A registered charity
since 1976, Radio Frimley Park exists to provide the in-house
radio service for Frimley Park Hospital.
The station
was founded over 30 years ago in 1976. The brainchild of Gordon
Cox, it was originally known as “Frimley Park Broadcasting
Service”.
With funds
provided by the hospital’s
League of Friends, following test broadcasts on a couple of evenings
a week, the fledgling service launched on 1st October 1976. Over
the years, the studio equipment
has been replaced and refined, and the broadcasting hours were
extended to every evening with longer hours during weekends.
The station is affiliated to the Hospital BroadcastingAssociation,
joining over 300 other stations across the country.
Since the early
days, Radio Frimley Park hasbeen a feature in the community
with its "outside broadcasts", helping to raise funds
for the station and awareness of its activites
outsidethe hospital. As the bookings built up, it was decided
that Radio Frimley Park should be more mobile, so in the late
1980's the first outside broadcast vehicle was acquired.
Since
then the station has had various former ambulances which have
been converted into mobile
studios. These have been used to provide public address facilities
at many outdoor events and generate revenue for the station’s
core activities.
The station hit a
low when, in 1990, the studio was stripped of almost all broadcasting
equipment. Although the thieves were caught and convicted and
most of the equipment recovered, it had been damaged beyond repair.
Following a concerted fundraising effort and with
support from the local community in September 1990 Radio Frimley
Park was back on the air with a visit from Tom O'Connor, one
of the Hospital Broadcasting Association’s show business
ambassadors at the time.
In the 21st
century, Radio Frimley Park’s principal aims remain what
they have always been, to inform, educate and relieve sickness
amongst the patients of Frimley Park Hospital. For several
years, vigorous fundraising and help and encouragement from
the Hospital Trust has meant the station now has
a larger and more modern studio and is broadcasting 24 hours
a day, every day.