IRS Future Looks Uncertain

The Office of Fair Trading is expected to intervene in the radio industry following the news that the second largest radio sales house, Independent Radio Sales, is near to disbandment.

Emap and GWR have both moved their IRS stations to Media Sales & Marketing, a subsidiary of Capital Radio. This will give MS&M a dominant share of radio advertising sales, up to as much as 80% of revenue. Stations moving include London Radio, Kiss, Metro FM and the Chiltern Group. Chrysalis radio has also decided to move its sales from IRS to an in-house sales team; this includes both Heart stations and Galaxy Radio in the South West.

Independent Radio Sales this morning refused to confirm that they are in the process of disbanding, saying it was too soon to tell. The decision will mean that the radio stations it sells advertising for will drop from 19% of the radio audience to around 4-5%.

No dates are set yet for the transfer of sales; currently IRS are still handling all calls.