of the game. And the more listeners we have the more ads we can sell.”
Rumours had circulated that Nova was planning to swap Nova’s Dublin licence for the quasi-national licence held by sister station 4FM.
“No, we’re not planning to do that . . . it’s not on the cards,” he assured me.
“Nova is a Dublin radio station and we’ll be keeping it as a Dublin station.”
Branigan is an investor in Bay Broadcasting, which owns a big stake in Nova and owns 99 per cent of 4FM.
This followed a recent restructuring of 4FM, which saw its original shareholders, including The Irish Times,exit the business.
4FM has quit its premises at Golden Lane and moved in to Nova’s building in Dublin’s Docklands.
Jim Miley will step down as chief executive at the end of April, with Seán Ashmore, an investor in East Coast Radio in Bray and Dublin’s Country, taking over.
Its focus is also to move the station away from talk to music. “We’re not trying to be a news station any more,” Branigan said.
A name change is also planned. Staff were briefed this week about the change in brand, which will require the approval of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
Branigan said the plan is also to get the station to break even within 12 months.
The plan is to focus on building the audience, to make it more female-oriented and for the over-45s. “It will be a tall order but we’re confident we can do it.”
