Bauer Media Audio of Germany, the proprietor of Today FM and Newstalk, has broadened its radio reach in Ireland through an agreement to purchase the youth-centric regional station, Beat 102-103. This deal, however, is subjected to regulatory approval, and the financial specifics are yet to be disclosed. The popular Beat 102-103 station commands a large listener base amongst the 15-34 age demographic in areas including Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford, and southern Tipperary, boasting a weekly listener total of 158,000.
Previous purchases by Bauer Media Audio Ireland include 98FM, Spin 1038 and Spin SouthWest, which were purchased together with its pair of national stations from Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp in 2021. Its Irish portfolio has since grown with acquisitions such as the Cork-based Red FM and iRadio, a youth-oriented music station catering to audiences in the northeast, midlands and northwest of Ireland. Alongside these, the portfolio includes the digital sports brand Off the Ball, listening platform GoLoud, audio advertising exchange audioXi, and media sales powerhouse Media Central.
The Bauer Media Audio Ireland-owned Beat, which initiated operations in July 2003, was already linked to the media group through a business partnership with Media Central. Once the new deal is finalised, Bauer Media Audio Ireland will own eight of the 34 commercial radio services licensed by Coimisiún na Meán. The weekly audience reach of the media firm is expected to surge to 2.24 million.
Chris Doyle, the interim chief executive of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, expressed delight in the decision to acquire Beat 102-103, citing the high-quality station’s pull amongst listeners in the Southeast. Bauer Media Group, a privately held, multimedia company based in Hamburg and led by Yvonne Bauer, operates radio services in nine European markets.