50196 on air - hospital broadcasting associationon air is the official journal of the hba which is...

July/August 2009

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EVENT CANCELLED

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in this issue ...

Committee Report ........................................................................................ 2Doctor Who Opens Bedrock’s Studio .................................................... 4Is There a Doctor in the House? .............................................................. 5Super Sonifex S2 ............................................................................................ 6News from Radio St Helier ........................................................................ 7All Aboard the Hospital Radio Express .................................................... 8View from the Basement .............................................................................. 9Our Queen’s Award Winners .................................................................. 10Hi Pop Pickers! ............................................................................................ 12Send Us a Postcard .................................................................................... 13Countrywide – News from the Stations .............................................. 14News Round Up .......................................................................................... 16What I’ve Learnt .......................................................................................... 17HBA Grant Application Form .................................................................. 18Regional Rep Details .................................................................................. 19Who To Contact .......................................................................................... 20

FRONT COVER STORY:Hospital Radio Bedside fromBournemouth at Buckingham Palaceafter receiving their Queen’s Awardfor Voluntary Service. Read all abouttheir day and also Hospital RadioNorwich who have also received theAward.

The Official Journal of theHospital Broadcasting Association

July/August 2009 Issue 127

Address for On-Air: The Editor, On Air, 2 Falkland Close, Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 3DD

Tel: 0870 321 6011 Email: [email protected]

COPY DATE NEXT ISSUE 19th August, 2009

Hi Everyone,I know that everyone will join me in congratulating Hospital

Radio Norwich and Radio Bedside on their fantasticachievement of gaining the Queen’s Award for VoluntaryService. Very well done to both stations. You will find theirstories in the centre pages.

Have you been busy with Outside Broadcasts this summer?If so, we would love to hear from you. And don’t forget tosend in some photographs as well.

I know that many of you will be lucky enough to have beentravelling this summer. Why not send in a photograph of youwith a copy of On Air from your travels. It will be interestingto see how far hospital radio travels!

I’m still looking forward to hearing what you would like tosee in On Air. Please send in your comments to the address atthe bottom of the page.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Michelle

DIARY DATESHBA TRAINING DAY17th October, 2009

Ramada Birmingham Hotel, Sutton ColdfieldSBES

NEC Birmingham, 3rd November, 20092010 CONFERENCE

Normandy Hotel, Renfrew26th-28th March 20102011 CONFERENCE

Ramada Hotel, Maidstone25th-27th March 2011

On Air is the Official Journal of the HBA which is the trading name of the National Association of HospitalBroadcasting Organisations, a Company limited by guarantee.

Registered in England No. 2750147. A Registered Charity No. 1015501.Registered office: Mariners House, 24 Nelsons Gardens, Hedge End, Southampton, SO30 2NE.

On Air is distributed free of charge to all member stations of the Association plus interested parties.All material is ©2009 of HBA and may not be reproduced in any form without the written authority of the Editor.

Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of HBA, or the Editor but are the personal opinion of the contributor.Whilst every effort is taken to ensure the accuracy of the publication, all advertisements and articles appear in good faith

and HBA and the Editor accept no responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies.

01 INTRO 127:01 INTRO 127 7/8/09 16:57 Page 1

Committee Report

ON AIR <http://www.hbauk.com> Page 2 July/August 2009

WelcomeI have been able to start my report

for the past several editions of ‘On Air’with a ‘welcome’ paragraph and thisedition is no different. This time, Iwould like to welcome back EveshamHospital Radio and to also welcome onboard Mike Sarre as HBA’s newly-appointed Anglia Regional Rep.

Mike is a member of Hospital RadioNorwich. He’s told me that he willcontact all members within the Angliaregion once the main holiday season ispast. In the meantime, you can contactMike via the usual HBA Anglia e-mailaddress and phone number.

MembershipSubscriptions

Thank you to those of you – 95% ofmember stations – who have alreadyrenewed your membership. You should,by now, have received yourmembership certificate and receipt. Ifyou have yet to renew, I will have beendoing my best to get in touch with you.If you haven’t heard, please do contactme – it may be that we have out-of-date contact information in ourmembership database.

PPLPhil, Geoff and myself met with

representatives of PPL in mid May.Following the meeting, I’m pleased tobe able to report that PPL has agreed tocontinue to financially support HBA fora further three years, to the tune of£26,000 in 2009, rising to £30,000 in2010 and 2011.

We also sought and receivedclarification that the existing PPLhospital radio copyright licence covers ahospital radio station that isbroadcasting the same service to morethan one hospital without furthercharge.

Finally, we asked PPL whether theywould agree to treat hospital radiostations broadcasting using an AudioDistribution System the same as thosebroadcasting via wired systems andinduction loops. ADS is an extremelylow power freely-radiating FM radiosignal on a non-standard frequency(around 60MHz). We are aware ofone newly-formed station in Londonwhich is about to launch using thistechnology. I’m pleased to report thatPPL have agreed to our request, savingthis station (and any other that adoptsthis technology) several hundreds ofpounds per year in copyright licence

fees. We will now endeavour to getPRS and MCPS to treat this technologyin a similar way to PPL and add it totheir waiver list, saving stations evenmore money.

COI ‘Radio Fillers’At the Blackpool conference informal

meeting, HBA was asked to contact theGovernment’s Central Office ofInformation regarding the lack of publicservice announcements made availableto hospital radio stations via itsradiobank.co.uk website. Before I hadtime to contact them, I presume alongwith all other registered users of thissite, was sent an e-mail by the COIexplaining that they were closing thatsite and inviting all subscribers toregister and use the coiradiofillers.co.ukwebsite which had previously beenrestricted to commercial stations. Thiswebsite has much more material on it,is regularly updated and new materialappears to be promoted by e-mail – myown station was able to download andbroadcast the swine flu PSAs the veryday that the campaign launched.

Hospital vsCommunity Radio

Back in 2003, when CommunityRadio was about to be licensed for thefirst time, the then HBA ExecutiveCommittee reviewed the purpose ofCommunity Radio and therequirements being imposed onlicensees and came to the view thatCommunity Radio was not a direction

that would suit most hospital radiostations. During the conference inBlackpool earlier this year, the TrusteeBoard was asked by members to reviewHBA's stance.

The issue was debated at somelength during the July Trustee Boardmeeting and I wish to thank the over 20people who answered my plea forinput. Publishing deadlines mean that Idon’t have time to provide a fullaccount of the discussion – I willattempt to provide that next time – butthe conclusion was that HBA's originaldecision appears still to be valid formost hospital radio stations.

Whilst it might appear a logical stepfor any radio station to wish to increaseits audience, it must be rememberedthat, almost without exception, hospitalradio stations are charities (albeit insome cases unregistered), formed withthe object ‘to relieve sickness, infirmityand the disabilities attendant on old age... by providing a local broadcastingservice ...’ This makes most hospitalradio stations healthcare-relatedcharities that happen to usebroadcasting as the means by whichthey deliver their public benefit; theyare not simply radio stations whichcurrently only serve hospitals andsimilar institutions. The difference mayappear subtle but legally it is veryimportant. Quoting from the CharityCommission presentation to ourAutumn 2007 conference in Newport,‘broadcasting light entertainment to thecommunity at large would not becharitable because it is not directedtowards a charitable need (i.e. the reliefof sickness in hospital.)’

‘Digital Britain’On 16th June, Lord Carter

published his ‘Digital Britain’ report.This includes plans to switch off theFM transmitters of all radio channelsavailable on DAB at the end of 2015,with the intent of re-using the FM bandfor ultra-local commercial andcommunity radio, including the movingof stations from AM to FM. We willneed to ensure that neither theGovernment nor Ofcom forget abouthospital radio stations currentlybroadcasting via LPAM, LPFM and AMInduction Loop. We need to ensurethat a strategy to accommodate suchstations is agreed that provides certaintywithout significant cost and will beseeking a meeting with Ofcom. Expectto hear much more in the months andyears to come.

by Nigel Dallard, Secretary

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Committee Report

Southern RegionTraining Day

RestructuringProgress is still being made towards

the restructuring of HBA.The first visible change is that Phil,

who since October has officially beenboth Chair and Chief Executive ofHBA, has decided to stop using the title‘Chief Executive’ and to adopt the‘Chairman’ moniker to avoid confusion.His new e-mail address [email protected], although mail [email protected] is still also beingdelivered to Phil.

Ahead of the July Trustee Boardmeeting, Phil and I met with the ChiefExecutive of Attend, who has offeredus advice and guidance on movingtowards employing a Chief Executive.He most kindly then wrote a paperwhich was discussed at our TrusteeBoard meeting. Hopefully we will havea draft role description and set ofemployment costs available fordiscussion at our next Trustee Boardmeeting so that we can start to debatethe detail of the division of workbetween the Trustees and the ChiefExecutive, and include the cost of

employing someone in the budget forour next financial year, which starts on1st September.

HBA Training NetworkLaunched at the Blackpool

conference, the HBA Training Networkis intended to provide a series of eventsacross the UK providing training in allaspects of running a hospital radiostation. Our first National HospitalRadio Training Day will be staged onSaturday 17th October 2009 in SuttonColdfield, with a full day’s training byprofessionals being offered for only £10(including lunch!) and accommodationavailable at the venue for bargainbasement prices.

