Age
29
What do you do?
Human Resources Analyst with NCR, basically involved with recruitment, systems administration and policy development / deployment. I have worked for NCR for 10 years.
Involvement with hospital radio
I joined in 1990 as part of my work towards the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. I was told in my interview by Graeme Archibald that I shouldn’t just be a member till the D of E stuff was done and leave, so I’m still here. I have done most things in my time - request collecting, PA, presenting and now on the committee these last 9 years, firstly responsible for fund-raising, then Secretary and now Station Manager.
Favourite music
Most stuff really. I did go thorough a major Queen phase in my younger days, but I think I’m over it now. At the moment I am most likely to listen to Fish, Robbie Williams, Manic Street Preachers and Sting. My most recent CD purchase was Billy Joel - it’s pretty good (I’m not confessing to my love of Steps and Britney).
Favourite things
Cable TV, my sofa, pizza, lager, cinema visits and eating out.
What does hospital radio mean to you?
Lots of different things I guess. I joined because of an interest in all things radio, but once here I got hooked in the whole philosophy of hospital radio, what it stands for and what it can achieve if done properly. It can be easy for us to sit in our studio and actually make a difference to someone who is ill, make them feel better or at least cheered up. That’s a big responsibility for us but I think we are good at it - not as good as we could be, but we’re getting there. From starting off as a hobby or pastime hospital radio for me has evolved into something more resembling a job than a trivial pursuit, but that serves me right for standing for a committee post. I knew that the only way to effect the changes I thought we needed to go through was to get on board and do it myself.
Funniest thing ever happened to you while involved in hospital radio?
There are a few good memories to choose from over the last ten years. Bob being told by a patient he looked like Mr Bean was quite amusing, but the funniest things used to happen on a Sunday afternoon when we were in DRI. We would do our utmost to wind up Gordon Hill, anything from inventing requests with unpronounceable names to hoovering the studio whilst he was on air. We also changed the satellite news feed just before the news was due to go on, so as Gordon expected the headlines at the top of the hour he got lots of Dutch talking. It was all good fun, although he did leave shortly after that. Maybe we pushed him too far - poor Gordon.
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