Monday September 22, 1975

Studio opening will be a real live Show

HOSPITAL BROADCASTING in Hull looked unhealthy two years ago. When fire broke out in a house in the city's Old Town, it spread quickly to the service's studio next door. One room was completely destroyed, and the hospital service looked in bad shape.

But the stalwarts of the air carried on for a year in the charred building, broadcasting programmes of comfort to the patients in the five big hospitals in the area.

They made regular appeals for new premises where they could set up their equipment.

Finally, the Red Cross came to their aid. They could have a first floor room in Red Cross House, on Hull's Beverley Road.

On Wednesday night after a lot of hard graft, Hull Hospital Broadcasting Service's new studio will be officially opened.

'We have just completed the studio by ourselves' said Mr Ashley Howard, chairman of the voluntary organisation. 'It's all our own work except for the electrics and the telephones.'

MISS HULL SHOW

The new studio, complete with triple glazing to shut out traffic noise on Beverley Road cost around £2,000 to equip.

The studio will be opened by Miss Hull Show, Margaret McGloughlin (20)

'We did a programme at Hull Show, four of us went round with tape recorders talking to people,' said Mr Howard (31), of Duesbery Street, Hull.

'We interviewed Miss Hull Show, and found she had been a patient in Sutton Annexe three weeks before. That's why we asked her to open the new premises.'

The opening ceremony will be broadcast live. The special programme starts at 7:30, with a potted history of hospital broadcasting in Hull.

There will also be excerpts of the first request programme compiled by the service.

'From 8pm to 8:30 we will be setting the scene as guests arrive.' added Mr Howard. 'We'll be getting them to have a chat with us live on air. The women from the WRVS will be on the air, so we can give them a big thank you.'

The women help collect requests for records from patients, as do members of the Red Cross.

At 8:30 comes the official opening, with Miss Hull Show cutting a cake.

TAPED MESSAGE

Sir John Dudding, president of the broadcasting service, and chairman of Humberside Area Health Authority, and the Mayor of Beverley, will also be talking on the air.

From 9 to 10 the service will broadcast interviews with the relatives of patients, collected earlier in the week by volunteers. Somewhere in the evening, a taped congratulatory message will come from DJ and BBC personality Jimmy Young.

'Then from 10 to 10:30 it will be nice, easy listening music, just to help everyone relax after the hectic evening.'

The service is 15 years old. When it started out, it broadcast record requests, for an hour one Monday each month.

SPECIAL INTEREST

At the moment, the service now broadcasts for two hours each Sunday, and 3 and half hours on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

Shortly, it will be extended to take in Thursday and Friday evenings.

At the moment, patients in the five hospitals - Hull Royal Infirmary, Kingston General, Beverley Westwood, Castle Hill and Sutton Annexe - hear mostly recorded record request programmes.

But the volunteers are hoping to include a magazine-type programme, with items of special interest and interviews with celebrities visiting the area and possibly a quiz show.

'The basic idea of hospital broadcasting is to try and take patients' minds off their present environment.

So if you want a record playing, for someone in hospital, or if you're in hospital and want a chat, why not telephone 27711, the directline to Hull hospital broadcasting's new studio.