Published on 26 September 2017
Sunderland's community radio station, Spark Sunderland, triumphed at the national Community Radio Awards - picking up six accolades, including three Gold awards.
The Community Radio Awards launched last year and are open to stations across the country, with organisers saying this year more than 350 different entries from 70 community radio stations were whittled down for the shortlist.
Spark won Gold awards for:
- Community Development Project of the Year with 'Mackem Craic'
- Sports Show of the Year for 'Sportsbyte'
- The Innovation Award for 'Building an Audience using Facebook Live'
Spark made a good showing across the rest of the awards too, winning Entertainment Show of the Year with a Silver award for 'The Week in Geek' and Bronze for 'Drivetime with Ryan and Beth'. They also picked up a Silver award for Specialist Music Show of the Year, with 'Dance Revolution'.
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Spark - run largely by volunteers - broadcasts across Sunderland on 107FM and around the world online. It is on air 24 hours a day, seven days a week after launching back in 2009.
The station makes use of state of the art facilities at the University of Sunderland's Media Centre at St Peter's campus, with many of the station's volunteers studying at the University.