Breaking news (noon): A LANARKSHIRE radio station is going back on air – within less than a week after being closed down.
On Monday, at 10am, the song, Scottish Rain, looked set to be the last track to be played on L107, but a former radio boss – who has been working outside the industry for two years – has come in to save the station and the jobs of its staff.
L107 was started by former Radio 1 DJ, Mark Page, following the demise of a previous, local station, 107 The Edge.
Now, Alan Shields is the new owner.
Says Shields: “I’d been tipped off that the station was closing and contacted Mark, who said he was returning the [broadcasting] licence to [regulators] Ofcom. I contacted Ofcom and I’ve just heard I can take the licence. So, I have bought L107 from Mark.”
Shields declined to say how much the station has cost him. He has no immediate plans to change L107’s name, any staff or the style of its content – although he is adding one new name to the roster: Scottie McClue, who most recently was a presenter on Edinburgh-based talk107.
“I am a Lanarkshire businessman. I hate people losing their jobs. I know radio inside out. And I know about selling advertising in Scotland. Mark’s skills are in presenting, mine are in making sales. I know I can make L107 financially successful and am already looking to acquire at least one more radio station before the end of the year. Maybe even more after that.”
This afternoon, Shields will be contacting L107’s presenters to tell them they can return to work.
Shields has been spending the last two years running a company importing spectacles.
Before that he was the managing director (Scotland) of The Wireless Group, which used to own radio stations, Paisley-based Q96 and Dundee-based Wave102 – both of which are now under new ownership and, in the case of Q96, been re-branded.
