A consortium of local radio stations are set to apply for the Blackburn, Burnley and Darwen SSDAB Multiplex licence.

Blackburn’s 102.2, Radio Hospitals Blackburn, Burnley College, Ribble FM and Infocus Digital Media, the digital arm of Sunrise Radio in Yorkshire, have come together to apply for the licence as advertised by Ofcom.

The new SSDAB platform will reach some 350,000 adults in and around the three core areas and the ambition applicants say ‘is to provide an affordable long-term digital future for many existing broadcasters (community and commercial), as well as new entrants’.

Raj Parmar, Director of Infocus Digital Media said “We have been actively working on the application for a number of months now and I look forward to bringing a variety of community and commercial radio services to East Lancashire.”

Simon Brierley, Head of Development at Blackburn’s 102.2 and previously Managing Director at East Lancashire commercial stations 2BR and The Bee said: “After a challenging 16 months for all of the community radio sector, it’s great to be focused on growth and expansion onto DAB.”

Andrew Graham, Chairman of Radio Hospitals Blackburn said “We’ve been serving the patients of East Lancashire for over 67 years. During that time we’ve adapted and evolved in how we serve our patients and growing onto DAB in East Lancashire is just the next step in that evolution for us.!”

Karen Buchanan, Principal of Burnley College said: “With Burnley College Radio now in its 4th year, the work of our students will be able to reach new audiences across the region, further showcasing their talents.”

Lee Roe, Director of Ribble FM said “Ribble FM is excited to embrace the rollout of Small-Scale DAB and make our community focused output available to East Lancashire audiences, as a natural extension of our Ribble Valley heritage. We are 100% aligned to BBD Digital’s values and delighted to be working alongside a number of like-minded community operators”

Usha Parmar, Director of Sunrise Radio “It is a real privilege to be working alongside such a strong collaboration of radio professionals and community organisations who are all aligned in their passion for bringing a diverse mix of quality services to DAB in East Lancashire.”