In
the mid seventies London’s
airwaves were full of pirate radio stations. One of these was
Radio Kaleidoscope. It began in 1973, but after 3 years of
broadcasting on Sunday afternoons the team decided to move on.
Some went into commercial radio, some to other pirates, and some found
themselves at the doors of the London Hospital in Whitechapel.
Clive Thomas approached the
management with the idea of setting up a
radio station broadcasting to the patients. The hospital agreed
and on 3rd October 1976 Metropolitan Channel 2 was launched. At
the beginning there were no studios in the hospital. The team
would collect patient’s requests and pre-record the programmes at
home. The tapes would then be taken back to the hospital and
played over the internal radio network.
In 1977 the station held a
sponsored bike ride from Swansea to the
London Hospital. Over £3000 was raised, and work began on
kitting
out a studio within the hospital.
On
Saturday July 24th 1978, the renamed Metropolitan Hospitals Radio
(MHR) went live! The new studio was opened by Brian Hayes and the
first record was We've Only Just Begun by The Carpenters.
Throughout the early eighties MHR continued to develop as a radio
station reflecting the hospital community. In 1985 the team
bought an outside broadcast unit, which meant patients could talk live
from the ward to the presenter in the studio.
The station celebrated its 10th
birthday in 1986 with the launch of its
999 AM service.
