A RADIO station is to begin its third trial broadcast as the battle to win a commercial license for an area hots up.

Hambleton Radio is setting up a station in Thirsk and will start broadcasting at 10am next Saturday.

Station chairman Chris Parkin said: "In October 2003 we operated the first trial service in Northallerton and another in August last year. Both were huge successes.

"However, a commercially successful radio station will need to cover a larger area than just Northallerton town. This is why our third trial is taking place in Thirsk and why our station was always called Hambleton Radio."

Two other stations are also competing to secure a commercial license for the Northallerton area.

Programme controller for Hambleton Radio Jeremy Gartland said: "For far too long, the Hambleton area has had to make do with so-called local radio coming from distant towns and cities. The local BBC service comes from York, and the commercial stations come from York or Harrogate or Darlington.

"We wanted to do something about that and Hambleton Radio is the result."

The station broadcasts on 87.7FM. Details of how to contact it are on the website, www.hambletonradio.co.uk