Back in the 1960s the staid, out of touch, BBC Home Service, spawned a rebellious group of music presenters to fill the void demanded by young people with an insatiable appetite for 'pop' music.

Pirate radio ships like Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg, Radio North Sea, and Radio London, took to the sea waves off the Essex and Suffolk coast so they could fill the air waves with their own brand of vibrant tunes.

There is a certain irony then, that Suffolk Sound is today being launched with a backdrop of bad weather, rebels filling the gap created by the BBC with its swingeing cuts to local radio.

Radio Caroline (Di Amigo) pirate radio ship (Picture: Nub News)

The long-haired rebellious pirates of yesteryear, Steve Wright, Kid Jensen, Tony Blackburn and Emperor Rosko (more of him later) were all absorbed into the establishment, first with Radio Oe, then Radio Two.

At Suffolk Sound, it is the long established local radio listeners' favourites, Mark Murphy MBE, Stephen Foz Foster and Rob Dunger, that are leading the way with this brand new county radio station.

Add to that, Empror Rosko, who will also be volunteering and bringing along his loyal following built up over 40 years.

Listen to Suffolk Sound...

Branded as a nostalgic, retro station with a contemporary twist, Suffolk Sound aims to recapture those golden years of radios from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, but also focusing on the community we live, rather some peripheral counties miles away with little or no relevance to Suffolk ways and means.

Nub News caught up with co-founder Rob Dunger who lives near Hadleigh as he took time out from the maelstrom of getting ready for the launch, to explain how and why Suffolk Sound has come about.

"The idea came about when my business partner Richie Ross were looking for something more, something to fill those gaps left by other radio stations," Rob revealed.

"We were talking after I had interviewed Richie on my Felixstowe Radio show and he said we could do this ourselves. That was almost eight weeks ago and we have done it.

"We have got a radio station up and running in that time."

Former BBS Radio Suffolk and Felxstowe Radio presenter Rob, pointed out why he and Richie felt the county was now missing out and how they could fill the void.

Interaction with its listeners, is something Rob feels strongly about, and the retro to connecting with our communities is key to Suffolk Sound's reason for being.

Connecting with all Suffolk communities (Picture: Nub News)

"We are for the community, we are not a community radio station as such, but we are looking out for the communities," explained Rob. "The places you shop the places where you go out, where you live.

"Many are regional but they didn't talk about Bawdsey, or Erwarton or Layham, we will fill those gaps and even though we are based in Felixstowe we will be talking about your places county wide.

With an excess of 25 volunteers working not just on air but behind the scenes too. The station, which can be found online, on your smart speaker, or even by asking Alexa, has an events and marketing team, a news gathering team, and also a media training company, which trains up new presenters.

Rob said: "The range of experience is wonderful, we have some with more than 40 years experience, some with just a couple of months, the breadth is marvellous.

"Everyone is equal and we got together for meeting and it was just one evening of fun and people agreeing ' this is what local radio is about.

"The presenters come in, do their show, enjoy it then go home and leave all the internal business stuff to us."

While the music is of a glorious retro feel, the delivery is totally contemporary with a strong social media presence, including Tic Toc, watch out for Rob, Mark et al shaking their booty is a short, snappy chat.

After today's midday launch the schedule starts in earnest on Sunday from 7am, then every day from 7am until midnight.

Rob added: "We have some big names, the latest is Emperor Rosko, he was my hero many years ago and he is among the volunteers There are many others people will know, like Mark Murphy and Foz (Stephen Foster) and other that people will get to know.

"We have missed those names on the radio."

He also denies Suffolk Sound is sucking talent and listeners from other radio stations, including his latest community station where he volunteered.

"There is enough room in this county for three or four radio stations," said Rob.

"I personally channel hop, as do may others, hopefully they will come to us at Suffolk Sound and stay, even for 10 minutes, but much longer too.

"There is room for Felixstowe Radio too. I did five years there, really enjoyed it, but felt I had outgrown it. There is tough team fighting to keep them going and it is a fine radio station."

"We wanted to expand our signal strength and spread wider. Suffolk is such an amazing county we wanted to go wider. People were yearning for those holes left and we wanted to fill those big holes left by the likes of Radio Suffolk

"People asking where do we go now."

A key difference for Suffolk Sound is its charitable aspirations. It has been set up as a not for profit organisation funded by Rob and Richie initially.

"We have done it on a shoestring and have applied for charity status," Rob explained. "We have had a wonderful take up by advertisers, the problems is getting back to them quickly enough. But we will. They pay a year up front and that helps with the running costs."

They have also set up a media training arm, which is something close to Rob's heart.

He explained how Suffolk Media Training will be for everyone. Inspired by the winner of vouchers he donated to the Felixstowe Mayor;s Charity when he offered a free two hour session on his show.

It was won by a retiree who blew him away and Rob said: "JDH is one of the best presenters around even after just a couple of months. He is natural, he is aged above 70 should we say, but his knowledge of music is amazing.

"We have a lad who has Down's Syndrome, others with disabilities, we will be looking out for them and encourage more like him."

Suffolk Sounds schedule is split into two hour shows playing 70s 80s 90s and some Naughties until 6pm, then after 6pm specialist music shows and others to be revealed.

Rob admitted after all the hype, the time to deliver was nigh.

He said: "There is huge anticipation already from our listeners, but it is now down to us to deliver.

"There are bound to be blips to start with but we will deal with it."

Although no spring chicken himself and with bags of experience at all levels in local radio, Rob revealed the butterflies have been a fluttering.

"I'm thrilled and excited, "he said. "But I have to admit I have woken up in the middle of the night with blips. Usually I phone Richie and he says 'me too' but we get through it.

"Storms are forecast for the launch but we will deal with it.

"Whether we are waking you up in the morning, or taking you to bed in the evening, we will be there for you."

Just like a pirate radio station then...

Listen to Suffolk Sound...

Nub News editor to join Suffolk Sound crew