Hospital Radio Fox
Hospital Radio Fox is the hospital radio station for the Royal Infirmary and the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, England.
The station first went on air at 7am on Saturday 23rd April 1988 with Bob Machon being the first voice heard. Initially Radio Fox broadcast at weekends only to the Royal Infirmary, with the Glenfield being added in 1990 once funds had been raised to install an audio landline from the Royal Infirmary. By 1998 the station was broadcasting seven days a week. In 2002 broadcasting hours were extended to midnight (previously programmes finished at 10pm) and on April 23rd 2005 24 hour a day broadcasting was established.
Programmes include a nightly request show, specialist programmes covering country, classical, dance, jazz, easy listening and world music, extensive sports coverage, general entertainment and information about the two hospitals they serve. There is also a weekly show for the children's hospital and speech output such as local news, useful information for patients and late night stories.
Request shows account for twenty hours of the stations output each week although requests are played on every live programme and listeners are invited to call in at any time. Specialist shows are broadcast in the early and late evening slots with general entertainment output featuring in the daytimes.
Radio Fox has been recognised by the Hospital Broadcasting Association at its annual awards every year since 2000. In 2005 the station was shortlisted in five categories and achieved highly commended in two, Best Speech and Best Children's Output. In previous years they have received bronze awards in the Speech, Special Event and Presenter Of The Year categories, and have been shortlisted for Station Of The Year twice.
In 2007 Sandy Iliff received the Gold award in the Female Presenter Of The Year category and the station also received a Highly Commended for its sports output.
In 2004 Radio Fox began split broadcasting to the Royal Infirmary and the Glenfield. Due to limited studio availability split broadcasting is currently restricted to one night a week as well as special broadcasts and during the Saturday afternoon sports show when the Leicester City and Leicester Tigers sports teams are playing at the same time. It is hoped to increase split broadcasting in the next couple of years, with separate request shows being provided for each hospital.
The longest running current programme is Saturday Sport, which launched in 1995. Other long running shows include Fox Country (2000), The Radio Fox Request Chart (1998) and The All Around The World Show, which has featured in the schedule since the mid nineties, albeit with several breaks.
Cliff Wheatcroft is the station's longest serving presenter, having hosted various Saturday morning request shows since 1988.
Radio Fox is a registered charity and relies entirely on donations and fundraising to stay on the air. Currently around fifty members are involved with the station.