Energy 107.7 has launched a club music service for Mid-Ulster with tests starting today. The pop chart service on 106.6MHz will remain the same. The station originally planned for 107.7MHz - Magic Country - will now use 105.8FM

Radio Caroline's last pirate broadcast was ten years ago this Sunday. To mark the occasion, this week's 'Anorak Hour' from Phantom FM will have a special guest in the studio, Steve Conway, who worked on the Ross through the mid 80's, until he was one of 6 people rescued by helicopter when she ran aground on the notorious Goodwin Sands in November 1991. Steve will be talking about the Dutch Raid and the grounding as well as general stories about life on the Ross. Also scheduled for broadcast on the programme is an exclusive short documentary about last year's Caroline RSL from Southport pier. The item features airchecks of the broadcast as well as interviews with the main presenters and has not been played on air before...not even on Caroline. The Anorak Hour can be heard at 1pm on Sunday not only on 91.6FM and 102.9FM across Dublin, but across the world on the newly launched live webcast from Phantom and on demand here on Radiowaves.FM.

Limerick's Live 95FM were suffering transmission problems as a result of thunder and lightning this morning. The station was silenced in the middle of their midday news bulletin and remained off for about ten minutes.

Atlantic 252 have shown an increase in the latest release of RAJAR figures. The station have attracted 50,000 new listeners - an increase of 4%. Atlantic 252 broadcast to the British Isles on 252kHz long wave.

Sun 101FM were just a blank carrier for periods today but returned in the evening. Also blank today was DMR FM and another station blank for a short period was Freedom 92FM.

The newly revamped Magic 105 website is now live online. It includes the revolutionary Magic 'I' interactive service - expertly designed and provided by Northern Ireland Webmasters - which will be on test for the next six weeks. Magic 105 broadcasts to Northern Ireland on 105.1FM and 105.8FM plus the newly launched 101.5FM.

RTE's dealings with Century Radio and the cap on it's advertising rates cost the station approximately £20m, RTE's chief financial officer Gerry O'Brien claimed today at The Flood Tribunal.

Just after 3pm today, ABC 94FM was replaced on 87.6MHz by test transmissions, with a full launch scheduled for Monday at 7pm. ABC's plans were for a full-time Gold FM service on 87.6FM although no station name has been mentioned on the tests. ABC 94FM can now only be received on 94.3MHz in Dublin.

Automated programmes from WXTCs library are test broadcasting today in MP3 format from the station's website or, using winamp, by typing in this address 161.58.229.253:8000. DX reports are welcomed at radio@wxtc.net. New shows have also recently been added to the site.

ABC 94FM went off the air just after 1pm today and their test transmissions on 87.6MHz were also off for much of the day. Both services were restored in the afternoon. XFM were blank for much of the afternoon but are back on. Freedom 92FM have been on a blank carrier for most of the day and The Irish Mix is off the air yet again.

Mad Radio is off air today because of damage to their equipment caused by water in their studio. The station hope to be back broadcasting tomorrow with reduced power. Mad Radio broadcast to Dublin city on 93.2FM.

Freedom 92 returned to air this afternoon after the heavy rain affected their link equipment, forcing the station off the air since early yesterday.

Kiss FM Cork's closedown is now scheduled for this Saturday, 11th November at 6pm, according to their website. The crew will be in Daunt Square from 4pm signing petitions.

A 'Today Tonight' programme described as slanderous by Century Radio's co-founder, James Stafford, was aired at the Flood Tribunal today. The programme, originally broadcast on RTE television in February 1990, claimed that Century had misled advertisers and investors about the state of the station's finances. Century's financial projections when it started were "hopelessly inaccurate", the programme claimed, and although the promoters realised this, they still decided to go ahead with the launch.

DublinRadioNews.com, the internet-only station which will broadcast a rolling Dublin news and talk service, will now launch over the next few weeks, according to today's Irish Times. The station is run by Flycatcher.ie, who already have a dance service - www.wod1.com - online and are a sister company of FM104.

RTE may have gone out of business if the cap that the former Minister for Communications, Ray Burke, had placed on the station's advertising revenue had remained in place, Chief Financial officer for RTE claimed today at The Flood Tribunal. The cap was introduced in 1990, shortly after Century went on air and RTE would have lost over £186m to date had it not been abolished.

A new underground dance station is planned for 106.8FM in Cork. The station, called X-FM, hopes to be on air for the beginning of December, a spokesperson this evening told Radiowaves.

A station playing continuous dance music appeared today on 107.0MHz in Dublin.

In an unexpected move, the management of Kiss FM in Cork closed the station last night at 8.45pm, earlier than planned. The Cork airwaves are now very bare with all the unlicensed stations having closed down in the past couple of weeks. "You can now hear 96FM and County Sound on all their frequencies!", a Cork listener this evening told Radiowaves.