At the time of writing, thepresentation training session is fullybooked, despite us increasing thenumber of available delegate places by50%. There are still places are stillavailable for the managementcommittee training session, although thistoo is selling well, so if you are planningto attend and have yet to book, or haveyet to decide whether you are going to

attend, please act as soon as possible. Asimilar day's training booked individuallycould easily cost you over £100 andwill generally be targeted at the needsof larger charities. Our day will betailored to the needs of hospital radiostations. A significant proportion of mytime is spent answering managementand governance questions frommembers of station managementcommittees. I’m sure that there is muchthat we can all learn and I wouldencourage all stations to considersending at least one of their committeemembers to this training session. Seewww.hbauk.com/training for moredetails.

If you have booked to attend and findthat you are unable to attend, pleasecontact Marie Harper([email protected] / 0870 3216017) as soon as possible, so that wecan try to re-allocate your place. Due tothe popularity of this event, delegateswho simply don't turn up without goodreason will likely be looked upon mostunfavourably when booking futureevents.


The second Southern RegionTraining Day was held in May withmembers from stations around the southgathering at Queen Mary’s College inBasingstoke for three seminars basedaround the popular theme ofprogramming and presentation.

Paul Blitz from Winchester HospitalRadio, talked about involving theaudience in programmes and differentways of doing so from broadcastingfrom the wards and patients’ bedsidesto what to talk about on air that makesthe listener feel more part of theprogramme.

The second seminar was by MelEdmonds from Mediafly BroadcastTraining. She happened to be a formermember of Winchester Hospital Radioand talked about the things to thinkabout when preparing a programmeand what to talk about and whatsubjects to stay away from on air.

The subject of the final presentation,by HBA Programming Advisor, PaulEaston, was how to make an Awardsentry stand out and was all about thetype of things that the judges in theNational Hospital Radio Awards arelooking for when judging and markingthe entries. Paul drew on his experience

as a Hospital Radio Awards judge.All in all, everyone enjoyed the day

and the staff at Queen Mary’s Collegelooked after everyone very well and

there were very many favourablecomments made about the foodprovided for lunch.

Neil Ogden, South Regional Rep

No, Mr Jones, he asked if you would like to makea request not a bequest!

Many thanks to Brian Woods of Addenbrooke’s Hospital Radio for the cartoon

02,03 Committee report 127:02,03 Committee report 127 7/8/09 16:54 Page 2

Doctor Who Opens Bedrock’s Studio


Getting someone along to open astudio is not an easy matter. Our PublicityOfficer, Belinda Durkin, had written toover 50 'celebrities', both minor and notso minor and we had not one positiveresponse. There were a few ‘possiblemaybes’, more ‘probably nots’, evenmore ‘Bed...what’s?’ and a few whocouldn’t afford a stamp to say ‘no thanks’.

When a letter accepting our invitationdropped through the door in earlyNovember 2008 saying if we were stillinterested in a visit, we were, to say theleast shocked, as the postmark bore thewords Buckingham Palace. Were we stillinterested? Who wouldn’t be whenyou’re talking about the probable nextqueen visiting a minor charity?

So far so good. We couldn’t tellanyone who was coming – except thoseon a need-to-know basis. We wereallowed to say it would be a VIP butnothing more; if it were made public toosoon, the whole thing may have beencalled off. To talk about it we gave herthe code name Doctor Who.

Discussions were held as to whowould do what and when, where wouldthe cars stop, who was going to pay thecar parking fees, which ward would bevisited and would they need to weld thedrain covers?

Having to maintain secrecy madeorganising things much more difficult. Youwant to get past and present membersalong but can’t say who is coming.Finally, we were allowed to tell ourmembers who was coming. With barelyenough time for them to arrange time offwork, would there be anyone there toshow the flag. We needn’t have worried;with our past and present members andthe hospital’s internal e-magazine that gotthe word out early in the morning, therewas no shortage of people. Weeks ofsecret planning with the help of theBarking, Havering & Redbridge NHSTrust, Sodexho and Catalyst culminatedat 12.15 on January 22, 2009 with theQueen’s Hospital brought to a virtualstandstill as people realised what washappening. Not every day were patientsand visitors met by the Chairman of theTrust and the Mayor, amongst others.

Finally, as the appointed hourapproached, the local Mayor, Mayoressand Deputy Lord Lieutenant of GreaterLondon together with senior managementfrom the Trust and its partners and ourChairman lined up at the Main entranceto welcome the royal visitor. Members ofthe press who had been briefed earlierstarted snapping on cue.

The atrium and its first-floor balconywere filled with doctors, nurses andother staff, surprised visitors and patients– and lots of mobile phone cameras.Such was the size of the crowd that theRoyal Protection Group and local MetPolice became concerned that they

should have had more officers. With allthat going on, our Chairman, Ian Wager(an engineer by profession) still had timeto think ‘is the balcony designed to holdthat many people? It would have beengood TV but the broadcasters obviouslyunderestimated the public response anddidn’t send a team.

Initial greetings over, HRH made herway, to the sound of a bass and theTrust’s grand piano played by two guestmusicians, to visit the volunteers at thehelp desk, trailing press photographersand shaking numerous hands along theroute, before climbing the stairs to ourstudio.

HRH met most of the committeeoutside the studio before going in to meetour secretary, Katie Blount and sign ourand the Mayor’s guest books.

Into the studio next to meet one of thepresenters, Mat Watson, chat aboutprogrammes and patient’s requests andwrite out a request slip for Abba’s ‘MamaMia’.

Back out of the studio and off to oneof the wards, Coral (ante-natal), to meeta couple of new mums and their babies– after a group hand cleaning session, ofcourse, along with request collectorsScott Parrott, Rachel Arnold, KylieArmstrong and Andy Durkin. A quicklisten-in to the special programme foundthe requested Abba track being played.

More chatting and handshaking withthe ward staff, another hand gelling andback to the atrium balcony to meet moremembers, past and present, beforereceiving a posy of flowers.

Ian Wager then thanked HRH for hervisit and said that he hoped it would helpwith improving Bedrock’s profile andasked her to unveil a commemorativeplaque.

Finally, it was time for HRH todepart, with yet more hand shaking onthe way to her waiting car and home,hopefully in time for tea and crumpets.

Meanwhile, back at the studio, webegan to unwind, the Mayor andMayoress were being entertained prior tothe presentation of a posy to theMayoress. Another ‘unwinding’ tookplace over tea and sandwiches beforethe Mayor, Mayoress and most of theremaining members made their wayshome, leaving the presenters on duty tocontinue with ‘normal’ programmes.

Various articles appeared in the localpress and the Sunday Express. Severalfollow-ups appeared with comments onhow it had adversely affected theoperation of the hospital and how theyhad wasted time cleaning-up thechewing gum, instead of performingoperations.

But it was more publicity anyway –and who would have wanted some guyin Wellingtons and hi-vis jacketperforming their operation?

04 Radio bedrock:04 Radio bedrock 7/8/09 16:56 Page 1

Is There a Doctor in the House?


We all get to try our hands at a widevariety of jobs during the course of ourlives, some more memorable thanothers. For me, some of the mostunforgettable during my time as anactor saw me involved with that mostenduring of British programmes, DoctorWho.

The original television series was firstbroadcast in 1963, the day afterPresident Kennedy’s assassination,when The Army Game’s WilliamHartnell played the eccentric timetraveller in what was intended as achildren’s adventure series. The show’sremit was to educate its audience inscience and history, via the Doctor’sexploits through time and space.

The brainchild of the BBC’s SydneyNewman, it was when originalproducer Verity Lambert went againsthis instructions not to include ‘bug-eyedmonsters’ in the programme, that theDaleks were born and helped rocketthe series to worldwide success.

Cybermen, Yeti and the Master werejust a few of the fearsome foes whichDoctors Patrick Troughton and JonPertwee famously fought over thecoming years, usually surviving to fightanother day but occasionally beingmortally wounded, only to regenerateinto another incarnation of the Doctor –the next actor in the title role.

As a child in the 1970s and ‘80s, Iwas a regular viewer of the series,following the weekly adventures ofDoctors Tom Baker and Peter Davison,along with a host of companions and amenagerie of memorable monsters. Infact, in hindsight the imagination of theprogramme was probably one of thereasons I eventually became an actor.

By the time I graduated fromLondon’s Academy Of Live AndRecorded Arts in 1996, the originaltelevision series had been off the air forseven years. Therefore, any prospect ofbecoming professionally involved in theDoctor’s time travels seemed long past.However, the situation changed laterthat same decade, when independentproducer Big Finish Productions weregranted the licence by BBC Worldwideto produce and release a series of audioadventures featuring the good Doctor.Thus, a monthly series of double CDstories were recorded and released,featuring past Doctors Peter Davison,Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and PaulMcGann, their television assistants andsome familiar foes. Not only did theadvent of these tales attract my interestas a listener but now as a workingactor, also presented a potential jobopportunity!

As is the norm when seeking acting

roles, I duly sent a demo CD of mywork to then Doctor Who producerGary Russell – while actors do attendspecific castings, more often theyapproach producers and directors withtheir details and hope they’ll beconsidered if a suitable job comes up.Of course, it doesn’t hurt to nudge aproducer’s memory from time to timeand this I did a year later but it wasn’tuntil a further six months had passedthat I received a call from Gary Russell,with an offer I couldn’t refuse, ‘are youavailable to play a villain in a DoctorWho serial, opposite Peter Davison’sDoctor?’

Now, we’re all used to being offeredjobs, those in freelance work perhapsmore than others but on this occasionmy professional enthusiasm as an actorwas coupled with the voice of my innertwelve-year-old self saying ‘It’s DoctorWho!’

