A 15-YEAR-OLD schoolboy has grown an internet radio station run from his father’s garden shed into a company that claims 250,000 listeners and has 40 people working for it.

Ryan Dunlop, who lives with his family in Ayr, runs Hitz Radio before and after lessons at Prestwick Academy. He has persuaded friends to work for the station in exchange for perks such as tickets to music gigs.

Dunlop aspires to emulate Sir Richard Branson and hopes his business may grow to be worth £25m; he is developing a record label and plans to expand into television.

Hitz Radio, which he set up two years ago with £20,000 from his family and £250 from the Prince’s Trust, broadcasts music, news, sport, weather and travel bulletins 24 hours a day interspersed with adverts that sell for about £50 for a 30-second slot.

Interview scoops have included David Bowie, Noel Gallagher and James Morrison. “Our demographic is 22-44 years old, between Radio 1 and Radio 2,” said Dunlop. “We play a mixture of classic tracks and well researched new music.”

The peak slot is drive-time between 4pm and 7pm, which Dunlop says averages 80,000 listeners.

He is projecting turnover of more than £1m in his first year of trading, most of which will be profit. By broadcasting over the web, Hitz does not need a radio transmitter and the infrastructure of a conventional station.

It also allows Dunlop’s team of volunteer presenters and commission-earning salesmen to work from home using software he designed.

“It started as a hobby and he was taking over the house,” said his father John, a distillery maintenance engineer. “When he moved into the shed last year it just snowballed.”

Dunlop wakes at 5am and spends two hours answering e-mails and planning his station’s next moves. After school he presents the drive-time slot.

He has scrapped plans to go to university. “I want to move into the TV market by 2009. I have the licensing documentation waiting to be filled in.”

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