It's another Musicals themed Christmas on HRB this year with some of the popular soundtracks plus the best of the other well-known songs from the biggest musicals.

There's plenty more besides that though, as the festive season gets underway on Sunday 14 December with a 5 hour Sound of Sunday Christmas special featuring The Great Christmas Cracker Dash around the wards, interviews with the stars of the local pantos and link ups with radio stations around
the UK.

The HRB Christmas pantos will be coming out for another airing throughout Christmas as will Christmas specials of The Music Box, Fabulous Fifties, The Comedy Hour, and Sounds of the 40s.

Christmas Day will feature the team live from the wards in the morning, while in the afternoon, Andy McCormick presents his festive Postcard From New Zealand, and there'll be highlights from Alton's Yuletide Festival as well as The Queen's Christmas message.

Vernon Pearce will be broadcasting from his home in Spain in two special Postcard From Spain shows, and Richard Smith presents 5 special Christmas editions of The A to Z of Pop. 

There'll be another chance to hear some HRB highlights from the last 12 months such as outside broadcasts from the hospital staff fun day, Alton's Classic Car Show and the Jane Austen Day, also in Alton as well as the highlights of HRB's 60 Hour Music on Demand Marathon which raised over £4000 back in April.

Neil Ogden will be counting down the year's most requested artists on New Year's Eve and will be joined by Andy McCormick and former members Sarah Beattie and Steve Fox to count down the most requested artists ever on January 11th, the day of HRB's 25th birthday.

Finally, to help out over Christmas, we’ve invited presenters from other radio stations to take over the airwaves for an hour or so on HRB. So, amongst others, Phil Taylor from Radio Lions and BBC Radio Jersey will be sending us a Christmas Postcard from the channel isles!

Music On Demand
Our request shows (Music on Demand) will continue throughout Christmas. Staff can pre-book their request by calling the station on extension 3521 and giving us the time they want to hear their request – we will then make sure that it is included.

The Sound Of Sunday Big Christmas Show
The traditional start of the HRB Christmas schedule sees the HRB dashing around the wards pulling Christmas crackers with the staff and promoting the Christmas schedule. Neil Ogden's special guests on the show include Pui Fan lee from the Anvil Christmas panto and Guy Siner (Gruber from 'Allo 'Allo) from the Hexagon’s panto. Staff will have a chance to win family tickets to these shows.

Pick A Word Christmas Special - Christmas Eve
Paul LeFeuvre plays a mixture of festive favourites in the Christmas special of his regular Sunday morning show.

Christmas Morning Live From The Wards
Marilyn Price is in the studio while the HRB team goes around the wards to find out what's happening on Christmas morning. There will also be link ups with radio stations around the UK. More requests follow as James Pollard presents Christmas Lunch.

Yuletide In Alton
The last time HRB covered this event, the programme won Gold at the National Hospital Radio Awards. This year the team returned to sample the festive atmosphere of Alton town centre including Stan the Town Cryer and the miniature donkeys. There will also be a repeat of the 2006 programme that won the award.

Postcard From New Zealand
For the third year running, Andy McCormick is here on Christmas afternoon to give listeners a taste of Christmas down under where the temperature is about 25 degrees and shorts on Christmas Day are normal!

Postcard From Spain
It's the second Christmas Vernon Pearce has spent in the sunshine of sunny Spain and this year he presents two festive editions of his show direct from the Costa Blanca.

The HRB Christmas Takeover
To help out over Christmas, we thought we'd invite presenters from other
radio stations to take over the HRB airwaves for an hour each, including Phil Taylor sending out a festive Postcard from Jersey.

The A To Z Of Christmas/The A To Z Of Live Aid!
Richard Smith presents 5 two-hour A to Z of Pop Christmas specials with the best festive music he can find. Then on Boxing Day, an A to Z of the artists and groups that took part in the Live Aid concert. The show includes extracts from the concert itself.

Christmas Sport
Music and sport on Boxing Day afternoon includes live reports from the featured Premier League match of the day. Then on Sunday 28 December, a full sports show with Neil Ogden featuring reports from al the day's Premier League matches plus news of local clubs as well.

Most Requested Artists
Who have been the most popular artists and groups played on HRB in 2008? On New Year's Eve Neil Ogden will countdown the top 40 of the year before being joined by co-hosts Andy McCormick, Sarah Beattie and Steve Fox to help celebrate 25 years of HRB on January 11th when there will be a countdown of the top 80 most requested artists ever compiled from requests collected since January 1984.

The Magic Of The Musicals
The soundtracks of some of the most popular musicals plus Chris Leonard and Lora Coventry presenting some of the best of the rest.

Andy McCormick’s Big Slice Of Kiwi
A New Year's Eve special show where Andy McCormick presents 2 hours of New Zealand music as featured in his weekly Postcard From New Zealand.

Behind The Scenes At Ropley Station
Watercress Line volunteer Tony Wood took HRB's Paul Turner and Neil Ogden around Ropley Station to see things the public doesn’t normally get to see.

HRB’s Least Requested
We’ve had the most requested, now it’s the turn of some of those that haven’t received many requests over the years – there maybe some surprises in store!

Click here for our full Christmas schedules

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December 23, 2008 17:58:29