And that was generally what mymind continued to whisper throughoutthe subsequent recording. It isdelightfully strange to be standing in arecording booth, microphone beforeyou and script in hand and to have avoice as familiar as Peter Davison’s

coming over your headphones from thenext booth in the studio. While doing aprofessional job as a working adult, partof you can’t help be transported back towhen you heard that same voice as achild. Not only was I fortunate enoughto act with Peter Davison but the wholeexperience was a thoroughly enjoyableone.

The script, a fine historical adventureentitled ‘The Council Of Nicaea,’featured an intriguing plot, well-writtendialogue, a cast that included acclaimedactor David Bamber and Doctor Whoassistant Nicola Bryant plus an astute,inventive and intuitive director in GaryRussell. The work in the studio was apleasure, the Green Room filled withfriendly chat and amiable banter fromone and all and the experience to berelished – and repeated!

For a few months later another callcame from Gary and I was fortunateenough to rejoin the good Doctor inanother of his incarnations, this time inan adventure which combined an alienmenace with Brighton of the 1930s.

A more comic adventure saw meplaying a friend to the Doctor, ratherthan a foe and my character partneringcomedian Max Miller in the episodes.Once again a fine cast had beenassembled to bring the tale to life andwho better to play the ‘CheekyChappie’ himself than comic actor RoyHudd. He, Colin Baker in the title roleand Maggie Stables as his companionEvelyn, made the experience an equallyenjoyable but totally different to my firstDoctor Who outing. An older cast fullof mischief, bonhomie and fun, regalingthe cast and crew with anecdotes ofCoronation Street, Steptoe And Sonand Dennis Potter: a most memorablejob, though barely like working!

To date, this adventure, ‘PierPressure,’ marks my most recentinvolvement recording Doctor Who,though my recent joining of HRB hasseen me rubbing shoulders with doctorsof a different kind.

However, in 2008 the BBC’sChildren In Need appeal resulted inme travelling to Cardiff to explore theTARDIS, meet up with Gary Russellonce again (now script editor of hetelevision series) and journey behindthe scenes on the brand new series ofDoctor Who – but that, as they say, isanother story…

For clips of ‘The Council OfNicaea’ and ‘Pier Pressure’ please visitwww.martinparsons.tv

For more information about BigFinish Productions, please visit:www.bigfinish.com

Martin Parsons

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Super Sonifex S2


Huddersfield Hospital Radio, alsoknown as 2HR was established in 1953and broadcasts primarily to the patientsin the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary inthe UK. It has approximately 40 staffwho are all dedicated volunteers.

Trevor Horn has been a member ofHuddersfield Hospital Radio for 26years and has occupied the position ofStudio Engineer for the last six years.He is responsible for purchasing studioequipment and recently bought 2 xSonifex S2-10 channel digital I/Oanalogue radio broadcast mixers in asplit configuration.

The S2 is used for live broadcasts ofmusic and requests shows. Broadcastsare made to the patients using thehospital media system Monday toFriday from 7pm to 10pm and from10am at weekends. Between thosehours of live broadcasts there is a 24hour computerised service available topatients. There is also a link with thefootball stadium where the local sportsteam provide live commentaries to theinfirmary on all home football andrugby matches. There are also links tothe local community as thesecommentaries are relayed to specialseats for the visually handicapped at thestadium.

Trevor said, ‘Having looked at a fewmixers we decided on the Sonifex S2having seen it at the HospitalBroadcasting Association conference inLeeds. The quality and layout of all thecontrols plus the reliable name ofSonifex were the deciding factors inbuying the S2.’

As part of the installation, Trevor alsopurchased the Sonifex S2 Solutionsstudio U-shaped furniture and a SOL-T12 desk-top rack-pod commenting,‘The installation and the ease ofconnection to our equipment meantthat we were only off air for 30 hoursand the backup and technical supportfrom Sonifex has been excellentthroughout.’

The Sonifex S2 uses the latesttechnology components to offer digitalaudio quality with analogue reliability ina modular format. It has a number offeatures which make it ideal for use incommunity based projects. First of all,it's very simple to use with automatedcontrol of speaker muting and on-airand mic-live sign switching and faderstart of ancillary equipment such as CDplayers and automation systems. Forinternet broadcasting the S2 hassimultaneous analogue and digitaloutputs with an S/PDIF digital outputwhich can be connected directly to thesoundcard of a PC for internetstreaming.

There are a wide range of input andoutput channels and the mixer is built tothe customer's specification, allowingthe flexibility of configuring the mixerfor any radio application whilstminimizing the costs involved. The S2has two main audio buses, allowingbroadcasting on the main PGM bus andsimultaneous recording on the AUDbus, with bus output selection on eachmodule.

For more information about theSonifex S2 mixer or the Sonifex S2Solutions furniture, please contact oursales team at: [email protected] alsosee our advertisement on the rearcover.

• • • • • •Hospital Radio Wey, the volunteer

radio station based in Chertsey, beganat Weybridge Hospital in 1965. It hasexpanded to cover Ashford and St.Peters Hospitals and is looking toincrease its services to other hospitals,care homes and the health sector acrossthe area. The hospitals are each linkedby BT landlines and broadcast from9am until 10pm each day, including livecommentary from local football matchesand other outside events of localinterest.

In 1989 the station moved to largeraccommodation at St Peter's Hospitalwhere it benefited from two studios.Here it expanded its facilities byintroducing a digital playout system andan internet radio connection making italso possible to extend its service tocare homes. In 2005, major decisionswere made about the station's future

due to some of the equipment givingservice problems. A scheme to providebetter studio accommodation could notbe funded so it was decided to refit theexisting studios.

Peter Harman, Presenter & StudioDevelopment Officer, said, ‘The choiceof mixer was a key decision as this wasthe biggest investment for the twostudios. Sonifex products were chosenbecause the S2 desks had a simplelayout, standard XLR input connectionsand the company also hadcomplimentary studio switching andancillary equipment. Since installation,members have adjusted easily to usingthe Sonifex desks and have commentedfavourably on their ease of use’.

The two studios were replaced oneat a time in 2007 and 2008 with thesame S2 digital I/O analogue radiobroadcast mixers, to offer familiarity tothe presenters whichever studio theywere using. The mixers were 20channels wide and had the followingconfiguration:

Three mic/line channels were usedand advantage was made of the dualinputs. One of the mic inputs wasdedicated to the presenter's mic, theother two being guest mic's and a lineinput was taken from the permanentlywired feed from the hospital chapel.Another mono line input mono wasoccasionally used when they had livemusic in the studio.

There were two telco channels andone mix minus channel connected tothree phone lines using a dual SonifexHY-03 telephone hybrid and a single

Huddersfield Hospital Radio re-equip with Sonifex S2 mixers

06,07 Sonifex/RSH:06,07 Sonifex/RSH 7/8/09 16:59 Page 1

daytime.’Radio St Helier helps to staff the

main gate and provides the music andpublic address system at the annualfireworks display at Carshalton Park –just one of the many events the station'sroadshow units attend each year.

GOLDEN MICROPHONEFAREWELL TO KENAFTER 27 YEARS’ SERVICE

Radio St Helier said thank you andfarewell to long serving member KenGreene on his retirement from thehospital station with the appropriatepresentation of a golden microphonetrophy.

Ken joined the hospital radio stationin 1982 and has clocked up animpressive 27 years of voluntaryservice, including 15 years asfundraising officer and, with someoverlap, 18 years as record librarian.

Ken played a key role in thedevelopment of the radio service at StHelier Hospital. He was a member ofthe working group which designed thestation’s new studios which opened in1991 and he took a leading role inmaking a success of the £100,000appeal to finance the project.

Radio St Helier is the hospital radiostation serving St Helier Hospital inCarshalton. The service is run entirelyby volunteers who do everything fromcollecting requests on the wards topresenting programmes and fundraising.For more information visit our websiteat: www.radiosthelier.co.uk

Sonifex News from Radio St Helier


Sonifex HY-02 hybrid. One littlebespoke change that was made to thesecond studio was to mount indicatorsin the hood in line with the channelstrips to mimic the line-hold indicatoron the HY-03, acting as a very effectivesilent incoming call indicator.

Two SL1200 turntables wereconnected to two gram/line channelswith the line inputs wired to phonosockets for use by external equipmentsuch as laptops, tape machines andipods.

Finally, eight dual stereo channelswere used as inputs for four Myriadplayouts, two Denon DN-C635 CDplayers, a Tascam MD350 mini-diskplayer and a Tascam combined cassetteand CD-RW recorder.

There is also a feed from therespective other studio, a newsfeed andtuner output, to provide an off-air feed,available on desk inputs.

The audio output is used to providefeeds for recording and headphoneamplifiers via a ProAVM DA-ITdistribution amp.

Headphone amplifiers enable eitherstation output (for guests) or presentersheadphones with pre-fade (for trainees)to be available.

The main station transmissionequipment was also replaced with thesecond studio using a Sonifex StationMaster and appropriate Sonifex Redboxaudio interfaces for distribution andstudio indicator ‘On-Air’ and ‘Mic-On’switching.

The new studios have served as aspringboard resulting in a successfulRSL FM broadcast in 2008. This hasgiven valuable experience to the teamof presenters as Radio Wey awaits thedecision from Ofcom regarding aCommunity Radio licence application.

For more information about HospitalRadio Wey, visit their website:http://www.radiowey.co.uk/

The Sonifex S2 is a new breed ofradio broadcast mixer. Using the latesttechnology components, it offers digitalaudio quality with analogue reliability ina modular format. The S2 has a widerange of input and output channels,PFL/cue, fader-start operation ofequipment, automatic monitor mutingon mic-live, light switching remoteoutputs, optional EQ on input modules,gram amp input options and 2 mainaudio buses, allowing you to broadcaston the PGM bus while recording onthe AUD bus, with bus output selectionon each module. It also has both digitaland analogue input channels, togetherwith simultaneous analogue and digitaloutputs.

