UK: DORCHESTER: Radio station celebrates 45 years

At 7.45pm on September 30th 1966, a broadcast went out from a tiny attic in what is now the Dorchester Conservative Club in South Walks. 

Introduced by Colonel Weld, at the time the Mayor, and Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, this was the first of a once-weekly programme for  patients at Dorset County Hospital and featured an hour of music piped to the hospital in Princes Street via a landline. And it was in this tiny studio, with little if any room to manoeuvre, that the forerunner of Ridgeway Radio was born. 

In 1968 the service moved into a studio at the hospital site, where the DJs continued to operate their request show for an hour every Thursday night, and the rest is history. 

Formerly West Dorset Hospital Radio, Ridgeway Radio is run by a team of volunteers who include presenters, technicians and ward visitors. 

Winning national radio awards in 1999 and 2000, it is supported by the hospital's League of Friends and is there for patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

"Broadcasting for local people by local people", it provides a radio service exclusively for patients and staff at Dorset County Hospital and creates a link to the outside world through items of local goings-on and live outside broadcasts. These include Dorchester Carnival, the Dorset County Show, and the Lions Fun Run, as well as countless concerts from venues such as the Borough Gardens  and St Mary's Church. 

Friendly chat and record requests go a long way to making a hospital stay more bearable  and the young are not forgotten either. 

The Kingfisher Zone is specially for young listeners and plays modern music as well as Disney songs and nursery rhymes. Competitions are a regular feature on a Wednesday and there are prizes for the lucky winners.

Ridgeway Radio celebrated its 45th anniversary with a special broadcast of North, South, East, West, a programme of people, places, and events. They took listeners on a journey through 45 years of memories, with music from different decades and studio guests giving their own outstanding memories of the early d

ays.

Events from the last 45 years were given an airing, and audio diary clips from the sound library gave a wonderful insight into programmes from the past. 

PICTURE: Celebrating 45 years of Ridgeway Radio are treasurer Andy Venton, chairman Andy Worth, vice-chairman and director of programmes Peter Foster, and honorary secretary Heather Foster

SOURCE:DORCHESTER: Radio station celebrates 45 years http://bit.ly/pgBMWx 

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