STAFF of Radio Hampshire made a lastditch attempt to keep the stricken station on air before it shut down, the Daily Echo can reveal.

An insider told the Daily Echo that employees offered to work for free to keep the station on air while a buyer was found.

They wanted to use a pre-recorded CD so the company could continue with the absolute minimum of cost in a bid to enable it to be sold as a going concern.

The source said that the only possible outgoing that could be incurred was a £500 fee if a technical fault developed, but staff were understood to be willing to pay this themselves in the event of any problems.

However, they were told that only directors were allowed to underwrite the risk under insolvency rules. It is claimed the directors refused to do so.

It is believed that the station went into administration with debts of £70,000.

The Daily Echo was yesterday unable to contact director Jason Bryant and the administrator, Reading-based Harrison’s.

The station was formed after Saints bought SouthCity FM in 2004 and merged it with the inhouse radio station The Saint, which at the time broadcast on Sky TV and DAB digital radio.

The deal, which was supervised by then chairman Rupert Lowe, cost the club £1m and made Saints the first football club to own and run its own commercial radio broadcaster.

From then it was known as The Saint and was on the 107.8FM frequency and DAB across South Hampshire, however it struggled to make a profit and Saints’ relegation from the Premier League resulted in the club needing to save money where possible.

As a result, in July 2007 it was bought by Town & Country Broadcasting for about £100,000 and renamed Radio Hampshire, in an attempt to move it away from being a football focused broadcaster.

It de-merged from Town & Country and bought Winchester’s Dream 107.2 in November last year and began broadcasting on that frequency as well, until it finally went off air on Thursday The station also provided live coverage of all Saints games, and was the only way fans across the world could follow the team live on the Internet.

The studios were located next to the ticket office at St Mary’s Stadium and Radio Hampshire paid a lease to the club, although it is not known how much this figure was.

According to the latest Rajar figures from March, Radio Hampshire had a 1.3 per cent share of the local radio audience.