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.
Back to TopThe 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.