TCR (Tallaght Community Radio) have been receiving lots of phone-calls from listeners in Northern Ireland over the past few months, Radiowaves can reveal. The callers, however, think they are calling TCR (Tyrone Community Radio) but have been given TCR Tallaght's phone number by BT directory enquiries instead!

The Irish Mix on 90.3FM in Dublin have once again been broadcasting on a blank carrier for much of today.

Anna Livia FM will be off air all day tomorrow due to essential electrical work in their premises at Griffith College. Programming is due to return on Sunday morning. Anna Livia broadcast special interest programming to Dublin on 103.2FM.

The station playing continuous music on 105.9MHz in Wexford will be called Play FM and their music policy will be non-stop hits and dance. They are planning a move into a permanent studio very shortly and are also awaiting aerials which will give them a significant increase in power.

The non-stop dance music station, which appeared yesterday on 107.0MHz in Dublin, is now identifying itself as Empire Radio 107FM. It went off the air at 11am this morning and has been on and off all day.

Kiss FM in Dublin, which usually broadcasts on 105.8MHz, has been off the air this evening.

Mr Colm Curley, the former assistant director of engineering in RTE, today told the Flood Tribunal that they had helped Century Radio to come on air before the agreed start transmission dates and that, in some areas, Century had coverage nearly two years ahead of schedule. "[RTE's] technical staff were prepared to bend over backwards to get Century on air," he added. The statement is in contrast to Century's claims then, and now, that RTE did everything they could to make sure that Century Radio would fail. Meanwhile, the Tribunal has now heard differing accounts of the payment to the Minister for Communications, Ray Burke, from all three founders of the station, after Mr John Mulhearn today claimed that he had no advance knowledge of the payment.

Test transmissions from a station called Hot FM have been heard on 107.0MHz in Limerick in the past few days. The station had an RDS reading of HOT FM. Country Gold has also been heard testing in Limerick on 103.0MHz with a playlist consisting of continuous Country and Sixties music. Other unlicensed stations on in the city are: UCB on 87.7FM; Radio Limerick One on both 100.0FM and 105.0FM; Radio Galtee on 102.4FM; Magic 103.2; Image FM (RDS IMAGE FM) on 105.4FM and Kiss FM (RDS KISS) on 106.0FM and 106.3FM.

Plans to restart Radio Caroline Overdrive on Caroline's satellite delivered service are at advanced stages in France. A studio has been built and deejays Tom Anderson, Rob Harrison and Grant Bantson have been lined up to present the weekly transmission.

ABC 94FM and sister station Gold FM were both off air this afternoon for a short period. Gold FM can usually be heard on 87.6MHz and ABC 94FM on 94.3MHz in Dublin. Also, as expected, Anna Livia were off but managed an earlier than scheduled return to air this evening.

Empire Radio have an email address that they can be contacted at. It's empireradio@yourplace.co.uk.

Magic Country and Dance Energy are set to alternate their services on a single frequency, station engineer Miles Johnston told Radiowaves this morning. This is due to the burnout of Dance Energy's FM rig which has kept the station off the air almost since it started. Both stations will broadcast to Northern Ireland from their Monaghan base on 107.7FM and will adapt transmission times to suit potential audiences.

Power FM returned to the Cork airwaves this weekend on 94.9FM and K2 are due back on air on Wednesday, Pete Reed reported on today's Anorak Hour news.

Kiss FM, on 105.8FM in Dublin, were off the air most of the day due to technical problems.

Trinity FM are now broadcasting on 106.8FM in Dublin after receiving a temporary license from the IRTC to broadcast from today until next Sunday, the 19th of November. The station have an email address for information and feedback - feedback@trinityfm.com.

Jazz FM were off air this evening from 7pm with suspected link problems. Broadcasts resumed at 8pm "of their own accord", according to station manager Ollie Dowling but live programming was cancelled for the rest of the evening. The station also hope to resume stereo broadcasts by the weekend, after approximately two months of broadcasting in mono. This was because of a request from RTE to tone down because they needed to use Jazz FM's UHF link frequency for digital tests, which have now stopped.

Sun 101FM (101.3MHz) and Nova Dance (94.7MHz) were both having problems earlier today but are both back broadcasting again. Kiss FM (105.8MHz) in Dublin were once again off the air for most of the day but returned late in the evening.

A blank carrier has been heard on 105.5FM in Cork, the frequency that Kiss FM vacated last Wednesday. Radiowaves has received reports that Kiss FM have switched back on their transmitter to protect their frequency in the event of a failed licence bid.

TalkSport have won the exclusive rights to broadcast the biggest poker tournament on the planet. The inaugural Ladbroke Casinos Poker Million will take place at Hilton Isle of Man Casino, and, as the name suggests, has a top prize of £1m. The final will take place on Sunday 19th November at 6.30pm. TalkSport broadcast across the UK on 1053 and 1089kHz medium wave.

