A ROSSENDALE school will be making sound waves when its new radio station hits the air.

Alder Grange Community and Technology School is investing in the radio stars of the future after purchasing state-of-the-art broadcast equipment.

The student-led radio station has been named Alderbeat and will air every Friday lunch-time.

A breakfast show will also be launched from September.

The project will be led by sixth form student Sam Connolly, who will take on the role of acting station manager, providing him with valuable work experience as part of his BTEC Creative Media course in Radio Production.

Head of creative, expressive and performing arts at Alder Grange, David Heywood, said: “We used to be able to only run Alderbeat for three days once a year, but with our new equipment we can run it once a week.

“Our radio station is completely student-led, with Sam acting as our station manager.

"It’s a great way to provide work experience and promote learning in an exciting and appealing way – who knows maybe the next Chris Moyles is among us.

“Over the past couple of years we’ve had many experts in to the school to offer some coaching for the students on radio presenting, including Radio Lancashire and Rossendale Radio.

“The students are always really proactive in coming up with ideas for the show – they’ve got clear ideas of what they want in terms of content and work hard to organise all the music, topics and guests, without any help from staff.”

Sam said: “Having hands-on experience gives you a real insight into the how a real radio station works.

“I look forward to doing my radio slot every week and my dream would be to work on Radio One in the future.”

Alderbeat is broadcast on 87.9 and is currently only available to students at the school.

But is planned to be streamed from the school’s website in the near future.