One of Russia's richest oil and media tycoons, Mikhail Gutseriev, is to set up a new talk radio station by the end of January, the station's future editor-in-chief Sergei Dorenko told Interfax Friday.
Gutseriev bought his seventh radio property, RU.FM, in order to obtain its broadcasting license and use it to create a new radio station, dubbed Govorit Moskva, which translates as "Moscow Speaks."
Govorit Moskva already exists as a radio station owned by the Moscow City Hall, but the name will be transferred to the new talk radio, headed by Dorenko.
"We will have news every half hour, morning and evening shows, as well as talks with guests. At night, from 10pm to 6am we will have light music," he told Interfax.
Dorenko was the editor of the Russian News Network, but left his post in July. He has repeatedly said that he would like to establish his own radio station.
In the 1990s he was one of the leading media managers, being deputy head of the Russian Public TV, now known as Channel One. But Dorenko fell out of favor with the authorities in 2001 due to the channel's change of ownership and his increasingly critical stance toward the new government of President Vladimir Putin. He was subsequently fired from all posts.
Gutseriev has had a similar experience, fleeing Russia in 2007 for London over tax evasion charges. He settled the claims and returned to Russia in 2010. In 2013 Gutseriev, who is also a prolific poet, gained complete control over his main asset, Russneft oil company and began expanding into the media industry.
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