BOLTON churchgoers have begun reaching out across the airwaves with the launch of the North-west's first Christian radio station.

Reach FM, broadcasting on 106.2fm, is the culmination of more than a year's hard work by Bolton Pentecostal Church, in conjunction with other denominations, to get their message on to the airwaves.

The station began broadcasting at 6am yesterday and was officially launched by the Mayor and Mayoress of Bolton, Cllr and Mrs Eric Johnson when they visited the station's studio in the town during the morning.

The Mayor was interviewed on air by Mike Shaft, a professional broadcaster and one of a team of presenters and technicians who have given their time free to get the station on the air for the next 28 days.

Reach FM's programme manager Stephen Ward told the BEN: "It is a very exciting day."

Volunteers worked through most of the night to make sure the start of broadcasting under a restricted service licence went well.

But the event did not go without a last minute hitch when horrified workers realised their aerial was not high enough and needed to raise it to make sure most of Bolton could hear them loud and clear.

The Reach team are aiming for Radio Two style programming and while they are trying to get across the Christian message in an entertaining way they stress they are not Bible bashing broadcasters.

Out and out Christian records will be limited to one every 15 minutes but there will be features on topical issues and "thought for the day" style messages going out over the 24 hours a day they broadcast.

It has taken £8,000 of fund-raising and sponsorship, underwritten by Bolton Pentecostal Church to get the station on the air and they are so enthusiastic about the project that they are hoping to repeat the exercise in April and May next year.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.