A COMMUNITY radio station is about to go live in a ten-day pilot which organisers hope will lead to a permanent licence.

OX4 Radio is to hit the airwaves for the first time at 7pm this Friday, on 89.7FM, and can be heard by tens of thousands of people in living in East Oxford.

The station, broadcast from Jubilee Hall in Sorrell Avenue, Blackbird Leys, is manned entirely by volunteers and the 50-plus people involved will be helping to put out a wide variety of shows until Sunday, October 29.

David Norland, a sound engineer who is to host a reggae radio show, said: "Community radio is radio by the people, for the people, and it is run 100 per cent by volunteers.

"We won't know for sure how many people we will reach until we try the transmitter, but we expect it to cover the whole of the OX4 area."

Thanks to a £65,000 grant from the South East England Development Agency, 15 people were able to take part in a 10-week radio production course.

Geno Humphrey, a former BBC Oxford presenter and producer who will be co-presenting the breakfast show and helped with training, said the station would cover the things listeners cared about and be very different from the music-orientated commercial stations.

He said: "There is always a need for community radio because many people in the community feel that they can't get their voice heard on certain issues.

"It is to empower the community, and also about getting people to take part in the radio station. It will give them the opportunity to become broadcasters or DJs, which is an opportunity they would not have otherwise."

The money has also meant that a studio is being built in the basement of the Cowley Community Centre in Barns Road, which will be ready for when the volunteers apply for another RSL (restricted service licence) for a four-week period in April. It is then hoped that the community station will be able to apply for a five-year licence.

Mr Humphrey said: "We're very hopeful. All the people involved are now professionally trained so they can take the station forward."

Anyone living in the area can get involved. E-mail ox4radio@gmail.com, or go to www.myspace.com/ox4radio People can also call the station or programmes on 07981 932818.