RSH MARKS 39 YEARSWITH LAUNCH OF24-HOUR SERVICE

Volunteers at Radio St Helier markedthe station's 39th anniversary of hospitalbroadcasting with the official launch ofa new 24-hour service by the Mayor ofSutton, Cllr Margaret Court on June 6.

The Mayor visited the studios at StHelier Hospital and was interviewedon air about her role and responsibilitiesby presenter Brian Cantwell during thestation's monthly magazine programmecalled Sutton Scene.

The radio station's new 24-hourservice is thanks to the purchase of acomputer-based playout system by thecharity. It means Radio St Helier canbroadcast its specially selected musicservice to the wards 24 hours a day,rather than having to go off-air whenthe volunteer presenters go home.

The new system was purchasedwith money raised by members of theradio station plus a contribution fromthe Wallington & Carshalton RoundTable's annual Firework's Night.

Station Manager Kevin Horkan said,‘Radio St Helier aims to lift patient’sspirits while they are away from homeand often facing difficult times.

‘Now, thanks to our supportersincluding Wallington and CarshaltonRound Table and members of thepublic who attended their annualfirework display, Radio St Helier isbroadcasting 24 hours a day and wecan keep the patients company rightthrough the night as well as during the

The Mayor of Sutton, Cllr Margaret Courtwith Brian Cantell at the official launch ofthe 24 hour service

Ken Green is presented with his goldenmicrophone by Paul Reynolds

06,07 Sonifex/RSH:06,07 Sonifex/RSH 7/8/09 16:59 Page 2

All Aboard the Hospital Radio Express


Back in the late eighties andearly nineties, Hospital RadioBasingstoke’s Paul Le Feuvreorganised several events atRopley station near Alton.

Ropley is one of the stationson the famous WatercressLine and the idea of the eventwas to set up a mobile studioand record programmes fromthe station for later broadcast.

In 2008, Paul offered torevive the event and so inOctober, we took theequipment and tent backagain. However, on thisoccasion, the wind and rainmade it impossible to run theday and so it was limited tojust a behind the scenes tourinstead.

A second attempt to runthe day was made in June2009 and this time theweather could not have beenbetter!

The mobile studio was setup and music was playedthroughout the day as well asinterviews with many of theWatercress Line volunteers.

Members of other stationswere invited along as welland along with HospitalRadio Basingstoke. Membersof Winchester HospitalRadio, Radio Marsden, RadioFrimley Park, SouthamptonHospital Radio and HospitalRadio Reading enjoyed freetrain rides throughout the daywhilst recording material fortheir own programmes.

There was no shortage ofsteam engines to have a lookat of course, including onewith a rather famous owner.Record producer and XFactor judge Pete Watermanis the owner of many steamengines and the HospitalRadio Basingstoke teamdecided to help him out bygiving one of them a polish!

A good time was had by allwho came along and the dayenjoyed lots of publicity fromthe local press and media.Just as importantly, everyoneat the Watercress Line gaveus a very enthusiasticwelcome and hopefully we’llbe able to do it all again atsome time in the future.

08 All Aboard:08 All Aboard 7/8/09 17:00 Page 1

View from the Basement

ON AIR <http://www.hbauk.com> Page 9 July/August, 2009

Nothing is new anymore. I believe this is the secret to growingolder and one day finding yourself out to be a grumpy old man/woman. It is a life lesson we all succumb to. It's the lack ofsurprise that breeds apathy.

I, aged 36, went 'clubbing' last weekend. Not seals I hasten toadd. In a small town near Hastings called Rye, famous as acinque port, (exciting for the over 50s so I hear) and as the placewhere Mapp and Lucia was filmed. Although picturesque, it isnot designed for the many bright 'young' things like myself who(very occasionally now) like to unwind by having a few sherbetsand a drunken bop about.

It's been a while since I last ventured out to hit the dance floorin my middle aged finery. That was last year on a Tuesday nightin Hastings in a 300 capacity 'super' club called G-spot whichwas frequented by myself, my wife, three friends, two odd sexualdeviant looking punters and ten security oafs.

Growing older and being a father now, I have learnt to enjoymy space and this was the ideal past your prime clubbingexperience which sadly culminated in my reliving my youth anddoing backspins on the dance floor to Rick Astley. One backsprain and a 6 o' clock baby milk feed with a hangover get uplater, I swore I’d never enter the premises of a club again. Iwould choose instead to relive my glory days through themedium of reminiscences which probably seem more excitingnow than they ever were in reality.

Upon relinquishing my clubbing abstinence decision andentering the Rye club, I regretted it. It was heaving, the beer

Our columnist, Brett Ellis and his unique view on life ... what no clubbing!

warm and tasting of urine (or so I imagined having neverhad the pleasure), the beered up boys menacing and thegirlwomen even more so. I lasted for ten minutes before I,and an old friend, lan, made for the exit door in search of ameaty doner. In days gone by I would leave a club with ameaty Donna but the less said about that the better.

Sitting with Barnsey eating stripped out pig innards burntto a crisp in a Tesco value pitta bread with no margarine(when did fast food outlets cut corners on 'spreading on thebread'?), we came to a conclusion. This was not new. Wewere bored. We had been here a million times before, andnot only had we bought the T-Shirt, but we employed asweat shop worker in some far off land to produce a batchfor us.

As we watched the fights unfold and the violentundertones of a domestic dispute commence in the taxi rankat Rye train station, we swore that this was the last time wewould put ourselves up for this.

The highlight of the evening came in the cab back toCosta Hastings. After a crappy night out, the relief ofmaking your way home in one piece boils up thetestosterone and adrenalin and turns you into 'funny cabbloke'. All the Peter Kay gag questions come out to cabdriver who never seems to have seen the video.

'Been busy?' The question kills a good ten minutes of thejourney as the cabbie relays stories of quiet times, pukingteenagers and non payers, all designed of course to let thetravelling punters know that he expects a hefty tip to makeup for his previous misfortunes that night. A minute or so ofsilence will pass before the inevitable 'what time you on to?'question is asked.

Now in his stride, your guaranteed 15 minutes of woefulstories of how his wife is unwell, the baby not sleeping andhe has to drive for the next 16 hours to make ends meet.Again, designed to screw another £2 in tips at thedestination.

Yet again, as regular readers, you may ask what the fliphas this got to do with radio? Well quite a lot actually. Weare in an enviable position to some commercial stations dueto the fact that our audience, if your station is the same asHospital Radio Barnet's listenership, are generally in for theshort haul. With a weekly show it is highly unlikely thatlisteners will hear you twice so you can, if you wish, chooseto stick to the same format show week after week afterweek and no one will be any the wiser. With a littleenthusiasm it can sound as fresh as the first time youpresented many years ago and can become as comfortableas a night in with EastEnders, a takeaway Prawn Kormaand an early night ready for the next 5am baby alarm call.

As a footnote, I went to a festival last week and camped.It rained, I was sick from sunstroke and the tent leakedleaving me sleeping in a pool of lukewarm rainwater. I trodin a puddle in my trainers and retched whilst occupying anexcreta covered portaloo in a field in 90 degree heat.

I'm going to remember my festival experience and relay itto all and sundry should I ever become a cab driver.

Failing that, I'll alter the details and use it as a link nextThursday. And the Thursday after that, and possibly eventhe Thursday after that ...

COPY DATE FOR ISSUE 128 19th August, 2009

09 View from the basement 127:09 View from the basement 127 7/8/09 17:01 Page 1

The Queen’s Award


DELIGHTED TO HAVEWON THIS AWARD?I’LL SAY

Learning of the Queen’s Award forVoluntary Service through ourVoluntary Service Manager at theNorfolk & Norwich UniversityHospital, Linda asked us to considerapplying for it but not only that, she alsooffered to sponsor us as well.

With nothing to lose, we set aboutcompleting the long drawn out formwith Linda the scribe. The applicationform we thought, did repeat itself butwe eventually completed it with whatwe considered was enough informationfor us to glow. Two local members ofthe community of some standingprovided references and we wereaway.

An interview followed at our studioswith a panel of two Deputy LordLieutenants of Norfolk. This was a bitscary but we got through it. Wethought we had impressed them withour paperwork, our commitment to ourpatients through our volunteermembership and our specially designedprogramming.

As time went by, we becamedespondent hearing nothing, then aninvitation was received to attend areception at County Hall in Norwichfor all the organisations that had appliedjust the same as us.

The Lord Lieutenant of Norfolkgave a congratulatory speech andthanked all those present for the timeand care they devoted to their good

causes. We were then told only one ortwo charities would be chosen – allvery good but still no further forward.

We carried on our good work withpatients and then in May we receivedthe letter saying we had been given thehonour of receiving the Queen’s Awardfor Voluntary Service. For a tinyorganisation such as ours, this wasindeed a milestone in our history. Andto say the least we are extremely proudof volunteers. It can only get better ...

Our congratulations must also go toHospital Radio Bedside, anotherprestigious organisation honoured fortheir good work involving patients.

Irenee BatchHon. SecretaryHospital Radio Norwich

EXTREMELY PROUDHOSPITAL RADIOBEDSIDE

We are extremely proud HospitalRadio Bedside has won the Queen’sAward for Voluntary Service and weshall receive the Award from the LordLieutenant of Dorset.

