Alpha Radio was a community radio station based in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

, England, for south

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

. The brand has been bought and used multiple times, the current third iteration was formerly known as Darlo Radio. The original version was merged into Star Radio, the second into

Sun FM Sun FM may refer to: * Nation Radio North East's previous name * Sun FM (Sri Lanka), an English language radio station based in Sri Lanka * CICF-FM, a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 105.7 FM in Vernon, British Columbia, using the on-air br ...

History

When launched in 1995 as A1FM, Alpha was owned by

Radio Investments Ltd Radio is the technology of telecommunication, communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

while

First Radio Sales First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

In 2009, Alpha was joined by neighbouring station

Minster Northallerton Minster Northallerton was an Independent Local Radio station based in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England. History Prior to launch, Minster Northallerton was originally known as BTN FM, after the principal towns of the area - Bedale, Thirs ...

to share the studio complex in a cost-cutting exercise. To make further savings, both Alpha and Minster Northallerton, along with

Durham FM Durham FM was an Independent Local Radio station based in Durham, County Durham, England. History From its launch in 2005, Durham FM was owned and operated by TLRC. In December 2008, Durham FM submitted an application to Ofcom to co-locate wit ...

were rebranded as

Star Radio North East Rathergood Radio, formerly known as Star Radio (in County Durham), was an Independent Local Radio station. It formerly broadcast in Darlington, County Durham, North Yorkshire and surrounding areas on FM. The County Durham licences were owned and ...

which meant all three stations lost their heritage names and only produced a daily breakfast show. Since June 2010, output has been networked across all frequencies, although commercial breaks were still unique to the three areas.

Imaging

In its history, Alpha 103.2/ Alpha FM/ Alpha Radio had many jingle packages and imaging updates. In 2002, The Local Radio Group introduced Bespoke Music Jingles to its group of stations. This then launched an iconic sung logo for Alpha 103.2. Alpha had four main jingle packages from Bespoke. They were introduced in 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2009. During 2003/ 2006, Alpha lost its jingles in favour of imaging when the Music:Fun:Life streamline was introduced. The main station Voice overs for Alpha throughout its life were, Emma Clarke, Chris Marsden, Jeff Davies and Greg Marsden. The last ever Alpha Jingles were by sung

radio jingles A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

made by

Bespoke Music ''Bespoke'' () describes anything commissioned to a particular specification, altered or tailored to the customs, tastes, or usage of an individual purchaser. In contemporary usage, ''bespoke'' has become a general marketing and branding concep ...

. but had the name tweaked when the station changed names from Alpha 103.2 to Alpha Radio.Most recently the station had sung

made by

. The main station imaging for Alpha was designed and produced in house via the TLRC from Minster FM in York which was made as a generic package for the TLRC group and sent to all local station within the portfolio to be edited into 'local ID's' however later, the imaging was produced in Darlington's Woodland Road studio's via various producers such as Chris Hakin, Craig Bailey, Dan Callum and Dave Lee.

Notable presenters

Joel Ross Joel Ross may refer to: *Joel Ross (DJ) Joel Ross (born Joel Hogg 31 May 1977) is a British radio DJ and television presenter. He has worked with a co-host Jason King (Presenter), Jason King (known on-air as JK). He now presents ''The Hits Radi ...

* Paul Smith OBE

References

External links

The Local Radio Company Radio stations established in 1995 Radio stations disestablished in 2010 Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Borough of Darlington {{UK-radio-station-stub