It was 28 April 1972, 50 years ago, that hospital radio came to Basingstoke thanks to Chairman Mike. With programmes produced in his studio at home, Mini Radio broadcast to the patients and staff at the Basingstoke Mini Hospital, the building that we know as the Sherborne Building today.
Mini Radio became Chairman Mike’s Mini Radio and then HRB and the station has gone from strength to strength ever since, producing its programmes now 24 hours a day for the patients and staff around the hospital.
You can find out more about the story of hospital radio in Basingstoke by going here.
The station has big plans for the future which will be gradually coming to fruition in the coming months. All will be revealed soon but will be hinted at in the documentary that will tell the story of the first 50 years that can be heard for the first time at 6pm. The show uses interviews with some of those who have been part of the story as well as archive clips to chart the history of the station since 1972.
The day will be marked with some special shows and there will be more events and programmes marking the anniversary throughout the year.
3.30pm The Golden Years – 1972 Hits and news from 50 years ago
4.30pm Memory Makers The Anniversary Years with Neil Ogden A Sound of Sunday Special plays the music that was in the charts on different anniversaries over the last 50 years, so what was number 1 on 28 April 1972? What was in the charts when HRB started in January 1984? And what was the first song played from the new studio in 2008?
6.00pm The Story So Far – Jon Perkin tells the story of the first 50 years of hospital radio in Basingstoke with contributions from those that were there at the start and clips from the archives of the last 50 years
7.00pm Music on Demand with Mark Paine – The one constant thing about hospital radio is the playing of requests so for 3 hours the choice of music is down to you – pick up your bedside phones and give Mark a call.
10.00pm The A to Z of Our Anniversary – Richard Smith gives our anniversary the A to Z of Pop treatment playing songs in the charts this week over the years.
It was decided that due to the situation with Covid that it would not be appropriate to have a large gathering of past and present members to celebrate, so there won’t be a repeat of the memorable events from 10 and 20 years ago, but you will be able to download and listen to the show from 2012 from Thursday from this page.
10 years ago the Basingstoke Hospital Male Choir performed a special birthday concert for the station, and there will be some clips of that repeated during the day on Thursday. The whole show will be available to listen to here soon.