Jazz FM will cease broadcasting at 7pm on Sunday December 17th, station manager Ollie Dowling has told Radiowaves. The station, who broadcast to the capital on 89.8MHz, will be applying for a Jazz/R'n'B/Soul licence in the special interest category of the licence applications, due on the 5th January 2001. They will be winding down from December 1st, when there will be an hourly on-air request for ideas, suggestions and messages of support. Ollie also added that he will be keeping a blank carrier switched on after the closedown to protect the station's frequency in case the licence application ends in failure. He is not ready to lose it after five years of effort making Jazz FM the station it is and already suspects that there are moves to take over the frequency. In the meantime, messages of support etc can be sent to the station by any of these methods:- fax: 01 8733612; email: jazzfm@hotmail.com or by snail mail: Jazz FM, PO Box 4845, Dublin 6. Meanwhile, Jazz FM went off air again this morning at 10.30 and, if it hasn't returned by this evening, the station's engineer will be on site at 7.30 hoping to resolve the problem.

Power FM in Cork will be back on air this evening on 94.9MHz between the hours of 8pm and midnight, to say goodbye to their listeners and to explain their absence from the airwaves since an incident with an RTE representative on October 25th last. The station do plan to return in the future on a new frequency, away from the "RTE and licensed" section of the band but that may be a while away, station manager Rick Sky told Radiowaves. In relation to recent monitoring of Power FM, Rick says, "I have kept the transmitter switched off for some time now...you mentioned that the signal was heard recently...that was not me. It was another station on 94.90 called Radio Harmony [which] is a low power station (15W) operating from the southside of the city. It is continuous music (no links whatsoever) and the lone operator is using a non-crystal TX which sometimes drifts down to 94.75 so some people may think that I am on. Harmony comes on air most weekends only".

Empire Radio, the most recent addition to the Dublin airwaves on 107.0MHz, were off air tonight, presumably as a result of Trinity FM's appearance on 106.8FM.

An RTE executive today denied receiving a "thank you" payment of £5,000 from Oliver Barry, a director of Century Radio. The payment was closer to £1,600 or £1,700, Mr Peter Branigan said. The money went into a so-called "entertainment fund" to set up parties for RTE staff scattered around the country because Century were pleased with the work that had been done in getting the station on the air. Also today, for the first time, members of the IRTC were called upon to give evidence. Mr Vivian Murray said that it came "somewhat as a surprise" that the then Minister for Communications, Ray Burke, had himself nominated the solicitor, bank and accountant used by the IRTC.

Cork's alternative music station K2 plan to return to air but are presently looking for a new studio location. The station are also having problems retrieving their antenna from their old premises because of local unease about the noise levels caused by their broadcasts, Radiowaves has heard.

Power FM in Cork will be back on air again next Tuesday evening from 9pm on 94.9MHz, station manager Rick Sky told Radiowaves this evening. Although the station were on air as promised last night, they could not give their listeners a new frequency and so plan to return after a week of looking at the available options.

Fans of Today FM's Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show are in for a treat this Friday evening when the man behind Bertie and some of the other characters from the show will appear on The Late, Late Show on RTE1 and Tara TV for Sky Digital viewers. Whether the show's Gay Byrne character will also be making an appearance is not clear! It's all a barely concealed promotion of Bertie's Xmas album 'Gift' which will be on sale in shops from Friday.

Ireland's first official radio broadcast was from 2RN - seventy-five years ago in January. To commemorate the event, RTÉ Radio 1 (as 2RN has become) will present a show filled with listener's favourite radio moments from their seventy-five years on air. It will be presented by Ronan Collins and will air for three hours on January 1st, 2001.

Century Radio were almost stopped from going on air, the Tribunal heard today. The chairman of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC), Mr Justice Henchy rang Century the day before it was due on air and warned them that their failure to provide Irish language programming was against the terms of their licence and they would be stopped from broadcasting. Also today, former members of the IRTC said that they were 'taken aback' at the amount of £1.1m that RTE were seeking for providing transmission facilities for Century Radio. Fred O'Donovan said that he thought that the amount was ridiculous. All of the IRTC members so far questioned have also indicated that the then Minister for Communications, Ray Burke, never interfered in the selection process nor were they ever canvassed by Century Radio for their vote. Mr Fred O'Donovan, former IRTC member, said that more than 1000 applications were received for licences but most were from 'headcases'! "Many of the applications were from accountants who, in my opinion, came from the Hans Christian Anderson school of economics - they were crazy", he said. Four applications were received for the national licence and after discussions, 80-90% of members favoured the Century proposal.

Power FM's new broadcast frequency will be 104.6FM, station manager Rick Sky this evening told Radiowaves. The station hope to move to the new frequency soon but plan to continue broadcasting on Tuesday's on 94.9FM until then. 104.6MHz was most recently used by Radio Friendly who closed down at the end of October to apply for a licence. "I wish them the best of luck," Rick added.

Ireland's nationally licensed service Today FM produced profits of almost £1.2m for the year ending September 30th. The station struggled to break even in it's early years when it was known as Radio Ireland, but a revamp plus the signing of Ian Dempsey has seen it go from strength to strength. Richard Findley, manager of Scottish Radio Holdings which owns 22% of the station, said that "Today FM has done very well, it's audience share is up and advertising tends to follow. It has the capability to grow and we would be very supportive of their growth plans.

