What a pickle.

First of all, to set the scene, one of our dimwitted politicos has instigated yet another Parliamentary review of Manx Radio. A report has been published and Parliament will deliberate in due course. In amidst the report was some comment about Radio TT. We also have a former politician who runs a rival radio station (Energy FM) and he wants a slice of the government pie now he's lost his seat. Finally we have a very new Parliament who have decided that all large contracts go out to open tender.

Now in the real world, Radio TT should pay for the broadcasting rights and hope that it recovers its outlay through advertising. Sadly that isn't possible. The TT has several signature sponsors and Radio TT can't use an advertiser which conflicts with a signature sponsor (Monster Energy and Red Bull for example). This means that whoever operates Radio TT has to do so with one hand tied behind its back in terms of advertising revenue and its presenters also have to promote the signature sponsors wherever possible. Ever heard "welcome to the TT fuelled by Monster Energy"?.

This means that its not possible to raise advertising revenue in the conventional way and results in the IOM Government having to pay a broadcaster to cover it. As Manx Radio is wholly owned by the Government in any case, all we're talking about is an internal funds transfer. Its farcical really.

They put out ferry services for expressions of interest and received none. They're likely to put this out for tender and will get a similar response. The bidder will need to have the infrastructure and frequencies available to broadcast and nobody else has. It isn't rocket science, however some accountant somewhere who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing appears to want to make a name for himself IMHO.