CENTURY FM star Paul Gough is helping to kick-start a campaign to see a Teesside hospital radio station given an extended licence.

The radio presenter was at the University Hospital of Hartlepool to launch a bid by Wardsound Hospital Radio to raise funds for a £20,000 studio refit.

Station volunteers are hoping that the refit will help convince the Radio Authority to grant Wardsound an AM licence - allowing it to broadcast within a three-mile radius of the hospital.

This weekend, the station is staging a sponsored 24-hour live broadcast from 7pm today to 7pm tomorrow for patients, visitors and staff.

Station spokesman Jason Anderson said: "We are going to try and bid for an AM licence and this weekend is our chance to prove that we deserve one.

"Paul Gough will be a guest at some point over the weekend and he has already been into the studio and donated copies of his CDs - Goffy's Famous Wind-Ups - which we will be giving away to listeners."

He said anyone wanting to sponsor the radio station could call in to the studio, on the main concourse of the hospital, at any time during the 24-hour broadcast.