Eamon Dunphy's Today FM programme 'The Last Word' is to be mirrored on an online channel, described as being a "new media concept". The programme's production team are also signed up as part of the deal meaning that contributions from the programmes familiar cast of characters will also be included on the project, which is called "slash/ed".

Phantom FM's 102.9FM transmitter was off the air for a large part of this afternoon due to a power cut at the studio end. The 91.6FM transmitter was broadcasting as normal.

The chief executive of the IRTC, Mr Michael O'Keefe, today described as 'utter nonsense' the allegation that two senior Fianna Fail members were operating a 'price list' for the award of radio licences. The co-founder of Century Radio, Mr James Stafford, had told the Tribunal that in 1988, Ray Burke and PJ Mara were operating a price list for licences and that his business partner, Mr Oliver Barry had told him this. The claim has been denied by Burke, Mara and Barry. Also today, former IRTC member, Ms Terry Prone, said that she had had 'reservations' about Century Radio's application for a radio licence. Asked why, she said that the application was 'predicated almost entirely' on Gay Byrne being a part of their schedule. She also called the station's plans to mimic RTE Radio1's schedule a 'fatal marketing error'. Another problem was that no agreement had been reached regarding the transmission fees that needed to be paid to RTE. This would 'blow a hole' in the figures upon which the decision to give Century a licence was based.

Power cuts caused by a transformer meltdown forced Gold FM, Jazz FM, Phantom FM's 91.6, Premier FM, Energy's 93.8, ABC 94FM, Nova Dance and Sun 101.3FM off air this evening. Most returned around 10.30pm. Source: Billy Dane

The IRTC believed RTE was trying to tax Century Radio for use of its transmission network, the Tribunal heard today. Former assistant principal of the IRTC, Mr Paul Appleby, came under intense questioning on why the commission did not seek independent advice on transmission charges. Mr Appleby said that it was the minister's function to ultimately fix transmission charges. However, it was pointed out that the minister would only do so if the commission requested it. Mr Appleby also said that he believed none of the applicants for a national radio licence in 1988 would have been profitable within three years. He told the Tribunal that he made this conclusion from his own financial analysis of the applicants. Mr Appleby also said that he was unaware that the Chairman and Secretary of the IRTC met with Century Radio's directors the day after the oral submissions for licences were made.

BBC Five Live can now be received on the Sky Digibox in the Irish Republic, although unfortunately not through the Sky EPG. Despite this, there is still silence on the ntl frequency which was once the home of FiveLive in Dublin. Also now available on Sky Digital for the first time in the Republic are the UK terrestrial television stations BBC One and BBC Two (the English versions) plus Channel 4 and Channel 5. BBC News 24, BBC Knowledge and all four BBC Choice regional variations are also available. To upgrade to receive S4C, the Welsh version of Channel 4, call 00448705 663363. Source: Brian O'Grady.

The Independent Radio and Television Commission has received seven applications for the Cork city and county licence to compete with 96FM and it's offshoot, County Sound 103FM. Manchester United stars Roy Keane and Denis Irwin are 4% shareholders in one of the consortiums, headed by Today FM, who hope to set up a station called Beat FM. A consortium including the owner of 98FM in Dublin, Denis O'Brien, are proposing a station to be called Cork Kix FM. FM104 also get a look-in as shareholders in their company make up part of a consortium who want to place Redhot FM on the Cork airwaves. Cork's 96FM's owner is also amongst the bidders and would like a station called Sonic Fm to share the airwaves with his other interests. A partnership of Radio Kerry and Dublin's easy-listening station, Lite FM hope to see Magic FM given the licence whilst Setanta Sports, who have held a number of temporary licences, are proposing a station called Deep South FM. Clare FM, in partnership with LMFM - Louth and Meath's local licence holder - are hoping Capital FM gets the licence. The IRTC is likely to hold oral hearings with a shortlist of applicants in January, with the winning licence to be announced before March.

Sun 101FM, on a blank carrier since last night, returned to normal early this afternoon.

Every commercial radio station in the country has been asked by the Flood Tribunal to report any approaches made to them by politicians asking for cash in return for granting broadcast licences, the Sunday Business Post reports today. Details of station's shareholders and finances have also been requested by the Tribunal, which has been investigating the award of the first national licence to Century Radio in 1989. "Most stations have received 'strictly confidential' correspondence from the Tribunal," one station manager confirmed. "The initial contact was basically a straight question asking if any shareholders had paid money to Ray Burke or any other minister. Then further correspondence looked for company backgrounds and shareholdings." Conal O'Morain, an unsuccessful applicant for the national licence back in 1989, has also told the Sunday Business Post that he was asked by former IRTC chief executive, Sean Connolly, "...to meet me in Bewley's...and suggested that I apply for the local Dublin licence". Although he applied, the licences were eventually awarded to FM104 and 98FM.

