A Thetford teenager will take to the airwaves later this month in a bid to raise as much money as possible for a community radio station.

Carl Lambert, 17, already hosts two shows on Radio Thetford but is polishing his chat in preparation for a 26-hour marathon show.

The station, which is self-funded and receives no grants, is always on the lookout for ways of rasing money and Carl hopes his sponsored “radiothon” will boost the coffers.

The Thetford Academy pupil, who already hosts a chat show on Thurdays and request show on Sundays, said: “I’ve always wanted to do a long show and hopefully it’ll bring a bit of publicity to the radio station and a bit of money which we can use to improve the equipment.

“Hopefully I’ll get people to interact with me when I’m live and maybe I’ll get a couple of live artists too. I’m a little bit nervous but I’m excited at the same time – the longest show I’ve done is four hours.

“A friend of mine worked at the station and I like music so I saw it as a good way to get into the industry – I like the feedback when people say they’ve enjoyed my show. There aren’t many jobs out there and most employers like experience. I’m also the social media manager, so I’m getting more experience that way too.”

Thetford Radio is available over the internet 24 hours a day and broadcasts are based at Church on the Way in Thetford. The team use equipment already set up for Kingdom Radio.

Established in 2010, the station is thought to attract hundreds of listeners each week and hosts 18 presenters, each of whom pay 50p per show to help keep it up and running.

Managing editor at Radio Thetford, Samuel Ball, who works full time as a BBC broadcast assistant, said most of the cost came from the radio licence which was around �22 per month.

“We’re always looking for fundraising ideas because we don’t get any funding so any money we get is great,” he said. “We’re always looking to upgrade and buy better equipment and eventually we’d love to get an FM licence, so anything we’ve got in the bank is great.

“Things have been going really well. We started with two presenters and now we have 18 doing shows seven nights a week, so it’s really taken off –it’s better than I could have expected.

“When I launched it, it was a voice for the community because it didn’t have it at all. It’s for the community and it’s presented and run by the community.”

Carl will host his marathon show from 10pm on October 28 to midnight on October 29.

To sponsor him, email carl.lambert@radiothetford.co.uk.

Radio Thetford is streamed on the internet 24 hours a day with shows from around 6pm to midnight, Monday to Saturday, and 8.30am to midnight on Sundays. For more information, go to www.radiothetfordonline.t83.net.