A community radio station leapt to the aid of its fellow broadcasters after nearly £8,000 worth of transmitting equipment was stolen last night.

Wycombe Sound offered to help track down the stolen kit, which was taken from Marlow FM’s transmitting station in a field away from its riverside Marlow base.

It is suspected that the specialist kit may have been swiped by FM ‘pirates’ looking to illegally broadcast in the area.

It is the latest setback for the not-for-profit station, which has battled against severe flooding for the last two years running.

Wycombe Sound, which ended its 28-day FM trial last month, sent out messages of support to its fellow broadcasters.

Philippa Sawyer, station manager, said: “We want to spread the word and see if we can help. If we had our own gear we would have taken it down to them.

“When we had problems starting out with our FM signal, Tim was the first person on the phone offering to help.

“He’s a really good guy and they’ve survived the terrible flooding and now this, it’s a tragedy.”

Marlow FM founder, Tim Ashburner, said he was “devastated” by the burglary, which took the station off air at about 8pm last night.

But vowing that the show must go on, the Marlow team defied the criminals by erecting a hastily assembled fix to get back on air for the following morning.

Ms Sawyer added that the equipment is of no use to anyone but a broadcaster.

She added that pirate stations can be regularly heard in the Wycombe area, operating without licences from regulator Ofcom.

Mr Ashburner said he is working with Ofcom to establish a possible list of pirates to investigate.

After its FM trial, Wycombe Sound is awaiting invitations from the regulator to apply for permanent licences.