Manx Radio spent more than £13,600 on a party to mark the station’s 50th anniversary.

Details of the costs of the events held at Tower House in 2014 were revealed following a Freedom of Information request by Isle of Man Newspapers.

Manx Radio had previously stated in response to another FoI request that it had only spent £632 on hospitality that year.

More than 100 guests, including staff and contributors past and present, members of the board and trust, supporters and clients, were invited to the November 2014 celebration, which featured music, a buffet and free beer and wine.

We asked for details of how much was expended including on venue hire, event management, beer, wine and food and entertainment.

In his response Manx Radio’s managing director Anthony Pugh confirmed that the total cost of its 50th anniversary event in November 2014 was £13,679.36.

He added: ’As a corporate event it was funded out of Manx Radio’s commercial activities and was a once in a generation opportunity to mark the contributions made by those directly involved in the station from the outset.’

An earlier FoI request, not submitted by Isle of Man Newspapers, asked how much the taxpayer-subsidised station had spent on hospitality in each of the last five years.

In its response, Manx Radio said that the total sum was just £4,710.54, of which only £632.78 was spent on hospitality between April 2014 to March 2015.

During that year, the broadcaster received an £850,000 subvention from the taxpayer and made a profit of £10,345, compared with a loss of £9,231 the previous year.