Alton’s radio station has secure future thanks to National Lottery grant

Alton’s community radio station has a new up to date studio thanks to a grant of £9,007 from the National Lottery.

Wey Valley Radio, which is based at the Alton Assembly Rooms in the heart of Alton, has been given the cash injection towards new essential equipment and running costs for the station for the next year.

Wey Valley Radio Director David Way said:
“We are thrilled to be able to invest such a substantial amount into improving the on-air sound of the station, and making sure we have equipment that will keep us broadcasting for years to come.

“We launched the new Wey Valley Radio last June with the bare minimum of the equipment we needed to get on-air. Up until now we have been using the broadcast mixing desk from the original Wey Valley Radio – which was around 25 years old. Now we have a brand new desk which is much more reliable and flexible and will mean we can do even more with our programmes and outside broadcasts. ”

Wey Valley Radio is a community radio station for Alton and the surrounding areas which is completely run by volunteers.

The original radio station launched in 1992, when it was one of the smallest commercial radio stations in the country covering just 25,000 people.

The station broadcast from Alton until 2003. At that time, despite its success and popularity, the commercial environment meant the owners decided to move the studios and merge all broadcasts with Delta Radio in Haslemere. Delta Radio moved again to Bordon until 2010 when its new owners decided to move the radio station away from the local area.
This once more left a huge gap in radio provision for the area, and the original founders worked hard to get truly local radio back.

In July 2016 we were awarded a new licence and secured premises at the Alton Assembly rooms with the support of Alton Town Council.

On 22nd June 2017 Wey Valley Radio re-launched for Alton and the surrounding area on 101.1 FM. Since then the station has broadcast from several high profile local events including the Classic Car Show, the Santa Fun Run and the Alton Yuletide Festival.

It is on air 24/7 and 365 days a year with a mix of mainstream daytime programming and a huge variety of evening programmes including folk, rock, swingtime, country, nostalgia, indie, and talk programmes.

David Way added:
“We have been delighted with the support and enthusiasm we have had from people and groups in Alton. Alton Town Council has been amazing by providing us with premises and grants, and local groups like The Alton Society have also helped us out.

“Because we are a community station we are keeping costs to a minimum and any money we earn from advertising, fundraising or providing support at local events goes back into the station. We are all volunteers so nobody gets paid – we do it for the love of it and because we love the local area.

“We are always looking for more people to get involved both on-air and behind the scenes. We’re a very friendly team, and if you’d like to present a show, or perhaps you have some engineering skills, or if you would simply like to help out by doing research for programmes or answering phones and making tea, we’d love to hear from you!”