A new radio station is set to go on air for the first time next month.

Splash FM, based at the Guildbourne Centre in Worthing, beat off stiff competition to win the potentially-lucrative franchise to broadcast.

The station will serve a potential audience of 160,000 from Southwick to Littlehampton.

In the first year, the station is banking on about 30,000 people tuning in for an average of six or seven hours a week.

Splash FM has been working against the clock to get its studio complex ready for the launch at midday on Bank Holiday Monday, May 5.

More than £150,000 has been spent on building and equipping three studios, while at the same time directors have been recruiting presenters.

The line-up is headed by former Radio One DJ David Hamilton and children's TV presenter Dave Benson Phillips.

Dave Hunt, who is well-known in local entertainment and runs the roundabout in the Montague Arcade shopping precinct, will also have his own show.

107.7 Splash FM will be a music-led station for 25-70 year olds, with a focus on the 35-54 age group.

There will be a mix of music from the last 40 years, regular news bulletins, plus a look at life in Worthing and surrounding towns and villages.

The Breakfast Show will be fronted by Simon Osborne, until recently programme controller of Crawley-based Mercury FM.

Simon, who will also be taking on the key role of programme controller for Splash, said: "Having been a regular visitor for years, the town feels like a second home.

"My job will be to make the listeners of Worthing feel that this is their station and turn it into a familiar friend that people can turn to at any time and expect to hear something that will inform, amuse or entertain them."