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1989 Nahbo Members Magazine Article Part Two

Radio Heatherwood Trek Two ( The Update )

(A copy of the story published in the Nahbo magazine March & May 1990)

This is the continuing story of the Starship Heatherwood boldly going where no radio has gone before;" Hold it; I think we have done this before "; I know but this is the update.

A year ago, Radio Heatherwood was set on a course for new horizons, with studio complex in good shape and the new transmission system in, and causing no problems.

Our next project was to computerize the library. Our public relation exercises, continue to pay dividends, and one such sales pitch produced a donation of £1000 towards our computer, We purchased an Amstrad 1512 floppy disk drive machine, and also bought a 32mb hard card . We purchased the software program from Roger Richards who advertises in the magazine. It was decided that the library would be entered by one person to avoid too many mistakes.
The manager Dave was nominated. We had over 1100 albums and over 4000 singles to be entered.

In the early stages of entering, a fault with the computer meant a loss of data and the re-entering of files. It took from August 88 until March 89 to complete. A total of 27800 titles and a few stiff fingers. It is at this point we must say a big thank you to Roger for his after sales support. during the data entry.

On April 1st it was our first birthday on the medium wave and we took the opportunity to have a drink and buffet and show all the presenters, our new library manager.

We didn't buy the computer just for the library. We were also interested in producing our own news sheet. A desktop publishing package ( Timeworks ) has produced some excellent results and already we are producing leaflets, which can be left in the bedside lockers.

When we opened studio one and the Medium Wave transmission system; it was always on our minds that we would equip studio two, with a second Chilton mixer. It was once again a chance for our PR department to sell the idea. In April this year, this paid off once again with a donation of £3500 for the purchase of the mixer.

When I first took over the engineering at Heatherwood, I only had a very limited knowledge of electronics and the task of buying the first mixer is not as easy as it seems. A mixer off the shelf is never what you need and you always have to pay extra for modifications which to most people are a necessity. The task of buying the second mixer was much easier and a few more modifications gives us the opportunity to use the mixer to it's full capabilities. If you have never purchased a mixer and you need some guidance: talk too Paul & Tom Reps at Chilton Audio a family business, who are very helpful and knowledgeable and won't sell you what you don't need. If you do buy a mixer from them, you won't be disappointed and you may even get a pound of tomatoes from the roof garden.

Whilst we are talking about suppliers, are their any bad companies you have had dealings with,( take the money and run merchants ). A good idea for our magazine perhaps a list of recommended suppliers, I can endorse a few good one's and scorn whole lot more. Some companies think that hospital radio is a soft touch for money.

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The final cost of our mixer with all mod's and the dreaded Vat was £3649. 20. Our plan now is to refit studio two, and link both studio's together; by the time this is printed, we should be well under way.

One thing we have been pushing for; is the availability of more space from the hospital to expand the studio complex. The hospital authority however have not been very forthcoming on this and we have to re-design the second studio area/reception.

Radio Heatherwood's facilities by March next year will look very different from those pictured in the previous article. Our staff situation had by July this year, become desperate. We decided to have a recruitment drive on local radio, and in the local free press. We have to date received over 25 applicants, of these some have proved un-suitable, but we are very pleased with the response. We now have a waiting list for people to join.

We have also decided that in future, rather than wait for new people to hear by word of mouth , we will have a regular announcement on the air. We will also run an advertising campaign every six month's to top up our waiting list. It is hoped that by April 1990 we will have two working studio's, and a full complement of staff.

Due to other projects in the past, and staff recruitment , we have always felt; that our program output was neglected in areas. The new people and completion of the second studio will give us a chance to improve the quality of our output. One thing some stations neglect to pick up is that it is the older generation who buy the raffle tickets, and will support you by donations : you must therefore offer a Radio 2 style of presentation, and be as middle of the road as you can, after all you have to appeal to ages 5, to 95, as some of you no doubt found out.

We have visited some stations who are a carbon copy of the ILR station, and this indicates to us they don't know their listeners.

The Grand Draw this year which raises our running costs has been the second most successful with over £1900 worth of tickets sold giving us a profit of £1600. We are only £700 short of our target to complete the funding of the studio two modifications. This as I write is likely to be realized, with good public relations on our part. When I think back to the early days of our management, we were £37 in the red, in the bank, and investment in us was zero. We have come a long way since then, and this year we would have realized support of over £5000 not bad for amateurs.

