As you all know I am a volunteer presenter on Sunshine Hospital radio, which entertains the patients of Weston General Hospital. I present my own chat show Talk of the Town on a Monday night, and also take part in wardround.Being part of Sunshine Radio is a great experience, and I have made many wonderful friends over the years.
I thought I would share with you the history of the station, so you can see how it all began, and how we got to the station we are today.
Sunshine Radio was set up in 1977 by John Jiggins, with the help of Melvin Dickson.
Weston had raised money for the Queens Silver Jubilee and ideas were wanted on how best to spend it.
At the time, John was in the newly-formed West Woodspring Rotaract Club, and suggested a hospital radio station.
John said: "We had a £3,000 grant to get it going and used to record the show in my bedroom.
"We went on to the wards to get requests on a Sunday, recorded the show on a Monday, and went to the hospital on the Boulevard to broadcast the show on a Tuesday."
At this time it was called Rotaract Hospital Radio, which later became the Weston Hospital Broadcasting Society.
In 1978 work started on building a studio in Eastern House, on Landermann Circus, which was completed in 1983.
The show was by now broadcasting to all the hospitals in Weston.
Sunshine Radio grew in size, and by 1981 it was the biggest project to have been undertaken for the Queens Jubilee in the South West.
In honour of this achievement, John was invited to Buckingham Palace, where he met Prince Charles and Diana.
John said: "It was before they were married and was Diana's first public engagement."
It was about then that a young Jill Dando joined the radio crew.
John said: "I met Jill when she was a reporter and we got talking about radio.
"I asked her to come to the station to record a regular news programme.
"At first she was a bit shy talking on the radio, but I persuaded her."
The news that a new general hospital was planned, to bring together all three existing ones under one roof, was an ideal opportunity to have a studio included in the plans, and major fundraising began.
In two years, £25,000 was raised
It was also decided a catchier name was needed and Sunshine Hospital Radio was born.
Clive Townsend and Patrick Squire volunteered their time to design and build the studio and it was officially opened in 1986 by Anthea Askey, and was dedicated to her father, the comedian Arthur Askey.
A second studio was opened by the National Lotterys 'voice of the balls' Alan Dedicoat in 1996.
Down the years Sunshine Radio has supported many community events, including the carnival, concerts at The Playhouse and the Great Western Air Days.
Many famous voices have been heard live on air, including Ken Dodd, Noel Edmonds and Sir Michael Parkinson.
In its 30th year of broadcasting, the station was named as one of the mayors charities, undertaken a 30-hour marathon show, and hosted a Children In Need quiz.
Sunshine Radios Taking Over The World campaign won the outstanding achievement award at the National Hospital Broadcasting Awards.
The campaign helped to raise the profile of the station by challenging people to take a Sunshine Radio T-shirt to well-known or unusual locations around the world, and send back photos of themselves wearing it.
Pictures were received from destinations as far afield as Afghanistan, China, Australia and The Falkland Islands.
John said: "It was my dream to set up a hospital radio station, though I never thought that something which started in my bedroom could be what it is now.
"Over the years we have had 75,000 song requests from patients and I have met so many lovely people."
Today, Sunshine Radio is manned by a team of volunteers who delight in entertaining the patients of Weston General Hospital.
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