RUGBY Hospital Radio is taking requests once again, having returned to the live airwaves for the first time in seven months.
Volunteers for the St Cross Hospital station are back broadcasting live with a special socially distanced arrangement, having left the studio in March when the Coronavirus outbreak began.
Since then, the 24-hour service had been operating on a pre-recorded basis only, with programmes broadcast from a computer.
Chairman Jim Austin said: “The hospital management were very keen to find a safe way to bring us back to site. We are very grateful to site manager Janine Beddow and her team at St Cross and UHCW Trust volunteer coordinator Kristine Davies for their help.
“Everything has been done very professionally, with risk assessments for volunteers and safe hygiene practices approved by the Trust’s Infection Prevention and Control Department.”
All programmes are now presented solo with a time gap between presenters. There is a maximum of two live programmes per day, with one in the afternoon and another in the evening, with the rest of the programmes being pre-recorded.
There is however one big omission from the usual service.
“For obvious reasons, we are still not able to visit the wards to meet patients and collect their music requests,” said Jim. “This is the most important aspect of what we do.
“We are inviting the public to send dedications for family and friends who are patients in St Cross. Patients can listen via the TV/radio unit next to their bed. They can ask the staff for headphones or they can use their own.”
Visit www.rugbyhospitalradio.co.uk for details of how to get in touch with Rugby Hospital Radio.