The Award has been announced onthe 2nd of June each year since 2002,on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee,to commemorate the Queen coming tothe throne. It comprises a CrystalPlaque, a Certificate and the right touse the Queen’s Award logo on ourheaded notepaper.

It will be encouraging to otherorganisations to see that volunteers doget recognition.

We found out about this award earlyin 2008 and put it forward to ourmembership at one of our meetings.They all agreed that we should go for itand Jimmy Ross and I began to get allthe information necessary for the quitedaunting forms .

We needed someone outside RadioBedside to nominate us and WilmaBaker was happy to do this as she is agreat supporter of our charity. We alsoneeded two letters of support, againfrom people who were not membersand we were happy for MargaretCummings and Sandy Neville to do this.

We completed the forms and sentthem off to London and waited. By theend of the year we were told the LordLieutenant of Dorset, Mrs Anthony Pitt-Rivers, would come to see our radio

In 2002, in celebration of Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award for VoluntaryService by Groups in the Community was established. Its purpose is to recognise groups of individuals whoare giving their time freely for the benefit of others. It is the highest honour that can be bestowed upongroups of this kind and is equivalent in status to the MBE. As such, the Queen’s Award not only serves toprovide recognition of volunteer groups but also demonstrates the high respect in which volunteering isheld. And this year, not one but two hospital radio stations who have been bestowed this honour.

10,11 QUEENS AWARD:10,11 QUEENS AWARD 7/8/09 16:58 Page 1

The Queen’s Award


station to discuss and examine everyaspect of our organisation and thenmake a report to the Palace of oursuitability for the Award.

The great day came and JimmyRoss met with the Lord Lieutenantof Dorset and had a two and a halfhour interview with her. Shepointed out this is a very difficultaward to attain and we must beprepared not to get it. However, shedid seem impressed by everythingshe saw and heard (so Jimmy saidanyway!)

So now we waited once againand tried not to get too excitedabout the outcome of the report.

In May 2009 we had thewonderful news that we had beensuccessful and were one of the 95organisations chosen out of 406entries to receive the Award butwe must keep it a secret until 2ndJune. That was the longest threeweeks of our lives!

What we didn’t know was thatas well as the Award, we wouldhave an invitation for four of ourmembers to go to BuckinghamPalace to a Garden Party, the icingon the cake for Juli Brown, SteveWarboys, Jimmy Ross and HelenJohns who are the lucky ones goingto the Palace on July 21st.

We are all very honoured to beasked to represent Radio Bedside atthis event and we’ll do our best tomake our colleagues proud of us.Just say a little prayer for a fine dayhospital radios will submit theirapplication forms for the Award inthe years to come and we wishthem well.

Helen Johns Honorary MemberHospital Radio Bedside

Pictured, top Hospital RadioBedside from Bournemouth atBuckingham Palace afterreceiving their Awardbelow, members of HospitalRadio Norwich pose for thecamera after their visit toBuckingham Palace

10,11 QUEENS AWARD:10,11 QUEENS AWARD 7/8/09 16:58 Page 2

Hi Pop Pickers!


It has been nearly two years that Ihave been co-presenting a show withHospital Radio Stafford as a presenteron Monday afternoons collectingrequests from the patients on the wardsand reading them on the air. Now thehierarchy at HRS have had a mentalbreakdown and decided to give me ashow of my very own on Wednesdayafternoons between 3 and 5pm.

The bosses have said you can ‘drivethe desk’ alone, excuse me I alwaysthought you drove a car or a van! And Iremember when a desk was where youwrote letters and paid bills but thisstudio desk had buttons, faders andallsorts (not the sweets). I asked what afader was and was informed it turns upthe music up and down ... why can’tthey call it a volume control!!

Any way, I pushed some buttons andam sure I heard a spacecraft leave theMir Space Station, I felt like a Star TrekCaptain. I was then told to put the canson my head and was looking for somebaked bean cans. Strange I thought? Itsuddenly dawned on me they meantheadphones!

Well, I thought, here I go. Iintroduced my first record, which wasincidentally was I Will Survive by GloriaGaynor, a favourite with some patientsand I thought this was appropriate forme. I thought I did great announcing thisis Keith Hibberts live on HRS (till Ithought it would be no good if I wasdead). Anyway, I thought I was fabulousuntil I looked at the microphone andnoted that I had not switched the faderup! It is surprising how your voicechanges once on air and announcethings in a posh voice like ‘This isStarfford HorsePital Radio’ ... ( Whatan Horsepital for Red Rum or Mr EDthe horse!!)

I soon used my normal voice.The show gets on its way but panic

sets in when you realise you have notgot a cd/disc ready for the next requestbut technology comes into play and Iselect a song from the computerselection list ... clever eh! Bring the faderup ... remember the fader? And listenPop Pickers we are broadcasting. Wemust remember who the station is for ...yes the patients.

They like to smile at themselves assome songs requested are Angels byRobbie Williams, Please Release Me byEngleburt Whotsit, Help Me Make ItThrough the Night by Gladys Knightand The Animals with We Got to GetOut of this Place. But jesting aside, I lovevisiting the wards as you always receivea warm welcome especially when Iintroduce myself to the ladies as thehospital stripagram which raises a fewsmiles. I tell them I charge 30p a leg,

20p an arm and £1.50 for a full bodybut have to come back when it is dark asI have seen this excuse for a body ... asyet I have had no takers. Odd that!

When I visit the men’s ward I tellthem I am from Camelot, the lotterypeople and have a cheque for £6 millionto share with a lucky chap ... and funnythis! ... I always have a show hands.

There are some patients who do notwant a request or a mention on the air butjust want to chat and all HRS presentersare happy to do just that, as HospitalRadio Stafford’s motto is ‘Voice of aFriend’. It is rewarding to feel I am puttingsomething back into the community andhaving a good time as well

Let me give you a brief history ofHRS ...

Hospital Radio Stafford was formedin November 1971 and in January1972 commenced broadcasts from a tinystudio, which had been fitted into theonly space the Health Authority at thetime could spare, under the stage ofSt.George’s Hospital in Stafford. Thefirst broadcast had the Mayor of Staffordin attendance and a good luck messagefrom Radio 2 presenter Sir Jimmy Youngwas broadcast.

By 1973, the station’s equipment andrecord collection was building up nicelyand the service also expanded itscatchment area to include not onlyStafford’s Hospitals but also those nearStone and Cannock. With theconstruction of a large modern hospitalin Stafford in the early eighties, thesehospitals closed and HRS found itselfbroadcasting just to Stafford once again.

In 1978, HRS was offered a newspacious home, its own building on thesite of the new District GeneralHospital. Two new studios were builtalong with a large record library and an

engineering room, where the vitalequipment used to send the audio signalsto the hospitals is kept. Chris Tarrantopened the new studios.

Through the eighties, HRSmembership expanded to over 50 and bynow the station was offering a dailyservice to patients, totalling over 40hours of programmes every week. 1989saw the visit to the studios from CentralTV cameras, with HRS appearing onscreens across the Midlands as news of a24 hour marathon broadcast was shown.

1996, 97 and 98 were all winningyears for Hospital Radio Stafford. In1996 the station was voted No.1hospital radio in the UK by listeners toRadio 2 in their ‘Patients Choice’awards. 1997 also saw HRS continue itswinning ways by taking first prize in theWest Midlands region of BT sponsoredNational Hospital Radio Awards. Oneof our presenters, Alan Merrick, wasvoted ‘West Midlands Presenter of theYear 1999’ and presenter Steve Hydenwas a National Runner Up in 2000.

When the station first started, all themusic was played using vinyl records buttoday they are now in far less use, CDs,mini disks and a computer play outsystem dominate. However, presentersstill receive requests that are onlyavailable on vinyl. New technology istaking place all the time in thebroadcasting industry and HRS, fundspermitting, is keeping abreast with themany changes and challenges presented.We also do outside broadcaststhroughout the Stafford and Cannockarea, which are always a fun day out.

If you are ever you are in the Staffordor Cannock area give us call on 01785223456 and you will hear the ‘Voice ofa Friend’.

Keith Hibberts

12 Hi Pop Pickers:12 Hi Pop Pickers 7/8/09 17:03 Page 1

Send Us a Postcard


Sometimes programme ideas comealong by accident – that’s whathappened with the Postcard series ofshows on Hospital Radio Basingstoke.

Early in 2006, Andy McCormick, anex-member, who had returned to hisnative New Zealand, emailed usoffering to record some voiceovers forthe station when he got his newcomputer and audio recordingsoftware.

I replied with the idea that as well asjust voiceovers, why not do a wholeshow. I could send him a running orderof songs and then his recorded linkscould be sent back by email and simplybe inserted into our playout system.

Andy was enthusiastic about this butfor various reasons, it wasn’t untilChristmas Day 2006 that the first‘Postcard From New Zealand’ wasbroadcast. It was a 90 minute showthat reflected Christmas on the otherside of the world and also includedThe Queen’s Christmas speech, beingbroadcast on Hospital RadioBasingstoke for the first time ever.

The presence of this show in theChristmas schedules and its mention inthe press releases got the most attentionof any of the programmes in theschedule that Christmas.

In the meantime, another of ourmembers, Lora Coventry, who joinedus in the summer of 2006, left thatSeptember to go and work in France.Working along the same principle asAndy’s New Zealand show, I suggesteda Postcard From France and the first ofthis series went on air in October.

