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Date: 15 February 2008 Radio Warneford Celebrates 35 Years Of Broadcasting Radio Warneford, the hospital broadcasting service based at Warwick Hospital is embarking on a year of celebrations to mark the station's 35th birthday. Radio Warneford burst onto the airwaves on 12 December 1973 as temporary entertainment for patients during the Christmas period. Broadcasting from a four-foot square "studio" in the basement of the Warneford Hospital in Leamington Spa, volunteers from the Red Cross visited patients and collected requests. The station was initially on air for three hours at a time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The station gradually expanded over the next thirty-five years. In 1973, Radio Warneford had a membership of three. Now, in 2008, more than fifty volunteer members visit patients, broadcast programmes and take part in fundraising events. The station was registered as a charity in 1975. An old store hut used by the local electricity board was set up in the grounds of the Warneford Hospital behind the tennis courts and this replaced the broom cupboard in 1978. It had two studios, a record library and a rest area and was luxurious in comparison to the cramped conditions in the basement. Radio Warneford began broadcasting to Warwick Hospital in 1988 via a landline from the Leamington studios - the service was opened by local MP, Sir Dudley Smith. Shortly afterwards, the construction of a brand new, purpose-built studio complex began at Warwick Hospital and Radio Warneford broadcast for the last time from "The Hut" at the Warneford Hospital in October 1993. Radio Warneford's programme schedule has become more varied over the last 35 years. From just nine hours of programmes a week, the station is now on air with its own programming for more than twenty hours every week. At Christmas, this increases to around 70 hours in nine days. Since 1991, the variety and quality of the programmes that are broadcast has led to Radio Warneford winning six awards in a national hospital broadcasting competition, including being named runner-up for the national Station Of The Year Award in 1996. The Request Show, in which patients choose their own favourite song and friends and relatives pass on special messages and greetings, was the most important programme in Radio Warneford's original schedule in 1973 - it remains at the heart of everything that the station does in 2008. As part of the celebrations for Radio Warneford's 35th birthday, there will be a special Charity Gig Night at the beginning of April and Glen Burley, the Chief Executive of the South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust, will be presenting achievement awards to members at the annual Quiz and Awards Night on 26th April. Later in the year, Radio Warneford hopes to stage a 35-Hour Marathon Broadcast to raise enough funds to begin refurbishing our studios. These have been in use day in, day out for eight years and are now in need of a facelift. The 35 Hour Broadcast will be a sponsored event, allowing local companies and other organisations to get involved with Radio Warneford by sponsoring programmes and ensuring that the station continues its unique style of broadcasting for another 35 years. Ley Bricknell, Radio Warneford's Station Manager, says "In some ways over the last 35 years, everything has changed - and yet nothing has changed. Our programme schedule, the recruitment we now do through our website and our ever increasing membership have changed what we do on a weekly basis but one thing remains exactly the same, our daily Request Show. Its format has not changed since 1973. We go onto the wards, we chat with the patients and then we chat to them again over the airwaves and play their favourite music. We have done this for 35 years, it is our flagship programme and it is unique to hospital radio, marking us out from commercial radio stations. We meet all of our listeners, they drive our programme schedules and they provide us with our playlist. It's a simple idea but it is wonderfully effective." Issued by Andy Dowell, Communications Manager
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