Newcastle Hospitals Charity has visited Radio Tyneside after the radio station received £50,000 to support its journey to digital.
Charity chair Jill Baker, joined by colleagues from the Partnerships and Funding team, discussed the difference the funding has made at the station’s studios in Newcastle upon Tyne’s Claremont Road today.
2023 was a special year in the relationship between the charity and the station and the two teams also discussed how the charity and station can continue to work together in the future.
The £50,000 was provided to help the station purchase new digital studio technology to help serve the local community in the coming years and was presented to the station’s chairman Dave Nicholson OBE last summer at an event to celebrate his five decades with the station.
From last year, Radio Tyneside also started broadcasting monthly updates from Newcastle Hospitals Charity, presented by the charity’s Communications Officer, Anas Hassan.
The updates, which covers the latest information about the charity’s activities, can also be listened to on the charity’s Spotify for Podcasters page.
Radio Tyneside can be listened to at a patient’s bedside within Newcastle Hospitals’ Royal Victoria Infirmary and Freeman on Spark Media’s bedside entertainment system on Channel 1, on 93.6 FM in Newcastle upon Tyne, DAB+ and on smart speakers.
The station, which first broadcast in the early 1950s, has been on air for more than 70 years and will celebrate its 75th anniversary in just two years’ time.
In this time, the station has won multiple Hospital Broadcasting Association awards.
Fay Darville, Engagement and Impact Manager at Newcastle Hospitals Charity, said: “It was an excellent visit. We’ve not been there for a little while so was really great to catch up with the team.
“They’ve got some very exciting plans for what they are going to do in the future and we are really excited to be involved in it going forward.
“We were delighted to be able to provide them with £50,000 funding last year. They are looking to digitise the station and they have all sorts of grand plans and we are seeing how we can help out further.
“It’s going to make a massive difference. It’s going to future proof the station.
“They are going to be able to continue to give out really good programming and really great service to our patients.”
Richard Finch, Station Director for Radio Tyneside, said: “We were delighted to welcome Jill, Fay and Darren from Newcastle Hospitals Charity to our studios near the RVI today.
“We are very grateful to Newcastle Hospitals Charity for their support, both financial and in terms of giving advice and encouragement.
“We are looking forward to developing our relationship and seeing how we can work together as we approach our 75th anniversary in 2026.”