Over the last year ,We have also been in contact with other HBO's making visits, and also showing other people around our own facilities.

Inductive Loop Versus Hardwire

The pro's and con's of our transmission system is always the biggest talking point on any visit. we always sum up with it won't solve all your problems but it will provide a backup to a hardwire system, which will never ever satisfy your patients.

We have been to local conferences in the Thames valley and other areas. We hear the same old garbage: Quote "Our engineering dept will repair any broken headsets, if we buy a new system", or "We'll repair the headsets if they are broken".The answer we always give is where is the money coming from to effect those repairs and should HBO's be providing the funds for a system where the health authority has an obligation to supply & maintain. We make that statement on the basis of our own experience.

In the early days we were providing the plastic headsets for many years and it wasn't cheap. When we changed over to inductive loop, it was decided that no funds from our side would be used on the hard wire system: consequently all of a sudden the plastic headsets on the wards are being replaced by the health authority.It would seem that we were saving them money, which never ever found it's way into repairing the hardware around the wards. The statement in the previous paragraph is confirmed by the following. Wards were renovated radio's which didn't work before didn't afterwards, those who had there cable's cut; are still cut two years later. no servicing of the rack, which is in our studio, in the nine years I have been there. The final confirmation of the general deterioration was two surveys carried out of the bed head units. The first showed an 18% fault rate after two years the second survey showed an 102% fault rate and to this day that has not been rectified and is a lot worse.

Our new building at Heatherwood had a brand new rack system installed, we had to fight damn hard to get the inductive loop system installed as well. It was a good job we did; because within eighteen months that rack now stands on the roof in the plant room merrily consuming electricity, and doing ....... all else. I think you will find that we would never ever contemplate paying any money at our hospital towards a new hard wire system. The only criteria for doing so would be total control over repairs and a bottomless pit of money because the system is open to all kinds of damage. The moment it is installed it will deteriorate, as can be seen from our own experience. The hard wire system does have good points in it's favour and it is best when it is maintained properly not by the hospital radio's, but by the health authority who are obliged to provide four radio channels. One final point on this, the installation company for this type of hard wire system would not be in my good suppliers guide.

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On the medium wave side of things where wards have no bed head units, or have been cut off, we have been providing loan radio's for the patients. These are being used and we have tried to encourage them to buy replacement batteries, but to no avail and also we have had a couple walk, even though they were suitable marked. This hasn't deterred us from promoting the service and we will continue in this area. The high turnaround of nursing staff, means lots of new staff don't know that we are on the medium wave. This in the next twelve months we are hoping to rectify by our desktop publishing leaflets, and better promo's on the hospital property.

The promotion of the HW service by jingles on the air, does make a lot more people aware that they can bring their own radio's in. In the beginning not many radio's were being brought in, but word of mouth, and former patients are those that carry the message for us.

The older generation being the largest participants in bringing in radio's. This has not meant a profusion of radio's on the wards distracting others, but a mixed listening audience: i.e. some on headsets others on the portable or personal radio's. We have no regrets about changing to inductive loop and feel the people that have benefited most, are the patients. The staff also don't get pestered so much; about broken radio's, because if the bed head unit is broken, they can still have a request, and listen in, which is what it's all about.

The inductive loop system is certainly making in-roads into the installation of systems in hospitals.It is nice to see that local hospitals in our area are already moving towards this system . Radio Heatherwood continues to go from strength to strength. We must remember though, it is our own experience in all fields, electronics, public relations, fundraising, broadcasting skills and many more which make Radio Heatherwood what it is today.

We are indebted to our presenters, suppliers and the patients of Heatherwood for their support. We thank them from our heart.

Beam Us Up Mr Scott!

Peter Davidson-Smith Secretary (DEC89)

Published March & May 1990 editions Nahbo magazine.

1989 Year Thirteen Story Unfolds

1989 was a very busy year for the station management and as the year unfolded there was much to do and organise

For further information about this year:- Follow the links

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Archive Gems

Just some extra's we found:-

1989 That Was The Year That Was !

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