The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland will today announce who is to be granted a licence for a national religious radio broadcasting service.
Two consortiums - Spirit Radio and Yes Radio - made presentations at public hearings in Dublin last month for the licence.
They had been selected for the public hearings by the BCI from five applications for the licence.
The Spirit Radio consortium, which has a budget of €2.4 million, said its station would be based in Athlone. It would have 14 full-time and 10 part-time staff.
It would also supply an FM service in five unspecified cities.
Programming would be music- and talk-based, with a strong regional focus with ethnic and bilingual elements, as well as a three-hour Irish-language programme every week
The group said most listeners were expected to be in the 25-54 age category and it was aiming for a 1 per cent listenership, or 25,000, in the first year.
Yes Radio said it expected its primary audience would be in the 25-44 age group, with the 45-64s a secondary audience. It planned to employ 37 full-time staff and nine part-time, with 10 contract presenters. Yes Radio said it plans to invest €4.7 million in the venture.
The group proposed to broadcast a mix of talk and music, with an emphasis on family values, and with content as multidenominational as possible.
It was intended to broadcast from Monaghan, and from Laois within three years of set-up.
They expected a listenership of 2 per cent in the first year, 3 per cent by year two, and 4 per cent by the third year.