If you look through our website you will get an insight into the work our volunteers undertake to provide at truly unique radio station for the patients and staff of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust.
I am not sure ‘radio’ is necessarily the way to describe the activities of Radio Cherwell; firstly the station cannot be heard on a conventional radio but throughout Oxford’s hospitals on the bedhead entertainment systems and via the internet. More than any other radio station, our programmes involve the patients and those caring for them.
Our members spend many hours every day talking to our listeners, playing their favourite or memorable tunes, from classical music, opera and of course popular tunes from the 1920s to the present day.
Interviews with the hospital Chief Executive and all his staff, at every level, bring an in-depth view of the complex and diverse workings of a modern hospital, all working to give the best outcome to our listeners.
Radio Cherwell also works alongside the Oxford Hospitals Charity and all the other charities that work in, or for, the Oxford Hospitals. Details of their fundraising activities can be heard on air as well as the events brought live to the patient’s bedside.
To complement all this Radio Cherwell can be heard at any time of the day or night with a wide and diverse range of programmes, some involving local musicians, authors, historians and actors.
Like many hospital radio stations, we started in 1967 by broadcasting commentaries from local football matches for the benefit of fans who could not make it to the match; today we cover highlights from local matches and other sports as well.
We get a lot of feedback telling us how much our programmes are enjoyed and many patients continue to listen to our output via the internet when they get home. We are also followed on Facebook and Twitter and offer a ‘Listen Again service‘ for selected programmes,
We thank the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and their staff for their continuing support; to all the organisations we work alongside; local businesses and of course the many volunteers of all ages and backgrounds who work at Radio Cherwell for free, not an expense sheet in sight!!!
If you are reading this from a hospital bed, we do wish you a speedy outcome and hope we have helped your stay in hospital to be a bit more bearable.
Radio Cherwell is constantly casting its net very wide to find people who are prepared to give their time for nothing in order to produce a wide variety of professional programmes and to spend time on hospital wards talking to the lonely, entertaining the bored and comforting the concerned. If you would like to join us go to our membership page.
