The company has secured a 10-year licence from the Manx authorities and is ready to build Britain's most powerful transmitter off the coast of Ramsey.

The radio mast will be named Caroline Island, in tribute to chief executive Paul Rusling's involvement with the controversial Radio Caroline during the 1970s.

IoM International Broadcasting hosted a press conference in the Island on Friday, attended by half a dozen UK-based financial journalists.

Mr Rusling says that he has successfully secured the initial £7.8 million pre-launch equity requirement and has access to more, although more than £5 million in operational costs is likely to be raised when the company floats on AIM next year. He expects a surge in media stocks when the current consolidation of the market takes affect in 2005.

Profit and loss forecasts predict a £3.5 million loss during the first year of operation but a £1.85 million profit in year two rising to £8.3 million after 10 years of broadcasting. The station is expected to be worth around £27 million upon completion of pre-launch investment.

He said that much of the initial funding had come from Manx residents and emphasised that no single individual would be allowed to gain a controlling interest, as he wanted the station to be run by its management team rather than shareholders.

He added: 'We want private investors because we don't want to be swallowed up by media conglomerates. We don't want the station owned by some faceless American corporation. This will be a Manx-owned, Manx-controlled operation. The management team has more than 200-man years of experience in commercial radio across a broad range of stations.'

MusicMann279 will broadcast on long-wave radio, and be available across the whole of Europe via satellite and globally via the internet. It hopes to enjoy a 1.9 per cent share of the UK radio audience within three years and take a corresponding slice of the annual UK radio advertising market of £612 million.

Mr Rusling said: 'Radio advertising in the UK is growing at a rate of 297 per cent year on year. As a commercial radio station we package our listeners up as a bundle of ears and sell them to our advertising customers.'

He was keen to stress that its market was totally different than the existing stations in the Island and would not be eating into radio's share of the estimated £5.5 million display advertising market in the Island.

Allan Bell, Treasury Minister, was happy to endorse the radio's launch and is looking forward to it helping the Island establish a greater international presence.

He said: 'I have been involved in this project for a long time now and am pleased to see it nearing fruition. I grew up in Ramsey and often saw rock stars and celebrities who were visiting Radio Caroline, the Manx government has given Paul its full backing.'

He joked that he was looking forward to receiving the company's taxes when the station launches next year.

The station will be in direct competition with BBC Radio 2 and has targeted a listening audience of 25-55 year olds, especially housewives. Research has suggested that the 45-64 year old age group is the fastest growing and should reach more than 16 million by 2010.

Mr Rusling believes that the growing phenomenon known as Skin (spending the kids inheritance now), would help it to achieve bigger advertising revenues if it can gain a good share of this affluent market, as 80 per cent of the UK wealth is controlled by the 50-64 year age group.

The board also hopes to take advantage of a rapidly growing e-commerce sector, where the station can attract advertising revenue by exploiting listeners who use its website.

Mr Rusling said: 'There are lots and lots of lonely people out there who regard a radio station as their friend. They trust the website and will buy products like car insurance through it. You only have to look at the BBC to see how powerful radio is.'