UK Radio : Sunrise Radio

Sunrise Radio started life as a station called Sina Radio, operating mainly in the west London area surrounding its base in Southall. After the Radio Authority proposed the notion of awarding licences to ethnic minority stations covering west London, Sina was quick to snap up the opportunity, leading to the advent of the freshly-renamed “Sunrise Radio”, with broadcaster-entrepreneur Dr Avtar Lit at the helm.

The station was launched on Monday 5th November 1989, servicing west London’s Asian community from its Hounslow studios on 1413 AM. It was the first 24 hour Asian radio station to appear in the UK, and the first independent 24 hour Asian station in the world. Around the same time, Sunrise Radio acquired a licence for a sister station in Bradford to cater for Yorkshire’s burgeoning South Asian community.