Empire Radio disappeared from the airwaves last Tuesday after a visit by the ODTR owing to interference to the other stations on that part of the band, according to a caller to the Anorak Hour today.

Magic 105 are testing a live web stream which they hope to make available to the public soon. Stay tuned for details! Magic 105 broadcast to Northern Ireland from their site in Co Monaghan and are the station behind the interactive Magic 'I', the online jukebox where users can select tracks to be played on air.

Tests for BCR FM are going out on 103.8FM in Dublin. The station will begin full broadcasts from Blackrock College on a temporary licence from tomorrow morning at 8am. It is due to finish this Friday, the 24th.

Radiowaves has received an unconfirmed report of a station playing continuous dance music on 102.4FM in Dundalk. Any further information would be welcomed.

Phantom FM suspended live programming before 1pm this afternoon to allow for essential maintenance work. Live transmissions returned with this week's Anorak Hour.

Kiss FM in Dublin were on a blank carrier this morning but are now broadcasting as normal on 105.8FM.

Waterford's ABC Power 104FM unveiled a new professional jingle package on air today. The station are still busy preparing for the day the IRTC invites applications for a licence in their area. "As soon as they make that announcement", a spokesperson for the station said, "we will close very shortly afterwards in order to prepare the final stages of the application which we have been working on for some years now."

A few stations have been having problems on the Dublin airwaves today. Sun FM were on a blank carrier all day on 101.3FM. They returned late in the evening. Jazz FM, who continue to suffer from audio problems, were off the air from mid-morning, returning early afternoon on 89.8FM. Power FM (97.2MHz) were on a blank carrier for some of the afternoon and Freedom 92FM went blank shortly after they finished their relay of this morning's BBC Radio 1 programming but returned not long afterwards. Finally, Nova Dance on 94.7FM were broadcasting on very low power as a result of ongoing technical difficulties.

The former secretary of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC), Mr Sean Connolly, today told the Tribunal that he believed that the RTE transmission fees were deliberately set too high to frighten contenders for the first independent radio licences. He said that the IRTC noted the transmission charges and decided to refer the matter to then Minister for Communications, Ray Burke. Mr Connolly agreed, however, that the Commission did not carry out any analysis on the figures. He also said that Mr Burke did not tell him how the IRTC should be run but that the Minister was anxious that it should be set up quickly, to combat the pirate stations. Mr Connolly told the Tribunal that he knew agreement between RTE and the department had been reached on transmission fees and that was the day before the IRTC's oral hearings for radio licences and the matter was of key importance for the licence applications. Century had said they would not pay any more than £375,000 - the agreed figure however, was almost double that. In effect Century could have been ruled out at this stage, but the IRTC decided not to ask them about this matter during the public hearings. Mr Connolly felt the figure was not a final one and believed that the IRTC did not want to tie Century's hands in its ongoing negotiations with RTE. Eventually, interventions by Ray Burke had the effect of reducing the fee. Later, evidence given by Mr Connolly stated that the IRTC was concerned that the level of contact during contract negotiations in 1989 between Ray Burke and Century Radio was 'unusual'. There was concern that Century's first port of call on issues of importance was Ray Burke and not the IRTC. He was being questioned about comments he made at a lunch meeting with Century executives shortly after the station went on air when he said that the Commission thought Century were too highly politicised and that there was a degree of suspicion behind their motives. Mr Connolly said relations with Century deteriorated after they got the licence and the ministerial directive on transmission charges. One particular instance recalled by Mr Connolly was over the issue of news and Irish language programming. Ray Burke suggested that Century should be allowed to 'grow' into a full news service and into it's licensed Irish language requirements but the IRTC took a strong view and nearly prevented the station from coming on air.

Listeners to the FM band in Cork will be able to listen to a relay of Phantom FM's 'Anorak Hour' from tonight. The first relay will be at midnight, simulcasted on both Power FM and Alternative Radio Cork. The programme will be aired on a weekly basis on a deferred relay. Frequencies for the broadcast are 94.9MHz (Power FM) and 98.2MHz (ARC).

The UK's Office of Fair Trading has been asked to investigate a complaint against Merlin Communications International Ltd, who hold the sole licence to broadcast on short wave from the UK. The company broadcasts the BBC's World Service and transmits programmes for overseas state radios, as well as for a variety of private organisations and also programming for itself. The complaint comes from the man behind Radiofax, an independent science and technology service. Trevor Brook cites Merlin's monopoly of short wave broadcasting as a possible contravention of the 1973 Fair Trading Act because the Government will not grant a short wave licence to anybody else. Since Trevor Brook requested a licence in 1984, the government has refused to issue a licence, claiming there is no capacity on short wave. This led him, in August 1997, to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which ruled recently that the UK Government could not be compelled to permit independent stations on short wave because it did allow independent operators on the medium wave and FM bands.

