Manx Radio has been allocated an extra £200,000 in taxpayer subsidy this year to deal with the impact of Covid-19.

The latest annual accounts for the broadcaster will be laid before this month’s Tynwald sitting.

They show Manx Radio posted a loss of £64,540, compared with a profit of £17,301 the previous year.

Turnover fell £208,817 last year, from £1,524,280 in 2018-19 to £1,315,463 in 2019-20.

Operating expenses of £2,277,510 were down £103,431, or 4%, from the previous year.

The taxpayer-funded subvention rose to £899,830, up from £875,000, financing 40% of expenditure.

Following approval by a Tynwald select committee last October the amount of subsidy from government this financial year has increased further still, to £995,000.

And in July’s Budget update, the station was allocated extra subvention of up to £200,000 following an assessment of the business risks from Covid and associated potential loss of commercial revenue.

A Treasury spokesman confirmed Manx Radio was ineligible to claim salary support, unlike other media outlets.

As part of the Budget Update, all grant-funded bodies and services were asked for projections to help government’s financial planning response to the pandemic.

’A total of £200,000 has been put aside as budgetary provision for Manx Radio, and, if required, will be subject to the usual scrutiny and approval process prior to agreement,’ the spokesman said.

Referring to the fall in turnover in 2019-20, chairman Bill Mummery noted that the previous year had been exceptional, being £389,599 (34%) up on the year before and considerably above the five-year average.

Mr Mummery received remuneration of £9,709. The other non-executive directors received £6,487 each pro-rata.

Manx Radio’s workforce averaged 32 during the year.

Mr Mummery said events like the Covid pandemic and the Laxey floods showed public service media ’continues to show its worth’.

He said it was the only media organisation to provide ’live, uninterrupted and free-to-air, radio coverage’ of the government’s daily Covid briefings.

Mr Mummery admitted attempts to increase engagement through audience feedback, competitions and debates had met with ’varying degrees of success’.

Flagship news show Mandate was axed last October and replaced with a Breakfast Show featuring a mix of news and current affairs, entertainment, music and a daily ’Where’s Wotton?’ competition. Listening share rose from a low of 18.3% in September to 20.7% in March.