REGULAR listeners to Tonbridge-based Radio Mercury will have noticed some dramatic changes over the past few weeks.

The playlist has been rebalanced in line with the station's newly defined target audience of 25-54 year olds and is now introducing some of the great songs of the 70s, 80s and 90s alongside the more tuneful material from today's charts.

Now live on air 24 hours a day, listeners can now expect to hear a current top ten single sandwiched between a Phil Collins classic and a blast from the past courtesy of Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet.

Group programme controller John Maxfield said: "The format has been changed to make Mercury FM more broadly appealing to a wider slice of the population of Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks."

But crucially, the most important change to the Mercury FM Tonbridge format is the inclusion of more local news. With its own journalists on site in East Street, just off the high street, the Tonbridge station is able to give much more emphasis on local news. Each news bulletin consists of a healthy slice of local news sitting neatly alongside the day's national headlines.

Mr Maxfield added: "Our intention is to make it the radio station for the area with a local news service that is second to none."