The organisers of recent temporary radio station, The Rock, have described it as “a great success”.
The Rock broadcast a specialist classic rock music service to Cork, Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny and the North East, including counties Louth, North Meath, Cavan and Monaghan during September.
The temporary station was operated by a group connected to the shareholders of Radio NOVA.
The Rock’s Kevin Branigan pointed to thousands of messages received by people “of all ages” over the course of the station’s short period on air as proof that the temporary station brought “real diversity” to its broadcast area.
It’s the second time in two years for The Rock to broadcast to these areas.
“The strong response to the pilot station suggests there is a large constituency of people outside Dublin and commuter belt that would enjoy, and actively listen to, a service like this if it were available on a full-time basis”.
The Rock operated under a pilot license from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, whom Branigan describes as “visionary” in its policy of allowing access to the airwaves to groups wishing to trial new formats through temporary licences.
Radio NOVA has already expressed an eagerness in to extend its service to other parts of the country. “There is no service like Radio NOVA outside the Dublin Commuter area. Rock music is a very popular genre and, given the meteoric rise of NOVA in recent years, we have no doubt that it would be embraced around the country and would greatly add to diversity should the BAI decide to license new services in the future”, said Branigan.
The Rock is still available online and as a separate digital radio channel on the Radio NOVA mobile app.