Hospital radio opens doors for newcomers

That was the message from yesterday’s open day at Radio Haslar – which broadcasts to Gosport War Memorial Hospital on a 24/7 basis.

The station, based at Thorngate Halls in Bury Road, has been broadcasting since 1993, and is looking to bolster its line-up of presenters ahead of a major station overhaul.

Station manager Paul Dodd says that the work done by the station is invaluable for the hospital patients.

He said: ‘What we do is all about giving the patients what they want to hear.

‘The hospital wards tend to be four people per cabin, there’s no television and there’s very little interaction for them during the day.

‘This is what makes our role so important, because they really are quite isolated.’

The event was held at the same time as the 55+ Fest downstairs in Thorngate Halls.

Paul said: ‘Holding an open day in conjunction with the 55+ Fest going on downstairs has gone really well – we’ve had a good few visitors come in, including the mayor of Gosport.

‘The seed is now planted for people because they now understand what the station does a lot more.’

In the next few months, the station will be undergoing a technological revamp, a rebranding and will begin an outreach project.

Paul said: ‘We are looking to expand into nursing homes in the area, but we need our system to be more reliable for that to work, so we are investing in an overhaul to our equipment.

‘To celebrate our 25th anniversary in March, we will go from being Radio Haslar to Gosport’s Hospital Radio station.

‘It’s an exciting time and we are looking forward to having more people join us.’