ALTRINCHAM has a new radio station, Radio Alty which was launched last Friday, April 3.

One of the six presenters, Rod Maxwell, lost a top job in the city when he suffered from a brain tumour over three years ago.

At the age of 46, he had to retire.

“The brain injury was like an earthquake.

"The operation was the hardest part but after--shocks such as short term memory errors, made me realise what I had lost.

“Although I had never been in hospital before I felt at home in Salford Royal.”

Rod added: “Six of us who worked at another former local radio station thought that Altrincham and South Manchester, were big enough for a radio station.

“There is a lot of talent in the area.

“We approached the old library (now Open Studios) which already has several artistic/craft groups and asked if they would like a radio station.”

They planned to occupy the front of the building opposite Altrincham Bus Station.

“We signed up with a Manchester based broadcast company, radio.co who host lots of radio stations.”

Then coronavirus struck so they chose to operate from home.

“Our technician, Mark Bulmer got things working. We had been testing all week and we are grateful to him.”

They will have a two hour slot in the morning, afternoon and evening based, mostly, on the arts.

It would appear that Rod is made for this job. Even when he was just eight or nine, he would tape the jingles from his local radio station and then add music from his sister’s records.

And now it is for real he is inviting people to email radioalty@gmail.com if they have ideas for contributions or even if they would like to join them. For more information, see radioalty.co.uk.