A hospital in County Down has set up a radio service to offer distraction and comfort to patients.
In a bid to make patients stay in hospital as pleasant as possible, the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, County Down, launches a radio station. Its 400 short stay patients can access the radio station through bedside headphones during the few broadcasting hours a week when the station opts out of the BBC Radio 1 channel.
Operated by a voluntary staff the radio service allows patients to send messages, take part in interviews make requests or have requests from relatives or friends played for them.
All of the equipment and records for the radio station have been donated by patients, community groups and friends. The control desk is the result of four months work by radio enthusiast Danny Williams, and 20 people have been working to get the station off the ground.
There are eight presenters who include schoolteachers, housewives, mechanics and secretaries.
Station manager Brian Willis has noticed a great reaction to Ulster Hospital Radio,
It's local broadcasting on its most local way of doing things.
He expects that as the station develops, it will be run by enthusiasts rather than the professionals who were involved with setting it up.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 8 April 1976. The reporter is Olivia O'Leary.
