united kingdom online via radioplayer slogan where sunderland lives frequency 107 fm rds spark first air date 26 october 2009 format community radio language s english owner university of sunderland website spark sunderland spark fm known formerly as 107 spark fm is a community radio station serving 15 to 25 year olds in the sunderland area . spark carries a variety of content catering for both mainstream and niche musical audiences specialising in chart hits and new music throughout the day and specialist programming after 7 pm . the radio station broadcasts on 107.00 fm and online via the station s website . the official launch of 107 spark fm took place at the new 12 million cityspace building in the centre of the city of sunderland . contents 1 history 2 community licence and rebrand 3 references 4 external links history edit the station began broadcasting in november 1997 as radio utopia a two week short term broadcast under the then radio authority s restricted service licence rsl scheme . the station was part of a regional arts festival called visions of utopia and the station reflected the scheme and carried various programmes tied in with the scheme such as the quakies a programme produced by children from the former pit village of quaking houses in county durham . radio broadcasting predated this by several years with student programming on the community radio station wear fm which closed in 1995 and is now the more commercial station sun fm . the station was low powered but still proved valuable as a training ground for new broadcasters . programmes were broadcast from studios in the forster building formerly used by wear fm with a transmitter on the roof . the station was rebranded the following november as 107 utopia fm and developed a more formatted sound and joined the student broadcast network sbn bringing news national programmes and a 24 hour service to the station . utopia returned in september 1999 for the first ever freshers broadcast and again proved its value for students and volunteers . the station largely draws volunteers from the university s large undergraduate media courses but has also been part of wider community radio programmes with projects in county durham washington and sunderland . during the following years utopia broadcast more frequently getting up to broadcasts twice a year . in 2002 utopia began broadcasting on the 102.4 fm frequency . in 2003 the station began to use new studios in the 11m media centre at the st. peter s campus when media teaching moved there that year . the old studios have now been demolished and the building is now used to teach courses run by the university s school of education and lifelong learning . the move also facilitated the recording of sessions in the media centre s new radio and television studios . the station applied for a community radio licence from ofcom in the 2nd licensing round and was awarded a licence in 2007 . the station took on the new name of spark when it launched in 2009 . the name is a reflected of the university logo which they call a spark in homage to the shipyards that were central to the growth of sunderland . volunteers from the station have not only succeeded in gaining recognition in the annual student radio awards in the uk but also awards from the new york festivals . station alumni are now found working for bbc and commercial stations across the uk . community licence and rebrand edit when the uk media regulator ofcom announced a plan to issue community radio licences work began at the station to apply for a full time licence . this application was made in early in 2007 . 1 in september 2007 ofcom awarded utopia fm a full time 5 year community radio licence . 2 it was announced in june 2009 that utopia fm would be changing its name to 107 spark fm to signal the change in licence and the broadening of the audience . 3 in 2012 spark was awarded best north east radio station in the nations & regional awards . 4 in late 2013 the 107 branding was removed for the station and the station was simply known as spark or spark fm . in 2015 the station was updated with a refreshed logo a slogan change to where sunderland lives new on air imaging provided by reelworld and a brand new website and ios android app . references edit http www.ofcom.org.uk radio ifi rbl commun radio tlproc applications nneapps ofcom licence awards september 2007 107 spark fm tv and magazine about http www.sparksunderland.com featured 2012 12 107 spark fm win nations regions north east http www.ofcom.org.uk radio ifi rbl commun radio tlproc applications nneapps http www.sparksunderland.com featured 2012 12 107 spark fm win nations regions north east http www.newyorkfestivals.com worldsbestradio 2012 index.php page 4 & keywordsearch & sawardtype silver % 20radio % 20winner & scompetitiontype & scategoriestype & scountrytype res external links edit official website v t e city of sunderland tyne and wear education academy 360 argyle house school biddick academy castle view enterprise academy espa college farringdon community academy grindon hall christian school hetton school kepier school monkwearmouth academy oxclose community academy red house academy st aidan s catholic academy st anthony s girls catholic academy st robert of newminster catholic school sandhill view academy southmoor academy sunderland college sunderland high school thornhill school university of sunderland venerable bede church of england academy washington school places of interest sunderland museum and winter gardens stadium of light penshaw monument national glass centre sunderland empire theatre st peter s church monkwearmouth sunderland international airshow washington old hall monkwearmouth station museum sunderland aquatic centre the bridges wwt washington keel square new wear bridge local media sunderland echo sun fm spark fm twinned places essen saint nazaire washington d.c. harbin sport sunderland a.f.c. sunderland ladies v t e radio stations in north east england major stations bbc newcastle bbc tees capital heart metro radio radio borders smooth star radio sun fm tfm community radio ne1fm radio hartlepool radio sunderland for hospitals radio teesdale spark fm spice fm student radio click teesside newcastle student radio purple radio pirate radio radio 270 dab multiplexes metro radio 2 real radio xs tfm 2 defunct stations alpha radio durham fm great north radio minster northallerton radio tees tynedale fm retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title spark fm & oldid 736932588 categories city of sunderlandcommunity radio stations in the united kingdomradio stations established in 1997radio stations in north east englandstudent radio in the united kingdomuniversity of sunderlandhidden categories engvarb from july 2016use dmy dates from july 2016tyne and wear articles missing geocoordinate dataall articles needing coordinates navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in 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