Durham FM was an Independent Local Radio station based in Durham,

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England.

History

Since its launch in 2005, Durham FM was owned and operated by TLRC. In December 2008, Durham FM submitted an application to

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

to co-locate with sister station,

Sun FM Sun FM is a radio station serving Sunderland and large parts of County Durham in England and owned by Nation Broadcasting. It is also available in Tyne and Wear. Sun FM broadcasts on FM, as well as online. The station plays a mix of contempor ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. Following a consultation, the majority of responses were against the idea. In July 2009, Ofcom give permission to rename Durham FM to Alpha Durham, and sister station Minster Northallerton to Alpha Northallerton. All programmes on would be shared, except for a local breakfast show and four-hour show on Saturday and Sunday, each produced and broadcast locally. Previously, TLRC asked for Ofcom approval to move Durham FM further north to Sunderland to share facilities with

, but a decision was delayed by the regulator. Instead, the three stations became part of UKRD's Star brand and the station's frequencies are now used to broadcast Star Radio North East which was formed when UKRD merged the services of Durham FM with

Alpha 103.2 Alpha Radio (formerly 103.2 Alpha Radio), Alpha 103.2, 103.2 Alpha FM, Alpha Radio) was an Independent Local Radio station based in Darlington, County Durham, England. History When launched in 1995, Alpha was owned by Radio Investments Ltd whi ...

and Minster Northallerton. Until 2010, a daily local breakfast show was produced for the former Durham FM area.

Ex-presenters

*Peter Grant *Craig Andrews *Steve Phillips *Vic Ribbands *Chris Hakin * Dicky Ord *Dave 'Ceefax' Fenwick *Geoff Longstaff *Mike Jinx *Marie Gardiner *Mike Nicholson *Kyle Wilkinson *Les Gunn *Mike Patterson *Pete Clough *Mat Page *Tim West *Sarah Knapper *Lisa Dawson

Ex-Newsreaders

*Julie Howe (News Editor) *Louise Bostock *Emily Bull *Ed Turner

References

External links

Media UK entry for Durham FM's rajar figures prior to September 2009

Durham, England The Local Radio Company Radio stations in North East England Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom {{UK-radio-station-stub