Red Dot radio, the ‘on-air’ name of the Edinburgh Hospital Broadcasting Service, was founded as Forth Radio Network in 1962 and it’s been entertaining patients in Edinburgh hospitals ever since!
Originally serving over 16 hospitals in the early days, the main audience is now in the Western General Hospital and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
On the air 365 days of the year, they provide programmes from 7pm until 10pm every evening except for Christmas Day when they broadcast from 10am until midday.
The mainstay of their programmes is ‘Request Time’ – the patients’ own choice of music. The volunteers visit the wards each evening to speak to the patients, check that the bedside radio is working and then find out what they would like to hear, before returning to the studio to prepare and present the show.
On Wednesday 12 November, Red Dot Radio are throwing open their doors to let staff and patients, their relatives and friends see how the service operates, and visit the studio ‘live’ on air.
The organisation’s chairman, Malcolm Kirby, says: “it’s very rewarding work and we look forward to meeting as many people as possible and showing them our studios.”
If you are interested in seeing this fascinating organisation at work, go along to the Western General Hospital between 5.30 and 9 pm on Wednesday (12 November). Visitors will be met at the entrance to the Anne Ferguson Building.
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