Blackburn and other East Lancashire towns are set to get a new radio station from next week.

Local radio is returning to Blackburn, Burnley and Darwen in November, as ‘Central Radio North West’, transmit from a new DAB broadcast infrastructure which will bring new digital services to the region.

The station will launch across Blackburn, Darwen and Burnley on November 1, extending its existing service to more areas of Lancashire.

The station will bring its bigger selection of music and local information to the area, along with some broadcasters including UK commercial radio multi award-winning presenter, Danny Matthews, who hosts the station’s flagship breakfast show, weekdays between 6am and 10am.

Danny has more than 30 years of commercial radio experience under his belt, working at Piccadilly Radio (Key 103) in the late 1980s.

He has worked at stations across the north west, including Rock FM, Magic, Real Radio, Capital Gold and The Bay in Lancaster, which later became Heart following a rebrand by owners, Global.

Danny is also joined on the schedule on with a listener favourite, Martin Emery.

Martin maybe a familiar voice to some listeners as he was a regular presenter on Blackburn’s former radio station ‘The Bee’ as well as Burnley’s ‘2BR’ before both stations were purchased.

The local studios were closed and moved to Manchester, later followed by both stations being rebranded into the national brand Capital in 2019.

Martin is also known for his professional voiceover work, and listeners will also be familiar with him as the voice of DJ Andy, a presenter on the fictional station Forever FM, with Martin starring in both series of Peter Kay’s TV comedy, Car Share, on BBC One.

Nathan Hill, Central Radio’s Station director, said: ‘’We’re over the moon to bring our unique flavour of local radio back to Blackburn, Darwen and Burnley.

‘’These are exciting times for broadcasting and it will be a pleasure to broadcast to such a fantastic area, giving our listeners the chance to enjoy proper local radio, something they’ve badly missed over the last couple of years.’

“Since our initial launch in Blackpool last year, and across Preston, Leyland and Chorley just a few months ago, we’ve supported numerous charities by donating over £60,000’s worth of promotion and have given away around £20,000 worth of prizes with various competitions including free food for families each week with our ‘Win your Tea for Free’ which is currently partnered with McDonald’s restaurants.

“We're keen to attract local musicians to send us their music. The banner on the front page of our website gives access to a page where local bands, singers and musicians can upload their music for air-play.

“Our free 'Community Spot' is for local charities to advertise, free of charge”

Listeners will need to rescan their devices after the of November 1 to find the station.

The new station is said to appeal directly to those who work, study and live in Blackburn, Darwen and Burnley, with an variety of music from the 70s to present day, plus a wide range of local news, sport and information.

Central Radio currently broadcasts to an audience of 630,000 people across central and west Lancashire and the additional new areas will see an extra audience of 350,000 people across East Lancashire.

The station also broadcasts via its own dedicated mobile app, home connected devices and smart speakers alongside Freeview+ TV broadcasting on Channel 277.