Thameside Hospital Radio Memories

Southend Hospital Radio is the hospital radio station based at Southend General Hospital, in Essex.

In 2005, the station changed its name to 'Southend Hospital Radio', from it's original name of "Thameside Hospital Radio". This page contains information relating to Thameside Radio, and its history. This site is also the home of the Thameside Mailing List, a way for past and present Thameside members to keep in touch.

Southend Hospital Radio broadcasts seven days a week, providing a relevant and entertaining service to patients. The station broadcasts via a closed-circuit to wards around Southend General Hospital on Channel 13, and also has a 24 hour continuous music service, Thameside 2, broadcasting on Channel 14.

Like all Hospital Radio stations in the UK, Southend Hospital radio is run entirely by hard working volunteers, with funds raised by members from local activity, and from donations. For more on Southend Hospital Radio, go to southendhospitalradio.com.

 

Thameside Radio's History

Thameside Hospital Radio began broadcasting on February 5th 1977. Here are a few pictures illustrating Thameside's history.

Day one, Feb 1997	The team of 1990	Master control room (1986)
Mike Royston Bingo Beat	The team of 1994	Donated Tape machine
The studio (1986)	The team of 1993	Flagday label licking

A number of photos, memories, and audio snippets have been added to this site, primarily for their nostalgia value. If you are, or have been, a Thameside member, why not join the free mailing list to find out what other members have been up to? See details below.

Music on Hospital Radio

The Music Library has around 20,000 different tracks on vinyl and CD, covering all musical styles from the 1920's up to the present day. The archives also contain a selection of comedy shows, including classics like "The Goon Show", "Hancock" and more modern material like "The Fast Show" and "Mrs Merton". With a few exceptions, the station relies totally on donations to stock the library.

For many years, the station has had an arrangement with "Fives" record shop in Rayleigh, who donate the Top 10 singles to the station each week. To help Ward Liaison teams, Southend Hospital Radio has a music library computer system that can search music by artist, title, year or chart position. The station also records and broadcast local events such as Christmas Carols and Music Festivals.

The Studios

For the technically minded, here's a quick look at what goes on technically behind the scenes at the Southend-based studio complex.

Audio and broadcast technology is changing all the time, and over the years, radio stations have moved on to make use of more reliable, durable and economical studio equipment. When Thameside Radio started broadcasting, what was state-of-the art in the 70's, is now seen as ancient technology. Audio tape has now been replaced by recordable CD and minidisk technology, and vinyl records have moved on to CD, and now onto a computer-based hard-disk system.

The complex contains two self-operated studios, each including the following:

• Mixing desk: Alice 828S console (PPM option)
• CD Players: 2 x Technics SL-PG360A
• Turntables: 2 x LAD GAJ 828P with OM-PRO
• Tape machine: Revox B77 Mk.II (HS, NAB)
• Cart players: 3 x Sonifex Micro HSx
• Mics: AKG D202 (presenter), Calrec CM1050 (guests)

News is taken from a satellite receiver, and local football commentary arrives on a dedicated landline from the Roots Hall football ground via a purpose-built hybrid. Live phone calls (2 lines) are handled by Sonifex TBUs.

Programmes are delivered to the listener on a closed-circuit digital multiplex, which also carries network and local radio plus TV sound, and a switching matrix allows either or both studios to be routed directly to one of our two allocated channels.

The station's engineers are Rick Poole and John Salim.

Sport on Hospital Radio

Thameside Hospital Radio has always supported local team Southend United FC, and broadcast live commentary from every home game. Broadcasts of local matches to patients at Southend Hospital began way before Hospital Radio was conceived. 1954 saw the very first of these broadcasts from the "Toch H" organisation. Football commentary was exclusively provided from Roots Hall, the home of Southend United. Back in those days, it was third division south, and a crowd of 13,000. These days, times are just as hard, and far less people chanting "come on you blues".

Commentary is provided for every home game, and the station also provides a service to the visually impaired supporters in the ground, as well as to other Hospital Radio stations. For details of commentary services, please contact John Preston on 01702 611580.

Fundraising

Southend Hospital Radio is a registered charity (number 272529), funded by donations and other fund raising activity.

All over Southend and the surrounding area, the station performs regular fund-raising activities to help fund the service. At various events, you may see the station's Outside Broadcast Unit - events include local Fetes and Fairs, the Rayleigh Lions Fireworks Display and in Southend High Street for the annual Flag Day.

If you see the hospital radio station out fund-raising, please give generously!

If you would like to make a donation, or are able to offer time to work with the team, see the contact details at the bottom of this page.

Contact Southend Hospital Radio

You can call the studios on 01702 338181 for more details of broadcasts, to discuss fund-raising, or to find out more.
You can also write to Southend Hospital Radio at: Southend District Radio Service, Southend General Hospital, Prittlewell Chase, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS0 0RY.
If you're interested in becoming a member, please call the studios after 8pm on Thursday or Friday evening - on 01702-338181

Hospital Radio Links:

• southendhospitalradio.com - The official public site
• Thameside Mailing List - Past or present members - Join the free mailing list and stay in touch
• Thameside Sounds - A collection of jingles, extracts and snippets.
• Thameside Shows - An old programme schedule listing from 2003
• Thameside Team - A collection of faces from Thameside of yesteryear

Page created by Southend Hospital Radio member Pete Sipple