This show had a few problems,mainly due to the fact the Lora only hadaccess to a rather old and slowcomputer. The show did continue formuch of the autumn though andreturned after Christmas in Januaryduring which time Lora reflected on lifein Toulouse in the South of Francewhich included taking part in aChristmas pantomime for the largeBritish population that lives in this part ofFrance. Unfortunately, Lora’s computerproblems returned and the series had tobe cut short in April 2007 with the lastprogramme being a two hour specialbroadcast as part of that year’s hospitalbroadcasting week. Lora returned to theUK just in time to provide much neededholiday cover during the summer – fromthe UK this time!

Meanwhile, Andy’s Postcard FromNew Zealand finally returned as a fullseries in July 2007 for an hour eachSunday lunchtime. The show includednews from New Zealand and musicfrom a New Zealand artist or group in‘A Slice of Kiwi’.

The third addition to the Postcardfamily came in autumn 2007 whenmember Vernon Pearce retired to Spainand started his ‘Postcard From Spain’series. The idea was the same, reflectinglife in a different part of the world.

Getting the shows on air is a fairlysimple process. The programme isscheduled on the station’s computersystem and the running order markedwith where the links will end up. Thisis then emailed off to Andy and Vernonand a few days later, the recorded linksare emailed back as MP3 computerfiles. These are then simply insertedbetween the appropriate songs readyfor broadcast.

The Postcard shows add an extradimension to the Hospital RadioBasingstoke schedule, giving a taste oflife outside Basingstoke.

Andy McCormick

Lora Coventry

Vernon Pearce

How to make a radio station work... and why successful radio

managers do the things they doA new book on managing radio stations

has just been published free-of-charge onthe web. ‘Managing Radio’ is the firstdetailed and comprehensive practical guideto all the essential elements of managingradio stations. It covers the management ofcommercial, public service and communityradio stations and the wide range of newDAB, online, web and independentproduction opportunities.

A useful text for students studying thetheory and practice of managing radio, it isan authoritative hands-on guide to settingup a station or radio service from scratch. Itexplores how to create sustainable radiothrough managing for profit, public serviceor the participation of the audience in allparts of the station.

‘Managing Radio’ provides usefulpractical advice, examples of contemporaryradio management practices and casestudies of radio management in action,backed up with references to wideracademic reading in media, business andcultural studies.

Brian Lister, who edits the onlineedition, explained that the publication grewout of a project between three authors whohave worked together on radiomanagement courses for SunderlandUniversity's MA in Radio Production andManagement.

The authors include Caroline Mitchell,Senior Lecturer in Radio at the Universityof Sunderland and a trainer and consultantin community media. Dr. Anthony O'Shea,Senior Lecturer in Organisational Studiesand Organisational Theory, University ofSunderland, UK and Brian Lister, well-known commercial radio manager,consultant and trainer who has aidednumerous groups to gain commercial andcommunity radio The book can be viewedonline or downloaded section-by-section inpdf format fromhttp://www.soundconcepts.ltd.uk/managingradio.

13 Send us a postcard:13 Send us a postcard 7/8/09 17:02 Page 1


Fun in the Sun

HR Yare did an OB from CaisterCarnival and fete, as we always do onthe last Sunday in June. The differencethis year is that we had gloriousweather and all on duty had the mostfun we have had for ages.

We did the essential PA for safetyannouncements in the morning andplayed music and requests to the largecrowd. At 2 o’clock, the processionarrived and paraded in the arena to thedelight of the huge crowd.

There was a short lull in proceedingsso our presenters were able to startwhat can only be described as an openair Disco-Fever where we hadhundreds of the public joining in suchmadness as synchronised dancing to theMacarena. I don't know how all agegroups knew how to perform suchjumps like one living entity. At one pointwe even had four uniformed policeofficers joining in the dancing. bringingcommunity policing and PR to anotherlevel. Great stuff!

The show continued with displaysand marching bands and just as it wasthought to be over, our ProgrammeManager did an hilarious interview ofthree Daleks!

I have been to many such eventswith Hospital Radio Yare but never hadso much fun and I know I speak foreverybody.

Brian Frederick

Chelmsford ReceiveFinancial Boost

HR Chelmsford received a massiveboost of £1000 from the Rotary Club ofChelmsford Mildmay. The Rotary Cluborganises the annual Great BaddowCharity Races every May and moneyraised from the races goes to supportlocal charities. After supporting theevent for 20 years by providing the PAand entertainment, HRC wasconsidered as one of this year’sbenefactors.

At the presentation evening on 26th

July, HR Chelmsford Secretary andRoadshow co-ordinator, David Abrey,received the cheque. David said, ‘AsHRC is celebrating its 45th anniversarythis year, this cash injection will help getour service into more public spacessuch as waiting areas and the restaurantat Broomfield Hospital as part of theongoing expansion of the hospitaldevelopment.’

Perth PatientsShare Saints Joy

St Johnstone fans in Perth RoyalInfirmary shared the excitement as thefootball team were crowned ScottishFirst Division champions at McDiarmidPark at the start of May. HR Perth'ssports team brought fans every kick ofthe ball – including the two dramaticSteven Milne goals which secured Saints'entry into the Scottish Premier League.

And when it became clear Saintswould be handed the First Divisiontrophy on the day, the station tore uptheir normal schedule – switching torolling coverage of the partyatmosphere inside McDiarmid.

It was an emotional day for veteranHR Perth commentator Bill McDonald,‘I had the privilege of commentating onthe first Premier League match Saintsplayed at McDiarmid and I've beendelighted to cover their last FirstDivision game at the stadium. Aconvincing win for Saints and they

certainly did it in style!’The station's Roy Spiers was with

supporters in the stands to bringlisteners an exclusive fans-eyeperspective. Asked to summarise StJohnstone's First Division tenure on air,Spiers said, ‘The low point from ourtime in the First Division has to be atNew Douglas Park when we wereseconds away from winning the title.The highlight? Today!’

And the first song played on HR Perthafter the final whistle? Studio presenterRoland Smyth, said, ‘There was onlyone choice – The Only Way Is Up!We look forward to bringing listenersour exclusive coverage of Saints' returnto the big time next season!’

Mascots Fund Raiseat Plumpton Races

Mid-Downs Hospital Radio’s ownshaggy dog mascot, Sebastian Bach (No.13) ran in the first race of the day atPlumpton racecourse on 10th May.Sebastian was joined by Barney (No 10,the Children’s Trust mascot) and 12other mascots to help raise funds for theChildren’s Trust plus raise awareness ofMDR in the local community.

The mascots ran in the 1.40pm, the‘Children’s Trust Mascot ChampionHurdle Race’ and included Alice theEagle of Crystal Palace FC, Howie theHornet of Horsham FC, Leo the Lionof HH Lions Club and others.Unfortunately, Sebastian was an ‘also-ran’ in the race but the crowd warmedto his friendly shaggy dog story.

Jockey Liam Treadwell, who wonthe Grand National last year, acted asstarter for the Mascots race.

Well Done, EnaIt was tremendous to see the front

cover of the last issue of On Airdepicting Ena Montgomery receivingthe John Whitney Award. Ena hasalways been very special to the worldand family of hospital broadcasting and

... Countrywide ... news from the stations ...

HRC presenter, Mark Grantham, Derek,the official race warm-up trainer and HRCengineer, Matt Tunstill

Hospital Radio Perth’s Roy Spiers and BillMcDonald report on the crucial match

14,15 Countrywide:14,15 Countrywide 7/8/09 17:04 Page 1


... Countrywide ... news from the stations ...fully deserved her special moment at theAward Ceremony held in Blackpool.

Ena, who I first met at the JerseyConference in 1978, and I have alwayskept in regular contact – as a former Cllrto a fairly new Cllr, Ena dispatches ( asalways ) valuable advice!

I’m certain that many of the hospitalbroadcasting fraternity of years gone bywho haven’t attended Conference forsome time but who have had sight ofthis issue of On Air will join me and mywife Louise in sending our very bestwishes to a great friend.

Alan GrimadellFormer HBA President

Surprise Birthday Partyfor Chairman

At Northern Air Radio’s studio, ourChairman Marshall Gellman was aboutto become an octogenarian and tocelebrate his 80th birthday, we threw asurprise party with past and presentvolunteers together with Marshall’sfamily.

To keep up the surprise, we askedMarshall to chair a meeting at 8pm. Hearrived on the dot!

When he arrived, he was greetedwith a round of applause and the soundof Neil Sedaka.

After the initial shock, Marshall gavea wonderful speech about the time hejoined the station almost fifty years ago.Marshall went on to say how the stationhas evolved over the years and that thefuture looks bright, very bright.

Finally, Marshall cut his birthday cakewith the Northern Air choir singinghappy birthday.

Everyone involved with Northern Airwould like to wish Marshall the mostmarvellous 80th birthday.

Joe SambrookStation ManagerNorthern Air Hospital Radio

MPs Spin a Discat Radio Redhill

Radio Redhill was recently visited bytwo local MPs. Peter Ainsworth, MP forEast Surrey and Shadow Environment,Food and Rural Affairs Secretary andCrispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, made anappearance on Radio Redhill as part ofan outing to East Surrey Hospital to takea look at recent progress in the hospital.

Radio Redhill Chairman, Nigel Gray,interviewed the pair about their visit andtheir favourite music for the station’sSunday afternoon magazine programme,with each MP also choosing a record toplay. Mr. Blunt chose Strauss’ RadetskyMarch whilst Mr. Ainsworth’s choicewas Elgar’s Nimrod.

