HULL TIMES
February 28, 1975

'LUXURIOUS' H.Q. FOR HOSPTAL BROADCASTERS

KEN FULSTOW is quite explicit when he sings the praises of the new premises, at 98, Beverley Road, Hull, which have been obtained for hospital broadcasting in the area and which are scheduled to be opened on Sunday.

'Compared with the other places we've been in, they are positively luxurious.' said Ken, who is secretary of the Hull and East Riding branch of the Hospital Broadcasting Service.

Hospital broadcasting dates back to 1947 in this country, but it was on July 16, 1961 that the local branch started.

'That was from two junk rooms over a shop at the corner of Hessle Road and Eton street.' said Ken.

'We then had two sets of premises at Unity Hall near the flyover. The place hadn’t been entered by anyone for 10 years when we moved in.

HOLE IN ROOF

'We moved to headquarters at Wellington Street in June 1970. These were 100 steps up to the studio, and there had been a hole in the roof, since October 1972, after a fire which was caused by a tramp sleeping rough next door.

'There was a standing joke about broadcasting in sou'westers and gum-boots, but most of us have at least sat there in coats and hats.

'Dead pigeons were also a problem, and this place is like a port in a storm - and absolute godsend.'

Ashley Howard, publicity officer for the service, pointed out the advantages of the new premises.

'It's a nice, compact complex, and it is more or less central. Everywhere else has been outlying, but this is on a bus route and is well lit. A lot of women daren't go down to Wellington Street because it is so dark round there.' he said.

COST £1,000

'There is also the association with the Red Cross house downstairs, which is a nice tie-in of organisations.'

The new premises have cost £1,000, about half of which has gone on a new studio mixer.

The money was raised through dances, pontoon tickets, and donations from many organisations including Haltemprice and Beverley Councils, and local branches of the Hospitals Management Committee and Lions Club.

The premises have two studios and one workshop, which will eventually be for groups, bands or quiz programmes. A further £2,000 is likely to be needed for those extensions.

The work on the studios and equipment, as is the case with all the programmes, of course, has been done voluntarily, with the only experts being telephone and electrical engineers to check everything.

TO EXPAND?

'The presentation will be the same, but the engineering will be different, mainly because of the new mixer,' said Ashley.

Although the amount of broadcasting is likely to remain at 25 hours a week, during the evenings and at weekends, there are hopes for expanding the service, one idea being to look into the possibility of extending programmes to De La Pole and Broadgates Hospitals and local maternity homes.

'The future is important, because we have decided that this is going to be the start of a new era. Everybody's really excited about it,' said Ashley.

'Because we are now central, we are hoping that visiting artists will be able to get down to the studios'

'We are also keen to interest some more women, in the service. There is no sex bar, at the moment, we have only one girl who does broadcasting.'

The basic format will be unchanged, however, and that includes the retention of the popular request programme, 'Flat Spin' which dates back to the start of the service 14 years ago.

The first record to be broadcast was 'Temptation' by the Everly Brothers, which was No. 1 in July 1961, and two other hits on the first programme were 'Time' by Craig Douglas and 'What Do You Want?' by Adam Faith.

'We also played two Harry Secombe records, and we still get the most requests for one of them. 'Bless This House' It has still been in big demand all this time.' said Ken.