Bay Broadcasting, the company behind Classic Hits 4FM and a shareholder in Sunshine 106.8 has taken 100% ownership of Radio Nova, having acquired the shareholdings owned by veteran radio investors Vienna Investments, Des Whelan and tech investor Pat McDonagh.
Bay Broadcasting, which already had a 38% stake in Radio Nova and is understood to have bought all other sharholders out as part of a move to develop a more strategic plan for its radio assets.
The buyout is understood to have been approved by the BAI and is now expected to be considered by the CPPC.
Nova launched in 2010 and has developed a strong brand position in the market. It was granted a 10-year licence by the BAI in 2010 to broadcast a rock music service to Dublin and the wider commuter belt and has 136,000 listeners.
The station’s CEO, Kevin Branigan, paid tribute to the departing sharholders: “We’ve benefitted from a very experienced and dynamic board and shareholder base up to now and this has helped us get to a very good market position”. Branigan now points to investment in programming as being key to the station’s future growth plans. “We’ve already begun a growth strategy with the appointment of broadcaster Colm Hayes as Programme Director earlier this year and our audience is on an upward growth curve”.
Nova is based at Castleforbes House in Dublin 1, where it has been joined in recent years by Classic Hits and Sunshine 106.8. It is the only Dublin radio station to have the commuter belt counties of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow included in its franchise area.
