THE County Ground is buzzing with excitement today - and it was only partly to do with football.

Not only were Town taking on Carlisle in a big fixture for the club, but Swindon's newest radio station was also going live today.

Swindon 105.5 is a community station staffed by volunteers and is run from studios at the County Ground.

It will feature a huge range of programming, running from rock music through to trips down Swindon's sporting memory lane.

The station was going live at 10am today and Swindon's two MPs, the mayor and town crier were all scheduled to be there for the event.

Martin James of the broadcasting regulator Ofcom was handing over the broadcast licence to station manager Shirley Ludford.

Martin, a long-term Swindon Town fan, said: "I am absolutely delighted to be here at the start of this exciting initiative for Swindon and wish all success to Swindon 105.5 and the team who've brought this together.

"As a fan of Swindon Town for many years, it's a great privilege to be invited to come here to present the licence."

Engineers were at the station yesterday tinkering with the studio and making last minute adjustments to ensure everything ran smoothly.

"It has been a long process to get to this day," said Shirley.

"The amount of support being shown by the community, individuals, groups, companies is amazing.

"And we are delighted to have the support of the Swindon Advertiser."