The authority of the Flood Tribunal to investigate the activities of The Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) was called into question today by Mr Justice Seamus Henchy, himself a former Supreme Court judge. Mr Henchy was being questioned about his term as IRTC chairman. When asked about his appointment as chairman of the IRTC, he replied that he did not remember how he came to be appointed. He also stated that he knew nothing about any payment to Ray Burke. His response to many of the questions he was asked was that he couldn't remember and at one point he said "I don't see the relevance of all this, why should I be asked these questions." He pointed out that the Flood Tribunal was not a court of law and so had no jurisdiction other than the powers bestowed on it by the Dail. He added that this precluded it the power to investigate the IRTC, which is an independent body. In the evidence he did give, Mr Henchy said that the IRTC was never influenced by the former Minister for Communications, Ray Burke. He also said that he felt fully authorised to seek a directive from Mr Burke to cut RTE's transmission charge. Other former members of the IRTC also gave evidence today. Continuing from yesterday's session, Mr Sean Connolly said that there was neither unwarranted intervention or any inducements offered in awarding the licence to Century Radio.

RTÉ presenter Uaneen Fitzsimons was killed in a car accident at around 1pm this afternoon near Borris-in-Ossory in Co Laois. The accident happened when the car in which she was a passenger collided with an articulated lorry. The car's driver, a 30 year old man, was taken to Portlaoise hospital. Uaneen was returning from a music bash in Limerick and would have travelled by train, but for a countrywide rail strike. She was 29 years old and presented 'No Disco' on Network Two and a late-night programme on 2FM. Her hometown was Co Down and her distinctive voice and presentation style brought pleasure to radio listeners all over the country. Uaneen was due on air on 2FM tonight at 11pm. As a tribute, the station will now broadcast concerts from her three favourite bands:- Beck (Witness), Moby (Slane) and Radiohead. There is also a book of condolences at RTE's website - www.rte.ie. Comment: Our deepest sympathies go to friends and family.

BBC Five Live has returned to the ntl cable system. The station disappeared from Astra's analogue fleet at 19.2E at the start of September due to rights restrictions which also affected cable carriage in the Republic of Ireland. Meanwhile, around 11pm tonight, Five Live on Sky Digital (along with the UK television channels) once again became unavailable to Irish Republic subscribers. Source: Brian O'Grady.

Tallaght's local radio station, TCR 107.2, have launched a major publicity campaign across the south west Dublin area and tied in with the campaign is a chance to win a multimedia computer package. The station have produced thousands of brochures which includes their current broadcast schedule and is being delivered to letterboxes across Dublin 24. Between now and December 7th a question will be asked on air several times a day and the answer can be found in the brochure.

Power FM in Dublin were on a blank carrier early this morning on 97.2MHz but are now broadcasting as normal. Freedom 92FM were also blank for a short period tonight.

A secret application by Century Radio for one of the Dublin radio licences was fronted by businessman, Mr Paschal Taggart, the Tribunal heard today. Century Radio was an applicant for the national licence in 1988 but decided to also apply for a Dublin licence and commissioned Mr Taggart to draw up a business plan and file an application in the name of Dublin One Radio Ltd. Mr James Stafford of Century has told the Tribunal that his involvement in the Dublin application was not disclosed because it might have affected the chances of getting the national licence. According to Mr Taggart, Century co-founder, Mr Oliver Barry, asked him to front the application for the Dublin licence. Later disagreements between the two men over finances led to the application being scrapped and it was never submitted to the IRTC. Mr Taggart also said that he had never been approached to pay money for a licence nor was he aware of rumours that money was being sought for licences. Also today, it was revealed by Ms Noreen Hynes, formerly of Century, that the station's finances were so bad by the time it launched in September 1989 that their launch party needed to be scaled down. "Century could not afford an elaborate celebration", she said. Ms Hynes also revealed that a sum of £26,250 was never explained to her despite being listed as an expense in Century's accounts. In earlier evidence, however, it emerged that the sum consisted of £21,250 invested in the secret Dublin radio licence bid and a £5,000 donation to Fianna Fail.

The Flood Tribunal is now at day 210. With 16 more sittings it will become the longest running tribunal in the history of the state!

The County Media Group, which includes 96FM and County Sound in Cork, is to be bought for £28.5m by UTV, the ITV franchise holder in Northern Ireland. The price does not include a debt of £3m, liability to be assumed by the buyer. The deal was finalised this week and is subject to approval by the Independent Radio and Television Commission. UTV plan to revamp the stations and have also gained a foothold into the bidding for a new licence in Cork, as County Media holds a 27% stake in the consortium proposing to broadcast under the name of Sonic FM. County Media managing director Colm O'Conaill, formerly of unlicensed station ERI, and commercial director Ronan McManamy will remain at the company and continue to manage the radio broadcasting side of the business.

