ALTON’S Wey Valley Radio took to the airwaves on Thursday morning.

It began broadcasting on 101.1 FM to listeners living across the GU34 area.

Spearheaded by well-known broadcaster David Way, who has been the driving force over the past two-and-a-half decades in the bid to bring community radio to the town, Wey Valley Radio has returned to its community roots.

Back on air following a seven-year break, Wey Valley Radio (Alton) Ltd has been set up as a not-for-profit company, run principally by volunteers.

Hitting the airwaves at 10.11am precisely, with David Way in the hotseat, town mayor Dean Phillips proclaimed “Hello Alton”, declaring the revitalised station “an asset to the town” before Mr Way sent out a strong message by playing the first song ever broadcast by the original station at its first launch in 1992 – ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ by Starship.

In emphasising the role community radio can have in giving a voice to local people, groups and organisations, Mr Phillips went on to outline some of the events that had and will be run in Alton and the surrounding area during the summer months, and to highlight some of the town’s current issues, such as car parking and the sports centre.

And he added: “This is a local radio for the area and it is available to everyone.”

The Wey Valley Radio team first broadcast from the Herald office in Alton as part of the Radio Cracker RSL in 1991.

It launched on FM in November 1992 and was successfully run in the spirit of a community station by Mr Way, first as Wey Valley Radio and then as Delta Radio, a small-scale commercial, independent station.

Following the closure of Delta Radio in 2010, members of the original team have worked together and broadcast online in preparation for the current licence application – one of six new licences granted by Ofcom last July to serve areas such as Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester and Alton.

At the time, Mr Way said: “There are currently no radio services targeted directly at the majority of Alton residents and dedicated to providing local news, information and entertainment for this community.

“As in the past, we hope to provide a service involving as many of the unique community of our town as possible.”

To be broadcast on weekdays (7am to 7pm), the service will play a mainstream selection of popular music, ranging from the 1960s to the present day, interspersed with local news and information, while programmes at the weekend, during public holidays and after 7pm are expected to focus more on specialist music, speech programming (such as in-depth local news, discussions and plays) or other material of interest to the community.

With a minimum of six hours per day to feature original, locally produced material broadcast live, the aim will be “to give voice to all residents of Alton and the surrounding areas” and to actively encourage listener participation.

At least half of the presenters, office and production staff will be volunteers or trainees from the community and the station is expected to act as a training centre.

“The intention is to run the station with the same mindset that prevailed at the beginning, with programming made by the community for the community to entertain, inform and enhance the lives of people in the ever-expanding market town of Alton,” said Mr Way.

Mr Way was joined for the launch by broadcaster Paul Le Feuvre, who has returned to take on his Sunday evening request show; David Seal, who will present Swing Easy; Brian Player with Folk and Acoustics; and former volunteer Mel Rhodes.