BUILDING work on the studio is almost complete, the carpet is laid and equipment is being delivered – 105.1 OX4 FM is getting ready to go live.

Oxford’s first permanent community radio station, based at Blackbird Leys Community Centre, will be on air from Monday, February 27.

The project has been six years in the making for the team behind the not-for-profit station, which will broadcast music and chat.

Though it will focus on the OX4 postcode – Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill, Littlemore and parts of Cowley Road – the station will be available across the city.

Chairman Geno Humphrey said: “It has taken us a long time to get here, but we’re almost there. To get from what this building was before to this is brilliant.”

The station first went live in a 10-day pilot in 2006, followed by two more one-off broadcasts.

Its supporters had hoped to start broadcasting full-time in 2009 after receiving a five-year licence from regulator Ofcom and a £13,000 grant from Oxford City Council but negotiations over studio space at Blackbird Leys Community Centre took longer than expected.

Mr Humphrey said: “This is a community station and something everyone from the community has had a hand in.

“I think what’s important is that we need to make people understand that OX4 means OX4, not just Blackbird Leys. It means Littlemore, Rose Hill, Cowley Road, everywhere.”

The man with the task of launching the station will be breakfast show DJ Spex, otherwise known as 27-year-old Adrian Prescott, from Blackbird Leys.

He said: “I’m more excited than anything. I work well under pressure so I’m not too nervous.

“It’s not just a Blackbird Leys project – it just happens to be based here.”

For more information about the station, see ox4fm.com