A South African radio commentator was threatened with jail at Lansdowne Road last Sunday. Johan Rademann, of Radio Sonder Grense, claims to have been manhandled by an aggressive security officer whilst in the middle of his commentary. The incident took place because the names given as co-commentators did not match with those written down. Two accreditation passes had been sold on the black market which were tracked down to Rademann, according to the Irish Rugby Football Union. When the commentator was asked for an explanation, he refused to comment.

Hits 106, who broadcast into Dublin on 106.1 and Wicklow on 107.1, were broadcasting a blank carrier for a long period today.

Bank of Ireland chairman, Laurence Crowley, who is a former non-executive chairman of Century Radio, today denied signing a misleading letter to the Independent Radio and Television Commission. The letter contained figures, described by lawyers for the Tribunal as profoundly misleading, which were used to apply for a ministerial directive to have transmission fees from RTE reduced. Mr Crowley said that he was acting on the advice of executives. Mr Crowley also claimed to have only heard some months later of a controversial £35,000 payment to former Minister for Communications, Ray Burke. The payment was made in cash by Century director Oliver Barry in May 1989, four months after the award of the national radio licence to the station. Mr Barry claims that the payment was a political donation. In a busy day giving evidence, Laurence Crowley also said he was unaware of the secret investment in Century of Mr John Mulhearn and only became aware of it when it emerged at the Tribunal. He attended a number of meetings in which Mr Mulhearn, son-in-law of Charles Haughey, was present, but was not told by the other directors that he was an investor.

Michael Laffan, former chief executive of Century Radio, today said that the station could have been made to work "if there'd been a steadier hand on the tiller at board level". He criticised the station's directors for their hands-on involvement in the company's daily business. Mr Laffan, who left Century just nine months into his three year contract, said that he was required to make a 40% cut in costs by panic-stricken directors within six weeks of the station going on air, despite being told that funds would not be a problem when he joined. Mr Laffan also said that RTE did not welcome Century Radio as a competitor and that there always seemed to be "a degree of anger and frustration " in discussions between Century and RTE, who seen the new station as invading their territory and using their equipment whilst at the same time, they were approaching some of their established stars. The Tribunal resumes on Monday.

Maryknoll, the consortium behind Cork KiX FM, have outlined details of the station they hope wins the new radio licence for Cork. The consortium is backed by, amongst others, Radio 2000 who broadcast in Dublin as 98FM. The station would be music-driven and aimed at the lucrative 15-34 year old market. Programming would be mainly contemporary music - including pop and dance - and there would be specialist programming too. The schedule also makes provisions for local, national and international news as well as sport and talk shows.

Hits 106 were broadcasting on a blank carrier for most of this evening. The station, who broadcast to Dublin and Wicklow, returned at about 8.30pm.

Sun FM now have RDS on their signal reading SUN FM. The station broadcast eighties music to Dublin on 101.3FM.

Some members of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) have serious concerns about UTV's proposed takeover of County Media, the Sunday Tribune reports today. Sources said that the planned buyout is against IRTC ownership policy. Under existing policy, no member can own more than 27% of a radio station and no single group can hold more than 46% of a station. The IRTC will consider the deal at it's next meeting in the middle of next month.

Magic 105FM are now available worldwide on the web. The station are streaming live and can be heard by typing http://166.90.143.152:8540 into any streaming software.

Century Radio have asked the Flood Tribunal to seek out a report carried out in the eighties for RTE which is believed to have estimated that they had at least 200 too many staff. Century hope to use the information to establish that the transmission charges set by RTE were based on an inflated cost structure. RTE dropped it's initial asking price of £1.14m in two stages to less than £400,000 after interventions by Ray Burke. Source: Sunday Business Post

ABC 94FM were broadcasting a blank carrier this morning on 94.3MHz. They returned just after 11am. Also suffering problems today are Freedom 92FM.

A live breakfast service from Phantom FM debuted today at 7am. Presented by ex-Caroline jock Steve Conway, the station are testing listener response to the new programme for a week. The breakfast show can be heard between 7am and 9am on 91.6FM and 102.9FM in Dublin. Source: Kevin Kennedy.

Simon Mayo is leaving BBC Radio 1 in February to join BBC Five Live, it was announced today. He will present his farewell show on February 16 and begin broadcasting an afternoon current affairs show on Five Live in May. Simon, aged 42, has been with Radio 1 since 1986 and in that time presented the Breakfast Show for five years and has been in his current mid-morning slot for seven. As a result, the existing daytime presenters on Radio 1 will mostly have an hour added to their show. The new schedule, operational from Monday February 19th 2001, will see Scott Mills given an extra half-hour, finishing at 7am. The Breakfast Show with Sara Cox will be extended to three hours between 7am and 10am. Jo Whiley will move from her lunchtime slot to 10am followed by Mark 'n' Lard skinning the competition (ALIVE!) from 1pm. Chris Moyles will start an hour earlier at 3pm and the lunchtime 'Newsbeat' will move to 12.45pm. Present afternoon FiveLive presenter Ian Payne will be moved to the evening show 'Sport on 5'.

Power FM, who broadcast on 97.2MHz, were on a blank carrier for most of this morning.

