The official launch of Spark took place at the new £12 million CitySpace building in the centre of the city of Sunderland.

The station was part of a regional arts festival called "Visions of Utopia" and the station reflected the scheme and carried various programmes tied-in with the scheme, such as "The Quakies" a programme produced by children from the former pit village of Quaking Houses in County Durham.

The old studios have now been demolished and the building is now used to teach courses run by the University's School of Education and Lifelong Learning.

[1] In September 2007, Ofcom awarded Utopia FM a full-time 5 year Community Radio licence.

In 2015, the station was updated with a refreshed logo, a slogan change to 'Where Sunderland Lives', new on-air imaging provided by Reelworld and a brand new website.

The majority of Spark's programming is broadcast live from its studio at the David Puttnam Media Centre at St.Peters Campus of University of Sunderland.

Daytime shows feature a mix of playlist music, interviews, discussions and news reporting.