A RADIO station based in Whittington that is the only one to combine astronomy and music is appealing for more listeners ahead of the winter.

Astro Radio was set up seven years ago and is the media arm of The Solarsphere Astronomical and Music Festival, held each year in Mid-Wales.

It has since grown and evolved over that time, having started with two presenters and limited reach now has at least 20 people both on air and off air as volunteers work to bring the latest in astronomy and music to a world-wide listeners base.

All broadcasts are controlled and monitored, and relayed to the Internet and varying FM and satellite uplinks across the globe from Whittington by astronomer Peter Williamson who is proud of what they have achieved.

"With a listener base into the hundreds of thousands we have links with many organisations across the globe," he said.

"We run with sponsorship from Astronomy Now and Rother Valley Optics, all income is used to maintain the station, no monies are paid out to the volunteers.

"The latest venture is to broadcast some show in video format via YouTube soon at www.astrotv.earth

"At the moment we are running a show called Reach Out and Touch Space where people can access the on air chat via zoom and join in, this is broadcast on the show live across out radio network. The show features guest astronomers both professional and amateur.

"We have had such guests as Astronaut Mike Massimino, Alan Stern chief scientists on New Horizons Mission to Pluto, Dallas Campbell, broadcaster with Sky, National Geographic and BBC, Professor Chris Lintott BBC Sky at Night, Pete Lawrence BBC Sky at Night and Prof Jim Al-Kahili BBC and many more, many more are in the pipeline.

"Through the lockdown we broadcast many more shows to keep people entertained, we received many emails and letters thanking us for helping them through a difficult period.

"Please come along and listen, join in the Astro Radio Community, and help us grow, we are on air 24 hours a day 365 days a year."

To see the full schedule, head to www.astroradio.earth, you can listen live from the website, many mobile devices, Alexa, Siri and Google Speak.