Bids for the new licence are due to be submitted to Ofcom on December 8, and the licence will cover the city of Belfast and surrounding area, providing a potential audience of more than 750,000 adults.
The joint bid will be chaired by Chris Gibson OBE, who is pro-chancellor at Belfast's Queen's University. He has held a number of positions in business including managing director of ICI in Ireland, commercial director of Irish Fertiliser Industries, and UK managing director of dairy producer Golden Vale.
According to Gibson: "There is a terrific mood of optimism and real growth within the Belfast area and a new commercial radio station will help to maintain the drive and dynamic of the marketplace.
"The Wireless Group is a proven successful radio competitor in local markets and its vision of a truly local station corresponds with mine."
The Wireless Group currently operates 16 local radio stations across the UK, although none are in Northern Ireland. However, it does have a national presence in Northern Ireland with TalkSPORT.
A Wireless Group spokesman said: "The proposed station will have a heavy emphasis on good quality local news, but not as much on sport as TalkSPORT."
There are already two commercial FM radio stations operating in Belfast -- Cool FM and City Beat. In addition, Northern Ireland is covered by Traffic FM, Virgin Radio, TalkSPORT and Northern Ireland FM.
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