It was hospital radio’s big night on Saturday (13 April) as the National Hospital Radio Awards were held at Winchester University.
HRB was nominated in 4 categories, Best Station Promotion (Random Vinyl), Best Newcomer (Lena C), Best Special Event (NHS75 Day) and Station of the Year.
But although the station didn’t win an award in any of the 4 categories, it was responsible for the winner of the John Whitney Award for Outstanding Contribution to Hospital Radio.
Richard Smith has been involved in hospital radio for over 40 years but it was in 2003 that his name started to become better known when he started producing The A to Z of Pop from his home studio. The show quickly became popular and over 100 stations joined HRB in using the show. In 2012, he hosted the first BIG Broadcast, an annual event that grew and grew and became a regular fixture of New Year’s Eve over the following decade.
Other shows followed – Call Me Number One and My Favourite Song and in 2020 The Sunday Social was launched originally as a monthly show but during the pandemic was adapted to a weekly show to fill depleted schedules with a live show. Series 4 of the show finished in March 2024 after a 9 week run.
Richard provides football commentary on Notts County for Nottingham Hospitals Radio and was involved in their Gold award winning entry “From This One Kick of the Football” in the Best Speech Package category.
Well done to Richard Smith!
