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

Splash FM, based at the Guildbourne Centre, 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."