Long Service Awards

At the recent Annual GeneralMeeting of Radio Link the followingLong Service Awards were presented:Andy Swain, 30 years; Mark Ford, 10years; John Huddlestone, 35 years;Andrew Kirkland, 25 years; StephenHall, 30 years; David Tudor, 20 years;Andrew Webb, 10 years.

Radio Link provides a 24-hour dailyservice to the Derby City GeneralHospital, Derbyshire Royal Infirmary,Derbyshire Children’s Hospital andNightingale Continuing Care Unit; fromthe two studios at the Derby CityGeneral Hospital.

Guilfest 2009The last chord has been strum at the

18h Guilfest music festival. The cloudand rain didn't stop the crowds fromsupporting their favourite bands playingon eight different stages at Stoke Park inGuildford. It's the tenth consecutiveyear that Radio Lion has covered thefestival. Angie Boxall, Jax Davis, AmeliaHayward, Dan Holt, Matt Howard,James Neale, Graham Russ, GarethWakefield and Mandy Worrall all

braved the weather to interview artists,revellers and stallholders. The mainstage saw performances fromMotorhead, Brian Wilson, The HappyMondays, The Stranglers, TheCharlatans, Athlete, Toploader, LindaLewis, Wailers and Goldie Lookin‚Chain. The Ents 24 stage boast anequally good line up with performancesfrom Nouvelle Vague, Joe Bonamassa,Will Young, Imelda May, TheLightning Seeds and Lisa Hannigan.There was a comedy tent where thelikes of Bob Mills entertained, theatrestage hosted by Man In The Moon andkids zone full of entertainers andactivities. There was a new 70's discotent, ideal for a late-night boogie! Theevent attracts crowds of around 20,000each day and still retains its family-friendly atmosphere which won it anaward in 2006 in the 'Best FamilyFestival' category.Daniel Holt, Hospital Radio Lion

ObituaryDanny La Rue

One of Hospital Radio’s formerShow business Ambassador’s Danny LaRue passed away peacefully on May31st at the age of 81.

Danny was fully committed to theAssociation during his year long role. Asa prolific stage performer Danny madehimself available for interviews tohospital radio stations the length andbreadth of the country.

He attended the opening of studios,took part in programmes, encouragedvolunteer, and gave countless interviews– many in his dressing rooms after hisshows. Danny La Rue was the manwho made drag respectable, though healways preferred to call himself ‘a comicin a frock’.

Andy Swain, Mark Ford, John Huddlestoneand Andrew Kirkland receiving their LongService awards

14,15 Countrywide:14,15 Countrywide 7/8/09 17:04 Page 2

News Round-up


Northern IrelandCharity Commission

As reported in the last edition of ‘OnAir’, the first parts of the Charities Act(Northern Ireland) 2008 came intoforce on 27th March 2009, creating thenew Charity Commission for NorthernIreland and give it authority to issueguidance on the ‘public benefit test’ thatwill be one of two conditions thatorganisations must pass in order to berecognised as charities in NorthernIreland.

The Commission held its first BoardMeeting in mid-June and agreed itsprogramme of work for the remainderof 2009 and beyond as it begins todischarge its statutory responsibilities.

The Commission intends to publishits public benefit guidance in Augustand this will be followed by a full 12-week public consultation.

A second ‘Commencement Order’will be introduced into the NorthernIreland Assembly in September 2009which will bring into force those partsof the 2008 Act which:• define the meaning of charity in

Northern Ireland;• introduce a charities register;• create a Charity Tribunal to handle

legal disputes about decisions of theCommission; and

• provide the Commission withinvestigatory powers.The Commission has agreed a

timetable for registration and monitoringof charities in Northern Ireland. Thefirst new registrations will take placefrom April 2010 and charities will beexpected to make their first returns inApril 2011. These returns will need toinclude information on both financialperformance and charitable activities.

Trustee IndemnityInsurance in Scotland

Trustee Indemnity Insurance (TII)covers trustees against personal liabilitywhen legal claims are made againstthem, either by their charity or by athird party. The main differencebetween TII and other types ofinsurance taken out for the benefit ofthe charity is that TII directly protectsan individual trustee, rather than thecharity itself.

Shortly after implementation of theCharities and Trustee Investment(Scotland) Act 2005, OSCR identifiedthat charities which provided TII fortheir charity trustees were likely tobreach the condition, contained insection 67 of the Act, that fewer thanhalf of the total number of charitytrustees may be remunerated.

Since then, OSCR has worked withthe Scottish Government to resolve thisissue. We welcomed the statementmade in November 2006 by the thenDeputy Minister for Communities thatthe issues involving TII resulting fromsections 67 and 68 of the Act were‘unintended’ and that when a suitableopportunity arose legislation would beintroduced amending the Act to removethe restrictions on TII. The Public Services Reform Bill

introduced to the Scottish Parliament on28 May 2009 includes a provisionamending the 2005 Act to allowcharities to provide all their charitytrustees with indemnity insurance.While the Bill is completing itsParliamentary process, OSCR will nottake action against charities becausethey have TII in place. Newapplications for charitable status frombodies that have such insurance inplace, or have the power to put suchinsurance in place, will not be affectedor refused because of it.

Birmingham HRTransmits to Planes atManchester Airport

A Birmingham hospital radio showbroadened its listener base when atechnical glitch broadcast its show toplanes jetting in and out of ManchesterAirport.

Problems with the transmittingequipment at Birmingham HospitalBroadcasting Network (BHBN) meantall planes in the flight path ofManchester Airport picked up thestation’s signal.

The station usually broadcasts topatients at Good Hope, Heartlands,Queen Elizabeth and City Hospitals –but this week pilots and passengers alsotuned in to the sounds of the Beatlesand the Beach Boys.

Presenter Marie McEvoy said thevolunteer-run station was unaware theywere broadcasting further afield thanBirmingham until media regulatorOfcom alerted them to the problem.

‘Ofcom got in touch with ourtechnical controller David Horton to tellhim about it but I’m not sure how longwe have been broadcasting in that flightpath,’ she said.

The charity station, which broadcastsfrom the Sickle Cell and Thalassemiablock on the City Hospital site, hasnow removed the transmittingequipment.

The problems have forced thestation, which has been on air for 57years, to cease transmission at the QEand Heartlands Hospital but they are

continuing to broadcast to Good Hopeand City Hospitals using differentequipment.

The station is now looking to replacethe broken transmitters, which havebeen used for the past 20 years.

An Ofcom spokesman said BHBN’sbroadcast was picked up doing routinemonitoring of the airwaves.

Manu Chao Releases ‘LaColifata’ Benefit Project

Many of us listen to music in order toenhance our mood or as therapy after along, trying day. So it's not far-fetchedto consider a radio station broadcastingfrom a mental hospital. That’s exactlywhat the patients at Buenos Aires-basedLa Colifata Psychiatric hospital decidedto do in order to express themselvesand speak to the world.

La Colifata was created in 1991 as aunique establishment that uses media astherapeutic treatment.

Five years ago, Manu Chao startedworking with La Colifata and he’s justproduced and released an albumrecorded by members of the hospital’sradio station.

The La Colifata Benefit Projectfeatures 20 songs about life, death,mothers, loneliness, love and otheruniversal themes as well as morepersonal ones: the Pope, the sun, crazygrandmas and the end of the world.

La Colifata is available for downloadat VivaLaColifata.org, a websitelaunched by Manu Chao and LaColifata. The price is a ‘pay what youwant’ donation with the proceeds goingto help the station and hospital withtheir therapeutic approach.

You may well visit the site out ofcuriosity but if you opt to download thealbum, remember your donation willallow La Colifata to keep making andbroadcasting music, so dig deep.

Elizabeth SandersObituary

I have just been informed thatElizabeth Sanders Station Manager atTruro Hospital Radio and mother ofChairman Mark Sanders died suddenlyat the end of June.

The family are still in shock as it wasunexpected and Elizabeth was of noage.

She was well known by manynationally for her forthright expressingof views at HBA conferences. Theverbal sparring with Dave McG wasalways entertaining. She was also avery active worker for the Royal BritishLegion and her church.

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Podcasting is the future

HOSPITAL RADIO has a long and proud history but, Ibelieve, an even more exciting future.

Thanks to new technologies, our great cause can nowreach new audiences – this isn't about undermining ourcentral role as hospital broadcasters but, rather, extendingthe limits of what we're able to achieve.

Here at Castle Mead Radio in Hinckley, Leicestershire,we've been pioneering a service of creating exciting, uniquecontent exclusively for our podcast listeners.

Each week we record a number of short items which arethen podcasted and available to be heard on i-tunes byanyone who fancies listening to them.

Does this undermine our regular programming?Absolutely not. It builds on it. For example I recentlyconducted an interview with a high profile local politician.He came on my live Sunday afternoon programme, 'Live andOn Air' and reviewed the papers.

After that we decamped into our second studio and Irecorded an interview with him, which was then podcastedgiving people in the wider borough a chance to hear what hehad to say.

Though we're still making our first tentative steps inpodcasting, I believe this and other new, emergingtechnology can be used to our advantage.

For Castle Mead Radio, I'm now working on a 'NewTechnology and Content Strategy,' which I’ll seek to build onthese new beginnings and opportunities, giving our fantasticvolunteers the chance to extend their proverbial wings andtry out new ideas – which might not work on the hospitalradio itself but are perfect for our new platforms.

By the way, I recently had the very great pleasure ofinterviewing the legendary Richard Smith, host of thebrilliant 'A to Z of Pop' – hospital radio's own nationalprogramme.

Richard was a delight to interview and, yes, you'veguessed it, you can hear that chat on our podcast system.

