The station has been awarded a licence to begin broadcasting on a permanent basis from the end of the year. Because of its long-term links with the Sharrow Festival, it is running a week-long broadcast on 87.7FM from Thursday 6th to Wednesday 12th July. Sheffield Live! will have extensive coverage of the Sharrow Festival on Saturday 8th, with highlights and coverage of fringe events later in the week.

"Sheffield Live! will reflect the diverse cultures of Sheffield", said Sangita Basudev, Chief Executive of the station. "We are committed to community participation and the station will sound totally different to other services in the area."

The Festival will be the centre-piece of a broadcast with shows from breakfast until midnight each day. These will cover every aspect of music and culture in Sheffield. These include broadcasts in languages from Spanish to Eritrean. DJs during the week include Ann-D, the Sundaze crew and the Reverend from Thee SPC.

After the broadcast, the Sheffield Live! team will continue broadcasting on the internet on www.sheffieldlive.org, and will begin a series of training courses for people in the local community with something to say and an interest in radio. For more information on the courses, people can contact Ben Wood on 0114 281 4082.