TENS of thousands of listeners are tuning into the UK's first Celtic music radio station.

TENS of thousands of listeners are tuning into the UK's first Celtic music radio station.

Celtic Music Radio, a community radio station launched earlier this year in Glasgow, aims to keep traditional music and culture alive, break new musical talent and be Scotland's first "educational broadcaster".

The station is committed to playing Celtic, folk, blues and indie bands and singer-songwriters from around the world who have difficulty getting their music played by big radio stations.

It also provides broadcast training to music, media and creative industry students at the University of Strathclyde and is keen to work with communities to create programmes on arts and cultural issues.

Celtic Music Radio, which is run by volunteers from a studio at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde, has already attracted a faithful audience since it started broadcasting in January.

It has an average of 30,000 on-line listeners a month at www.celtic musicradio.net and thousands tune in to 1530 AM/MW.

The station was helped by a £20,000 loan by Govan-based DSL Business Finance which runs a £1.5million fund for small and start-up businesses and charities.