For more please visit our website at:www.castlemeadradio.co.uk

Let’s use the great technologies we have to make hospitaland community radio even better than before.

Mathew blogs at;www.thetimeforjusticeisnow.blogspot.comFind him on Twitter via www.twitter.com/mathewhulbertAnd e-mail him via: [email protected]


What I’ve LearntMatthew HulbertVice Chairman of Castle Mead Radio

Paint For Change

The Sun newspaper has teamed up with leading paint brandDulux to find worthy community projects to have a makeover.And the Dulux Paint For Change campaign had readers in theirthousands voting for the winners.

The fab four to get the first re-paint were Stoke MandevilleHospital Radio, based in the world-famous hospital inBuckinghamshire; Oakdale Comprehensive School inCaerphilly, South Wales; Pitsea Leisure Centre in Basildon,Essex and the 1st Bridgen Scout Hall in Bexley, Kent.

A team of Dulux power painters went along to each venuewith the Dulux bus to help kick-start the projects. They gave allthe winners the skills to complete the painting themselves – andthen work on doing up their own living rooms.

This is how they got on:At Stoke Mandeville winning the Dulux makeover was music

to the ears of volunteers at Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio.The rooms were in urgent need of a lick of paint to brightenthem up. Treasurer Stella Withey, who nominated the stationfor the refurb, said, ‘It has given a real boost to everyoneworking here.’

Former TV and radio favourite, Sir Jimmy Savile, is patronof the National Spinal Injuries Centre, part of theBuckinghamshire hospital.

He was at the station for the makeover and said, ‘This isabsolutely fantastic. The radio station is manned totally byvolunteers and they do a brilliant job for the patients.’

Dulux colour expert Kate Weir said they chose NaturalCalico for the main room.

Let's paint now then, now then ... Jimmy Savile with the team fromthe Paint For Change bus and members of Stoke Mandeville HospitalRadio

Radio Witham, the radio station for Grantham Hospital, ispleased to announce the following new volunteeringopportunities.

The hospital radio station that provides programming forpatients, visitors and staff at the hospital site are about to embarkon a significant project which will move the station into anexciting new era of broadcasting. Details of the project will bereleased in due course, so watch this space! We will berecruiting to the following positions throughout the summer andautumn period. Technical Operators On Air Image ProducerWard Walkers If you are interested in joining the radio stationplease click on our vacancies link on our websitewww.radiowitham.com

Rob Mason, Radio Witham

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Regional Reps detailsREGION REP ADDRESS PHONE E-MAIL

Regional Dave Lockyer 54 School Lane 0870 321 6005 [email protected] Higham

RochesterKent ME3 7JF

Anglia Mike Sarre 0870 765 9601 [email protected]

Home Donald McFarlane 0870 765 9602 [email protected]

London Ben Hart 0870 765 9603 [email protected]

Midlands David Tysoe 0870 765 9604 [email protected]

North Elliot Kennedy 0870 765 9605 [email protected]

Northern Davey Downes 0870 765 9606 [email protected]

North West David McGealy 0870 765 9607 [email protected]

Scotland Jim Simpson 0870 765 9608 [email protected]

South Neil Ogden 0870 765 9609 [email protected]

South East Dave Abrey 0870 765 9611 [email protected]

Wales & West Steve Allen 0870 765 9613 [email protected]

Yorkshire Iain Lee 0870 765 9614 [email protected]

Please address correspondence to the Regional Reps to:Hospital Broadcasting Association, PO Box 341, Messingham, Scunthorpe DN15 5EG

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Who to Contact on the Executive Committee

President June SnowdenP.O. Box 76, Ely, CB6 3WH Tel: 0870 321 6009e-mail: [email protected] visits, represent HBApublicly, print and present longservice certificates

Chairman Phil Moon82 Greenleaf Gardens, Polegate,E Sussex BN26 6PHTel: 0870 321 6000e-mail: [email protected] contact with statutory bodies.Ambassadors

Treasurer Julie CoxHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6004e-mail: [email protected] matters (other thansubscriptions)

Conference BookingsMarie Harper50 Neale Street, SunderlandTyne & WearSR6 9EZTel: 0870 321 6017e-mail: [email protected]

Technical AdviserGeoff FairbairnHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6012e-mail: [email protected] matters

Deputy Chairman Iain LeeHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6014e-mail: [email protected] committee chairman.Special projects

General SecretaryNigel Dallard54 St. Annes Close, Badger Farm,Winchester, Hampshire SO22 4LQTel: 0870 321 6003e-mail: [email protected] correspondence, CompanySecretary, annual review

Acting Public Relations ManagerSean DunderdaleHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6008e-mail: [email protected] and public relations,charity profile

Regional Manager Dave LockyerHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6005e-mail: [email protected] meetings, contacts, settingup a region etc.

EditorMichelle NewsteadHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6011e-mail: [email protected] Air magazine

Sales & Advertising ExecutiveMike SkinnerHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6026e-mail: [email protected] Corporate sales for HBA

Webmaster Mark VenusHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6018e-mail: [email protected] of HBA website

General EnquiriesTel: 0870 321 6019e-mail: [email protected]

Programming AdviserPaul EastonHospital Broadcasting Association,PO Box 341, Messingham,Scunthorpe DN15 5EGTel: 0870 321 6002e-mail: [email protected] on programme content

Membership EnquiriesTel: 0870 321 6003e-mail: [email protected]

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HBA’s Training DayThe HBA's 2009 National TrainingDay will be held on Saturday, 17thOctober and details are nowavailable atwww.hbauk.com/training, alongwith a booking form andpromotional flyer.

The day will provide hospital radiovolunteers with five hours of training inone of two aspects of running theirstation for a cost of just £10 each.

The two training tracks (see belowfor details) will run in parallel; delegatesmust select which track they wish toattend at the time of booking.

Please note that Track One(Presentation Skills) is proving extremelypopular. If you wish to book for thistrack, please do so as soon as possible.Places are allocated on a first-come,first-served basis and once they've gone,that's it!

As the HBA volunteer who dealswith most of the enquiries from stationsrelating to the management andadministration of their organisation,including legal requirements, how toidentify the station's trustees, whattrustees' duties and liabilities are, etc,etc, I would encourage all stations toconsider sending one of theirmanagement committee to Track Two -‘Become a Better Committee Member’.We are offering you for only £10 thetraining that would often cost you over£100 if you were to book individually -and it will be tailored to your needs asa hospital broadcaster!

The venue is the RamadaBirmingham Hotel in Sutton Coldfield.It is close to the M6/M6 Toll and M42to the north-east of Birmingham andhas ample free parking. Chester Roadrailway station with its rail line toBirmingham New Street (20 minutes) is1.5 miles away. BirminghamInternational Airport/railway station isjust ten miles away (40 minutes by rail,20 minutes by taxi).

Want to stay overnight, or make aweekend of it? No problem. HBA hasnegotiated a special Dinner, Bed &Breakfast rate for the exclusive use ofdelegates: £40pppn for a double room,£58pppn for a single room. Of course,you're free to come just for the training,or to make your own accommodationarrangements.

Track One:Improve Your Presentation SkillsHow to talk on the radio

We all know what to do when wesit behind the microphone don't we?But how could we do it better andmore professionally? How aboutreading out extracts from thenewspaper or a book without itsounding like we are reading it? Doesanyone in your station have the skills toread the local news? If there is a VIP inthe hospital or nearby, do you have theskills to interview them?

You can acquire these skills afteryears of practice or professionaltraining. But this training day willaccelerate that learning by giving youthe tools to be a more professionalpresenter both on-air and off, confidentin imparting information in a waywhich you will find useful in hospitalbroadcasting, but also in your day-to-day life, whether it is you doing theinterviewing or you are the one beinginterviewed about your station.

The day will equip you with theskills and knowledge to:

• gain increased interviewconfidence,

• impart information to your listenerslucidly,

• be a more professional on-airpresenter,

• read the news confidently.Training will be provided by Peter

Stewart, an award-winningbroadcaster, radio consultant andauthor with 20 years' experience inboth speech and music radio, includingat the BBC, talkSPORT, Virgin Radioand Kiss FM. For several years Peterworked for BBC Training &Development, coaching at all of theBBC's network radio stations and mostof its regional radio and TV stations.

Track Two:Become A Better Committee Member‘How about joining the committee? -It's only one meeting a month’

Many of us have been recruited ascommittee members in this way andspend months (or even years) eitherblissfully unaware of ourresponsibilities, or wishing we felt moreconfident and that we knew moreabout what we've taken on.

To enable you to understand yourrole in managing your station and tohelp you to help your committee towork more effectively, the training daywill cover:

• The implications of being a charity

• The responsibilities of committeemembers

• The importance of the governingdocument

• The roles of the Chair, Treasurerand Secretary

• Effective decision-making

• How to plan for the future

Training will be provided byprofessional charity management trainerLin Whitfield using a participative andinteractive style. Lin has over 20 years'experience working in the voluntarysector at local, regional and nationallevels.

The session will begin with a shortquiz and will include practical exercisesundertaken either individually or inpairs, small group discussions andinteractive tools that can be takenaway. It will be broken down into 'bite-sized' chunks and backed up with clearhandouts.

At the end of the day, participantswill be encouraged to consider howthey can cascade their enhancedknowledge to their own committees, tomaximise the impact of the training.

For further information, [email protected] or telephone0870 321 6017.

Nigel DallardSecretaryHospital Broadcasting [email protected]

COPY DATE FOR ISSUE 128 19th August, 2009

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