Three Star Radio stations in the North East of England will officially become one after Ofcom gave permission for UKRD to share all programmes and content 24 hours a day.
The stations, previously Alpha, Durham and Minster Northallerton, provided limited split programming until recently.
The enlarged station will have a combined MCA population of 430,638 and Ofcom is confident that complete co-location and programme sharing between these three stations will provide a substantial boost to the viability of the merged and rationalised operation.
Star Radio will continue to target the 25-54 year olds with local news and information.
The changes have been made possible after the Digital Economy Act became law in June, which also made it possible for Global Radio to close down 20 local stations and for Smooth Radio to combine six larger regional stations down to one.