Harrogate Hospital Radio
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Harrogate Hospital Radio is a hospital radio station based in Harrogate hospital, North Yorkshire, England.
The station started broadcasting on Saturday, October 22, 1977, from a room next to the District Hospital’s telephone switchboard. In the early days shows went out just twice weekly for a total of 3 hours. The first studio had just one turntable, one microphone and one reel-to-reel tape recorder.
Before all hospital services were carried out from within the District Hospital, patients from the General and Royal Bath Hospitals were able to tune in to Harrogate Hospital Radio.
Thanks to a massive fundraising effort in the late 1990s, the station was able to leave their original studio and move to bigger and brighter premises.
The station now broadcasts 24 hours a day, every day on their own dedicated channel on the hospital's Patientline system. The station now has two studios fully equipped with top of the range equipment.
A new link with the Army Foundation College is so popular with young recruits that there is a waiting list to learn how to become a presenter. The station has also re-established links with Henshaw’s College and now have visually-impaired students presenting shows.
The station holds annual open days, the last one being officially opened by Yorkshire Television newsreaders Gemma Calleja and Faye Barker. The station now has more contact with patients and hospital staff than ever before.
At the 2006 Hospital Broadcasting Awards the station collected three Silver awards in Speech, Special Event and Children’s Output and were Commended in Station of the Year and Female Presenter.
The stations's future goals include involving Trust staff and patients more in our programmes via microphone requests, telephone links and broadcasting of local interest messages and stories and covering more local events and interview personalities; widening its range of programming, including children’s and religious output; continuing to improve their equipment and facilities to ensure quality output.
They are currently in the process of removing the second studio and using the room as a full comprehensive library and expanding to the room next door where they will place a new second hi-tech studio with new features such as air-conditioning that will flow between the new rooms.
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Bill Caw |
| Secretary | John Casey |
| Treasurer | Eddie Tatterton |
| Programme Controller | Steve Pexton |
| Studio Manager | Ian Wighton |
| Publicity Officer | David Simister |
| Request Collection Officer | Peter Atkinson |
| Librarian | Neil Dunbar |
| Training Officer | John Bowness |
| Membership Secretary | Nicola Pollard |
| Fundraising Officer | Cathie Hague |
Harrogate Hospital Radio is a Registered Charity, No. 507137
