New studio opens at York Hospital Radio

“Good evening, I’m Natalya and welcome to York Hospital Radio, your free-to-listen-to radio station,” I say. “I’ve loved this sort of music since I was 12 years old, and I really want to share it with you.”

There is the briefest of pauses, then Robert Plant launches into the first bars of the Led Zeppelin classic Rock‘n’Roll. “Been a long time since rock’n’ roll….”

This time, it’s a training exercise. But soon, I hope to be doing this for real: bringing music and chat to the patients of York Hospital.

It is my way of giving something back. Two years ago, I found myself staying in hospital for the first time in my life.

A few days after a routine operation to repair my Achilles tendon, I began suffering with crushing chest pains, and was rushed into hospital.

It turned out that a blood clot in my leg had broken up and travelled to my lungs. I was later told it could have been fatal if left untreated.

Thanks to my mum’s quick thinking and the speed and skill of the staff in A&E at York Hospital, the situation was soon under control, but it meant I would have to have a stay in the wards for as long as it took to monitor my condition.

It was a frightening time. Luckily, the staff were brilliant and I never lacked visitors when they were allowed. But as the long hours of the day and night stretched ahead of me, day after day, I tired of books and didn’t fancy paying the fee for the bedside TV service.

One day, I received a visit from one of the ward walkers from York Hospital Radio (YHR), who was handing out the station’s patient guide magazine.

This friendly face brightened up my day; he stopped to chat, and asked if I’d like to request a song to be played that night. It duly was – that very same Led Zeppelin track.

Since the station was free to listen to, and broadcast 24/7, I found myself tuning in throughout the week I was in hospital, and can honestly affirm that it helped me keep my sanity.

When I came home to convalesce, I thought about ways I could get involved, but it wasn’t until nearly two years later that I applied to become a member.

The application was thorough, involving an open evening and group session followed by an interview, and I was delighted to be chosen as one of a handful of new volunteer members.

Everyone who works at the radio station does so on a voluntary basis, and some members have been active for more than 35 years.

Members can be involved in many different areas, from presenting to taking part in outside broadcasts and helping in the library to ward walking. Fundraising is something that everyone gets involved with, as YHR is run entirely on donations.

The first few weeks as a new member involve training, including meeting patients and chatting about the station. This is a rewarding and fun part of the job, as some of the patients don’t have many visitors and appreciate a friendly face; others like to have a bit of banter and a laugh.

If you choose to be a presenter, as I hope to, a training programme takes place in the new studios, led by two of the most experienced presenters.

I now feel I’m giving something back to a charitable organisation that made such a positive impact on my stay in hospital.

They are always looking for new members from all sorts of backgrounds. So anyone with a few hours free and a love of radio should give them a call.

• YORK Hospital Radio is on air 24 hours a day, seven days a week for patients at the hospital.

• Patients can tune in free by pressing *800 on their bedside TV and radio console. They can request a record over the telephone – or ask one of the station’s ward walkers, who regularly chat to patients.

BETWEEN them, Ian Clennan and Phil Bewers have clocked up more than 45 years at York Hospital Radio.

They are two of a number of volunteers who have been there for many years – and they have seen plenty of changes.

One of the most significant moments in the station’s 46-year history will occur on Saturday, when the station’s new studios are officially opened by Alan Dedicoat, veteran BBC broadcaster and voice of YHR.

The twin studios would be the envy of many commercial stations, and most hospital radio stations will have never seen anything like them.

Patients who rely on the free-to-air station to keep them entertained should notice some real differences. The promise of 24-hour broadcasting will be more achievable, for a start – because it will be easier record programmes in advance.

Ian, the station’s chairman and one of its presenters, says the point was reached about three years ago where the studio needed updating.

“We were adding modern things on to an old system and it just wasn’t ideal,” he says.

“Since we’ve moved to the digital age, equipment has been tagged on that is mismatched so something had to be done,” adds fellow presenter Phil, the station’s treasurer.

The executive committee decided to reinvest in a totally new set-up – but that entailed raising tens of thousands of pounds towards the eventual cost of £55,000.

“We knew it would be a huge challenge, and we had a working party of around four members, co-ordinated by Phil, who set about doing it,” says Ian.

The group started planning. “We worked out what we needed, costed it, set a target cost to aim for and then went about fundraising,” says Phil.

“It was a different way of fundraising than that we need to just keep the station running, we could market an actual project. So we started to approach a number of people and organisations, and it all got off to a good start.”

However, a year into fundraising they were nowhere near their target. But their luck was about to change.

Through Ian’s contacts on York Hospital’s board, they came across York Health Service General Charitable Trust, a charitable funding body which supports health-related projects. In January last year, Phil put forward the station’s case for funding.

“This was the turning point for the project. They agreed to match pound for pound any money we raised, and this was a real boost as it effectively halved what we’d have to raise.”

With this renewed impetus, and more donations from the likes of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Leeds-based health plan provider LHF, among others, the funds came together quickly. The new studio was fitted in January this year.

The next challenge concerned how to remain on air during the changeover.

“We ended up working on a computer from a cupboard, but we managed by pre-recording a lot of the programmes beforehand,” says Ian.

Fortunately, the move from old to new studios only took about a month.

“It’s a big boon having this fantastic new duplicate studio and you don’t really see a lot of that elsewhere,” says Ian, who also works for commercial radio stations.

“Not only is it great for the presenters, but also for our training programme – having such facilities to train is quite rare in any radio station, never mind hospital radio – it’s really fantastic.”

Now, the station needs more funds to continue its work.

“It’s not just about being a radio station – there are so many facets to what we do here,” says Phil. “It’s all about making a difference, and if we make one person happy, then we are doing our job.”

• If you would like to donate to York Hospital Radio, or become a member, visit yorkhospitalradio.com, email membership@yorkhospitalradio.com or phone 01904 628800.