To acknowledge and celebrate Sun FM officially backing Sunderland's bid to become UK City of Culture 2021, this weeks blog comes from breakfast presenter and programme director Simon Grundy around the topic of Local Radio Day:
Local Radio Day is happening tomorrow (27th May 2016) across the whole of the UK, and I, for one, am really excited to shout from the rooftops that Sun FM is taking part, as the LOCAL radio station based in Sunderland for the whole of Wearside. Our area covers Cleadon to the north of Sunderland, to Peterlee to the south and Washington to the West… and all places in-between.
Local Radio Day was the brainchild of top radio executive, William Rogers, who heads a company that runs local radio stations and is passionate about local radio stations staying in the area they broadcast to, and has a rule that none of the radio stations are allowed to network programmes from another area of the UK, or from another country, as most radio stations now do. Some are becoming franchises and don’t exist in their original town or city any longer.
On May 27th, Sun FM is joining many independent radio 
stations across the UK, and BBC local radio stations, to celebrate what we do, but also to remind people of the importance of keeping local radio LOCAL. We’ve recently done a survey and got over 1700 respondents saying what they want us to do; top of the list was stay in Sunderland (100%) and provide local travel information, local news, local weather, local event information, local sport (especially Sunderland AFC) and for us to play popular music that is instantly recognisable which we will continue to do from studios here in Sunderland.
I’m also really looking forward to our big Tour-de-Wearside where Danni Moore and I are going from town, to village to district across the whole of our area to meet you, play games and giving away prizes aboard the huge Sun FM Go North East double-decker bus. For the timetable, please click here http://www.sun-fm.com/localradiodayevents.php
Sun FM is 20 years old next year, and I’m really proud of the fact that we have more listeners than any other station that can be heard in the area. I wasn’t here for the launch, but joined this amazing team after just a few months on air, 18 years ago. I can’t believe how time has flown by, but we still have the most amazing, loyal listeners I’ve ever known: this must be true, as I see the ratings 4 times a year confirming our NUMBER ONE position out of 44 stations that beam into the area. People want LOCAL and we’ll always be here to provide the information and entertainment that people, still, want from their LOCAL radio station.
It’s a very exciting time for Sunderland, too, at the moment. Everywhere you go, there are new buildings going up. The seafront is becoming more of a focal point, quite rightly. It won’t be long until the new Wear bridge is completed too and the amazing news that Sunderland will be bidding to become UK City of Culture in 2021. As a partner in the process, we’ll be providing all you need to know, how you can get involved and how amazing it would be if we won. This could be the biggest thing to happen to Sunderland since we were granted city status by the Queen over 20 years ago.
Thank you for listening
Simon Grundy, Sun FM Programme Director
26th May, 2016
Find out more information about Sun FM backing the bid here: Sun FM officially backs Sunderland 2021
Take part in the conversation on social media by including #sunderland2021 in your posts.
