Real Radio in Scotland has agreed the acquisition of the Q96 broadcast licence in Paisley for an undisclosed sum. The radio station with a TSA of 690,000 was launched in September 1992 and was part of the network of local stations that UTV inherited when they acquired TWG.
Real Radio is currently seeking permission from OFCOM to co-house the station within their building in Glasgow while agreeing to honour the station?s local format. If agreed, the station will change name to a new GMG brand, yet to be announced.
Billy Anderson, Managing Director of Real Radio Scotland said: “Q96 is a great opportunity for us to deliver a different radio station for the area and it will benefit from a huge array of expertise including marketing, programming and news coverage which in turn will create new job opportunities that can only be good for the local community”.
Scott Taunton, CEO of UTV Radio said: “We are at an exciting stage in the development of UTV?s radio business in the UK and in a highly challenging time for the radio industry, the key to success comes from portfolio management. For Real Radio the acquisition displays its ambition to attain greater coverage around Glasgow. The contiguousness of Q96 makes perfect geographic sense for them, allowing us to concentrate on our East coast assets. We will look to grow our UK business through both acquisition and application and continue to increase our investment into our existing local stations”.
UPDATE: 29th June: Ofcom have published the full consultation document on this matter. Click here to download.
The acquisition will be completed on October 1st this year.