L107 radio station owners in battle over control

Nov 5 2009 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

A STRUGGLE is underway for control of the only radio station based in Lanarkshire.

Prominent Hamilton businessman George Fulston is trying to oust L107 managing director Alan Shields.

In a bitter boardroom battle, locks were changed on the door of Mr Shields’ office in attempt to keep him out.

And Mr Fulston was cautioned for allegedly threatening Mr Shields as tempers boiled over in August.

Mr Fulston, the former chairman of Hamilton Accies, has the backing of the station’s former ‘shock jock’, Scottie McClue.

Both say L107 is about £300,000 in debt and blame Mr Shields for the perilous financial position.

The station’s staff of about 25 have complained of delays of two months in the payment of wages.

Scottie, whose real name is Colin Lamont, left the station seven weeks ago in what he termed “a state of penury” after sinking more than £62,000 into the business and guaranteeing overdrafts.

Mr Fulston insists he is £52,500 out of pocket after investing in L107 earlier this year.

Mr Shields had until Friday to repay the two men but both say the money owed to them remains outstanding.

Mr Fulston, who runs a fork lift company in Hillhouse, and other investors are prepared to turn the money owed to them into equity and frame a survival plan for L107 – but only if Mr Shields steps down.

Mr Shields (50), lives in Gartcosh. He told the Advertiser he had no intention of relinquishing control.

He accused 63-year-old Mr Fulston, a well-known member of the Orange Order, of wanting to turn the station, based in Bothwell Road, Hamilton, into the ‘voice of Protestantism’.

Mr Shields and Mr Lamont acquired L107 in August 2008.

They paid former Radio One DJ Mark Page £75,000 for the station, its licence, and equipment.

Mr Lamont – a veteran broadcaster famous for his cloth cap, trenchant opinions and ‘dinky doo’ sign-off – ran L107’s programming and also became a mainstay of the station’s output.

However, he became disillusioned with the way Mr Shields was operating the station and left.

In a letter last month to Companies House, urging an investigation into Mr Shields’ business dealings, Mr Lamont accuses his former partner of failing to honour financial commitments.

He added: “The business cost £75,000, which comprised £50,000 which he was supposed to pay and a £25,000 overdraft which I personally guaranteed.

“I didn’t discover until six months later that the cheque for the £50,000 had not gone through.

“It wasn’t the only time that happened. Cheques to investors, staff and customers also bounced.

“For me, the situation became intolerable for all concerned and, in my view, requires to be investigated.”

He added: “I worked very hard for the radio station and didn’t expect to make a great deal of money.

“I wanted the station to wash its face and provide people with a good service.

Mr Fulston and a business acquaintance agreed to invest in L107 earlier this year after meeting with Mr Shields.

They lodged with a Hamilton firm of accountants £100,000 on which the station could draw.

Mr Fulston used money set aside for his grandchildren’s education to invest in the radio station.

He frankly admits he did not do the requisite “due diligence” on Mr Shields and the picture he was presenting of the company.

“We gave them about £100,000 to draw on but after about eight weeks alarm bells started ringing,” he added.

“We had been shown spread sheets suggesting that the station had recorded sales of £122,000.

“But when we had the sheet analysed, we could only identify sales of £37,000.

“We made further investigations and discovered that the spread sheet was inaccurate.

“By that time the money we invested was gone and by May or June I found out that the previous owners of the station hadn’t actually been paid.”

It was mid-summer when Mr Fulston asked Mr Shields to step down from the board.

While Mr Shields was on holiday the locks were changed on the doors to his office.

And then on September 8, following a heated telephone call between Mr Shields and Mr Fulston, police became involved.

Mr Fulston was arrested and reported to the procurator fiscal following an allegation that he threatened the L107 boss in a row over the future of the station.

Mr Fulston said that he made the telephone call after he had waited five hours for Mr Shields to turn up to a meeting at which the radio station boss was to hand over control of the company.

“I eventually got in touch with him and I admit I used some industrial language and told him to get his backside over here.

“He had our conversation on speaker phone and complained to police.

“I was charged under the 2003 Telephone Act (breach of the peace over a telephone) but the procurator fiscal has since written to me saying that what I did was silly but stating that they were not proceeding further.”

Mr Fulston said he had no intention of turning L107 into the ‘voice of Protestantism’.

“Mr Shields is an atheist and cannot accept the fact that I go to church twice on Sunday,” he added.

“I admit I am a member of the Church of Scotland and the Covenanters Association, and I have been a member of the Orange Lodge for 45 years, but I have people of all Faiths and non-believers who work for me.”

The ex-Accies boss said that after building up so much debt, the future of L107 and its staff was in the balance.

He told the Advertiser: “The investors who are owed money have now to decide whether to liquidate the company, leading to its loss to the people of Lanarkshire.

“Alan Shields has given an undertaking that he will pay everyone back but we consider that to be impossible.

“If Mr Shields agreed to walk away, the shareholders would probably convert what they are owed into equity, re-invent the station and start up again.”

Contact jrowbotham@s-un.co.uk if you have a comment about this story.