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Hospital Radio Reading was born on September 7th, 1957. The first broadcast was of Reading FC’s football match against Aldershot (Royals won 3 – 1, by the way!). This was enabled by using a borrowed army transmitter and placing receivers in selected wards at Blagrave and Peppard hospitals. The first presenters were founder, Les Warth, and local broadcaster, Maurice Edleston, a well-known BBC commentator at the time.
It was in 1960 that things really picked up, when the hospital management committee gave HRR access to patients via the master radio within each hospital. This meant that the broadcasts would be going out to more patients, therefore five more volunteers were recruited. By 1961, our own premises were obtained - the basement of the Reading Standard newspaper (later to be named the Evening Post)
In 1962, the first ever request show was broadcast. This was scheduled on a Sunday morning and lasted for 30 minutes. In the early days of HRR, we didn't have a record library, therefore the vinyl was borrowed from a local music store - Hickie & Hickie.
In 1964, thanks to HRR's close links with Reading Football Club, the charity was offered a disused room beneath the Tilehurst Road stand at Elm Park. It took around twenty months for the studio to be built but on Monday September 27th 1965, it was finally opened. This resulted in around 10 more members and also meant that programming could now take place on five evenings a week. 9 years later, the premises were partitioned into three rooms - 2 studios and a record library.
By 1976 and membership numbers had grown to around 50, and we were beginning to get rather cramped and so had to start looking for new accommodation. With help from the hospital authorities we were able to relocate into purpose built studios at the Battle Hospital. The building was originally used as nursing accommodation and required extensive interior modifications, but we were still able to meet our transmission deadline.
The commissioning of a music line between the HRR studio and the Hexagon enabled many shows to be relayed direct to the patients’ bedside. The Barron Knights performed the very first such concert on 13 November 1981. This service enabled our listeners to enjoy the atmosphere and the entertainment of live theatre productions.over a number of years.
In 1990, an induction loop was installed to compliment the bedside units at the Battle Hospital. This meant that patients were able to pick up broadcasts from HRR via a portable radio.
One of HRR's main strengths has always been its commentary service. HRR has its own resident commentators who broadcast live coverage of Reading FC's home matches. They not only broadcast to the patients but, since November 1993, in conjunction with Reading FC, they have also enabled partially sighted and blind fans of both teams to enjoy the game using their expert commentary via specially designated headphones in the stand.
With a new century dawning HRR was broadcasting 37.5 hours per week - this spread over weekday evenings and weekends. The station began upgrading its ageing studio equipment in 2005 and our new computer system means that the DJ only needs to click and drag to provide instant requests for the patients who call in on *800 on the Patientline system.
The closure of the Battle Hospital in 2005, saw us move to our new accommodation at the Royal Berkshire Hospital at the beginning of 2006. We would like to express our very sincere thanks to the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust generously locating us in our new premises.
So here we are in 2007 - our anniversary year. HRR has been entertaining patients for 50 years and we are planning some big celebrations................
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