The former solicitor for Century Radio, Mr Enda Marron, today told the Flood Tribunal that he believed the payment of £35,000 to Ray Burke was a personal donation in cash by Oliver Barry. This evidence conflicts with what Mr Barry has told the Tribunal about the payment. Oliver Barry claimed that it was made on behalf of Century Radio with the knowledge of the other promoters. However, James Stafford and John Mulhern have denied any advance knowledge of the payment. Mr Marren was also asked what he knew of the involvement of Mr John Mulhern, who was a secret investor in Century. Mr Marren said that he only became aware of what Mr Mulhern's involvement in Century was when the company went into liquidation. The chairman of the Tribunal, Mr Fergus Flood announced that there would be no more sittings until Friday owing to the death of his mother-in-law.

BBC Five Live has held onto the exclusive contract for UK rights to live Premiership matches. The station has signed a deal giving them rights to cover England's top football competition live for another three years from the start of next season - August 2001. The number of live matches broadcast by the station will also increase from 120 to 180 matches per season. Five Live's major rival, TalkSport, will for the first time be allowed to provide scoreflashes and report on major incidents from each game. Both stations can be heard on the medium wave band across much of the country and Five Live is available through most cable system providers.

Power FM - who broadcast to Cork - are to go off air until the arrival of a new antenna. The station have made temporary broadcasts on the last three Tuesday evenings on 94.9MHz but tonight's will be the last. They plan to return in the future on a new frequency of 104.6FM.

Nova Dance, on 94.7FM, were broadcasting on a blank carrier for the best part of this morning. Power FM were also on a blank carrier for part of this afternoon. Hot Radio were having problems this evening but are now broadcasting as normal.

A new station called Rhythm FM is on air since this afternoon broadcasting dance music to Dublin and Wicklow. Occupying 103.5MHz on the FM band, the station is currently testing and they hope to increase power shortly. Live programming is planned for the evenings and the station have a contact number: (01) 2869782.

Luv FM are back on air in Cork. The station returned last night on 107.3FM, complete with a new jingle package.

Reaction to the Anorak Hour relays in Cork has been very positive and many people have been in touch with Power FM after last nights final station broadcast on 94.9FM. Station manager Max Power has told Radiowaves that he hopes to broadcast any missed episodes of the programme in a marathon session over Christmas.

Tests were heard in Cork today from CSN FM and they will continue through tomorrow. The station is run by the radio students in Colaiste Stiofain Naofa who will be launching on a temporary licence to the city on 106.7FM from next Thursday (7th) until mid-April. The station plan to broadcast for two hours every Thursday between the hours of 12midday and 2pm. A spokesperson for the station told Max Power that they will be featuring community news from the Ballyphehane, Togher and Greenmount areas, which cover about 5% of the city, although the station signal will be citywide. Also aired will be a mix of music ranging from Randy Crawford to Sonique!

The UK's Radio Authority has advertised a new FM licence to serve Omagh and Eniskillen and surrounding areas in the south-west of Northern Ireland. The licence is for an eight year period and is expected to be announced early next Summer.

Power FM were once again on a blank carrier early this morning. The station will be doing a lot of upgrades over the coming months and also say there will be more focus on their web project.

Freedom 92FM's relay of BBC Radio 1 has been affected by the weather! Freedom relays the UK national pop station from satellite every morning but the dish is suffering at the moment due to heavy wind, which meant that only the Breakfast Show was relayed this morning. A spokesman for the station told Radiowaves that they hope to have the problem sorted as soon as possible but it may be Monday before normality returns. Freedom are currently reviewing how Radio 1's schedule changes in February will affect the time of their relays. No decisions have yet been made. Freedom FM (and BBC R1) can be heard on 92.0MHz around Dublin. Freedom 92's link problems are now sorted but the station would like to hear from anybody who is experiencing any reception difficulties. They can be contacted at freedom92fm@ireland.com

"Feedback about the Breakfast Show on Phantom has been very positive," Pete Reed, Phantom FM's general manager has told Radiowaves. The show, which is testing for a week between the hours of 7-9am, is almost certain to continue, he added. This is the latest in Phantom FM's increase in live broadcast hours. The station now have live programming from 2pm each weekday and broadcast through until 1am at night.

Three stations in Dublin were affected by a power cut this afternoon. Freedom 92FM, DMR FM (93.2MHz) and Hot Radio's 99.4FM transmissions were all knocked out. Freedom returned at 6.20pm. DMR FM were broadcasting on a blank carrier for a period before power went and returned, still blank. Hot Radio's 99.4 transmitter failed to return but the station were still receivable by retuning to 99.1MHz. Power FM on 97.2MHz were once again on a blank carrier early this morning.

Dundalk's Kiss FM have returned to the airwaves having been off as a result of storm damage. The station are also about to relaunch their website but you can still hear them live at www.kiss106.com

Cork's Kiss FM have turned off their blank carrier on 105.5FM.