Registered Charity No 1068428

Hospital Radio run by volunteers for the patients, staff and visitors of Halton General Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire - Registered Charity No 1068428

Studio

Our aim is to provide the Patients and Staff of Halton General Hospital with a high quality service.  However, we are mindful that nothing lasts forever, and we continue to fundraise in order to be able to replace or repair any equipment which fails, so that we can be sure of always providing our service

We are bidding for funding to help us continue, as the only regular source of income is our collection boxes

Improved facilities for production and admin - 2011

We were lucky enough in 2011 to be granted funding for equipment to set up in our small office.  This means that we can more readily access the music database to add new songs or carry out maintenance to the schedule

Before, we had to wait until a presenter had finished their programme to gain access to the studio to do this

2010 improved studio layout following re-fit - sort of panning left to right... click on each pic for a larger image

Keith Inman, our fellow volunteer at our sister station in Warrington, Radio General, reorganised the layout of the studio in July 2010.  The new layout gives easier access for all, and particularly for anyone with physical disabilities, as it saves having to go along the rear of the mixing desk, around the end, in order to sit in front of the desk.  Now, as well as looking tidier, without the large 19" rack, it's possible to go through the door and be immediately in front of the desk

The CD shelves were taken down and  the CD's packed away into fruit boxes until we relocated the shelves to the other wall.  We're very grateful for Keith's help also for enabling our office computer to be linked up via the intranet to relay Radio General's coverage of rugby matches for patients in Halton

2009 views of the studio - click on each photo for a larger image

One of the CD players and one of the minidisc players bought in 1999 failed within weeks of each other in 2009, and we've  purchased the above replacements, because the remaining machines are likely to last a similar time.  For the technically minded, the CD is a dual player, a Numark CDN22 and the Minidisc player is a Tascam MD-350

This is how our studio looked in 2007

The screensaver on the left is a photo of the red "mic live" light above the studio door in the corridor, to alert anyone coming in or just passing that we're broadcasting live.  The black keyboard controls the Myriad PC

We've updated the flooring behind the mixer to lessen the chance of static shocks built up from the nylon carpet tiles - thanks to volunteer Roger Sloan for obtaining the new tiles for us.  We've also fitted curly leads to the headphones to avoid the risk of tripping over the long straight leads

Click on each photo for a larger image, then click the back button on your browser to return to this page

This is the new powerful PC installed in March 2007 which is running the playout software "Myriad" for the music we have on computer.  We bought it with the help of a donation of £2,000 from the Halton Hospital League of Friends.  We're now fully trained in scheduling programmes on Myriad, so it provides our service when volunteers aren't here overnight and at other times.  Thanks to Mike Taylor of Radio General in Warrington for helping us to set up our database of songs on Myriad

Here's a March 2007 view of both PCs - on the left running PCDJ (a free download from the internet) and on the right, running Myriad.  When you enlarge this picture, you can see from the empty box on the right that it's so powerful it's suitable for high quality gaming use!  We just want it for high quality music!

This is how the studio looked in 2006 with the 2 flat screen TFT monitors installed:

Click on the photos for larger images, then click the back button on your browser to return to this page

The Sony computer on the left was bought in 2003 through a grant from the Community Chest.  Its TFT screen gives out hardly any heat, unlike the old SVGA monitor, and was bought with a donation from INEOS Fluor.  This makes the studio a much more comfortable place in those hot summers - when they happen!  Even so, the heat still got to our 14 month old computer in July 2006 and caused its demise....

Below is how the Radio Halton studio looked in 1999

The rest of the studio equipment was purchased in 1999, including the broadcast mixer bought with help from The National Lottery Charities Board who awarded us with a grant of £3877.15.  Thanks to various donations we were also able to purchase 2 replacement CD players and 2 minidisc players the same year

We're grateful for engineer Ian Hilton for coming to our aid to repair the power supply to the mixing desk when it failed leaving us off air over Easter 2008

Registered Charity No 1068428