UTV Radio chief warns of possible station closure

Scott Taunton, managing director of UTV, warned Imagine FM staff that, unless another solution can be found to cut the costs of maintaining Imagine FM's base, the station will shut down at the end of June.

Taunton said: "The station has been making a loss for the last few years and only ever made a cumulative profit between 1994 and 1997 of £120,000. All we wanted to do was move it into the purpose-built headquarters in Warrington where we are putting three of our other stations to save on the costs of running separate properties."

He added: "We weren't planning on sacking anyone or reducing costs in that way, but now the area could be left without a local station and 12 permanent staff and a number of freelancers could be without jobs."

Among Ofcom's reasons for rejecting the UTV proposal was that a station serving an area as large as Imagine should be expected to operate separate studios within its licensed area.

UTV is now searching for other ways of maintaining Imagine FM by working with other partners in the area, or possibly selling the station to a third party. In the meantime, UTV is pressing ahead with Ofcom-approved plans to co-locate Wish FM, Wire FM and Tower FM into new headquarters in November.