DURHAM City could be tuning in to its own radio station by the autumn, says the company that has won the licence.

Communications regulator Ofcom has awarded the 12-year commercial licence to Durham FM, part of the Local Radio Company, which operates Darlington's Alpha FM and Sun FM in Sunderland.

The firm promises a music-led station for a wide audience that will play popular hits from the Sixties to today and provide local traffic, travel, weather and sports news and details of coming events.

It expects to reach 200,000 listeners across much of the county - stereo signals could be received at Stanley, Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor, Sedgefield and Chester-le-Street.

The station intends to employ about 15 people full-time, plus freelances, and will have a studio in the city. The station's project manager Brian Lister said: "It is all systems go now.

"We are hoping to go on air by the autumn subject to us being able to install the transmitters and build the studio by then."

Durham FM chairman John Anderson said: "We are delighted with Ofcom's decision. We thought we had a strong proposal, based on considerable research and two years' hard work, including two highly successful trial broadcasts."

Prince FM, also known as Durham Local Radio - a consortium that included Newsquest North-East, publishers of The Advertiser - and Durham 2Day FM both bid unsuccessfully.

In the near feature Ofcom will publish its reasons for giving Durham FM the licence.