Sunrise Radio is a 24-hour commercial radio station, focusing on entertainment, music and news from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

. It broadcasts to the

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

area on 963/972 AM, on

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * '' Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dą ...

(SDL National), and via the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

History

Sunrise Radio started life as the

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

station ''Sina Radio'', originally founded by Manjit Singh Gehdu and based in

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

from 1984 until 1988. In 1989, owned by Avtar Lit, it would be awarded a license and officially launched on 5 November 1989 becoming the first 24-hour radio station specifically for the Asian demographic. It initially broadcast to

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

on 1413 AM. In 1994 it took over the BBC's former 1458 kHz frequency which had been used for GLR. In 1992, the station acquired Sunrise House in

which was officially opened on 21 January 1993 by Peter Baldwin Chief Executive of the Radio Authority. In 2016 Sunrise Radio Moved to new purpose built Studio and office in Hounslow, this is also the company's Headquarters. The station expanded by also broadcasting on

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...

, first on the Astra analogue satellite, and later on Sky Digital. From 1991 through until August 2004, the Sunrise Radio satellite feed was the source of the live hourly IRN news bulletins for numerous UK commercial, community and hospital radio stations. In July 2013, Lit was one of forty radio professionals honoured by the Radio Centre for their significant contribution to the growth and success of the industry. On 13 January 2014, the station would go into administration. The station was bought by the mobile operator Lyca, and was able to retain its license, with a move to 963/972 AM.

Tony Lit Tony Lit MBE is a British-Indian politician and Managing Director of Sunrise Radio. He was appointed MBE in the 2019 New Year Honours. Lit has worked in radio, TV and events. Based at Sunrise Radio Hounslow office he works with Chairman Gurdev J ...

was appointed managing director, with Gurdev Jassi as chairman. In November 2014, the Sunrise Radio Training Academy was launched - a free training scheme for those wanting to pursue a career in radio. The scheme allows those wishing to pursue a career in radio to train alongside professionals and learn every aspect of the business, from producing to presenting and radio journalism. Sunrise Radio went Nationwide on DAB in early 2016. On 5 November 2019 Sunrise Radio completed 30 years on air.

Events

Sunrise Radio has organised and sponsored many events and melas, including a collaboration with the

London Mayor The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

's office to put together the London Mela, launched in August 2003 in Gunnersbury Park, West London. The event attracted an audience of over 60,000. In 2004 Sunrise Radio launched the Asian Lifestyle Show at London's Olympia attracting over 40,000 people. The event was widely recognised as the largest celebration of Asian culture in Europe. The show was shortlisted for the 'Best New Consumer Show 2004' by the Association of Event Organisers. The Asian Lifestyle Show 2004-2007 was consistently sold out. Sunrise Radio has collaborated with

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL) and

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

to support their West End production, ''Rangeela''.

Recognition

* Farah Ahmed ( Bollywood Top 20) named the ''Best Media Personality'' by the Pakistani Achievement Awards 2014 * Andy Gill nominated for ''Best Show'' (Breakfast Show Monday-Friday) – Asian Media Awards 2014 * Sunrise Radio nominated for ''Radio Station of the Year'' – Asian Media Awards 2014 * Sunrise Radio wins the NTL Commercial Radio Award for ''Marketing Excellence 2004'' *Sunrise Radio one of five shortlisted for the Media Week Awards – ''Media Brand of the Year 2004'' - alongside

Century FM Century Radio was the brand name of a group of independent local radio stations in England. The brand was developed with the launch of 100-102 Century Radio in North East England in 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as ...

XFM Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2 ...

, Living TV &

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

*Asian Media Awards Radio Station of the Year 2016 & 2017 *Sunrise Radio scooped 'The AMA's Radio Station of the Year 2019' at the awards ceremony held in Manchester at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate in October 2019. This is the third time in four years the radio station has won this title and this year's win comes in the same day as the release of Rajar Q3 2019 which confirmed Sunrise Radio as the UK's NO1 commercial Asian radio station, a title which the radio station has retain consecutively over its 30 years of broadcasting to the UK's Asian community *Sunrise Radio wins the coveted Asian Radio Station of the Year 2020 at the British Asian Media Awards. *Sunrise Radio scooped 'The AMA's Radio Station of the Year 2021' for the fourth time at the ninth annual Asian Media Awards.

References

External links

Official Website
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Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

Radio stations established in 1989 Asian mass media in the United Kingdom British Indian mass media Former pirate radio stations Pirate radio stations in the United Kingdom