St Lukes's Hospital Studio
The late 1960s was the time of the first radio explosion. Pirates and the four newly reorganised BBC networks fought to retain listeners at a time when television had just entered the colour revolution. Spurred on by this and by their interest in sport, three young men got together in 1968 to start a radio station for the two hospitals in the town.
Over 30 years later the memory of the very first programme must surely bring a smile. They stayed up all night rehearsing and taping, simply because they felt they never had the expertise to perform a live show, which at the time comprised of soft music and Guildford news.
So successful had this experiment been that a few months later, with donations of basic equipment and records, they began regular broadcasts to St Luke's Hospital from an office above a shop in Recreation Road - and hospital Radio Lion had begun.
Later, Guildford Lions paid for equipment to the hospital's standards and specification, and the hospital secretary made arrangements for an adapted room at St Luke's Hospital. After a while (and with the old Royal Surrey County Hospital added to the network) the content became more professional, and a request programme started; here Barbara Richardson, wife of one of the founders, was brought in to walk the wards gathering requests.
1969 saw them reaching the dizzy heights of outside broadcasts, covering football direct from Guildford City football ground to the bedside. Church services were also relayed on Sunday mornings.
The early 70's saw a rise in the numbers of Hospital Radio all over the country and, with the surge of highly sophisticated equipment coming on to the market, studios could be built and run on the polished lines envisaged by the three founder members of Radio Lion.
Staff recruitment commenced and Peter Hicks became Chairman. Studio Managers and Studio Engineers were appointed, plus presenters. A round dozen hours a week were introduced broadcasting Monday to Friday and up to 12 more at weekends. Obviously new ideas had to be created for programme output.
A monthly features programme went very well, with personnel of the station contributing. Now common place the country over, we started doing live outside broadcasts which did not simply cover events. These took place in the Outpatients Department of St Luke's Hospital, our first was a carol service, with hospital staff reading the lessons.
Interest in the station increased during the late 70s and early 80s, necessitating various moves to new studio complexes. Our final home included two broadcast studios, record library, adjoining interview studio and a comfortable reception area. With plans hopefully to extend the service to neighbouring hospitals it was also possible to provide two different programme services at the same time - one of which would be the general hospital radio service and the other a specialist service for elderly patients.
2nd January 1980 saw the new Royal Surrey County Hospital transfer from its Farnham Road site to a new one in Egerton Road. Radio Lion, however, continued to broadcast from its existing studios at St. Lukes. Because of financial and technical constraints, plans to broadcast to Haslemere, Cranleigh and Milford hospitals and to provide a service again to the old Royal Surrey County Hospital, now renamed the Farnham Road Hospital, were abandoned.
The station broadcast coverage of the official opening of the newly completed Royal Surrey County Hospital by HRH The Queen and HRH Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh.
A nightly news and current affairs programme, Spotlight, was introduced at the beginning of 1981 and this was to run for a further 16 years. Broadcasting hours increased to around 63 hours each week but by the late 80's the antiquated equipment and dilapidated premises were cause for concern. However hopes for new equipment and better facilities were raised high when an approximate date was given to move into new studios at the Royal Surrey County Hospital.
Over the next few years a massive fund-raising project, including raffles and sponsored walks, raised the capital for the move. Radio Lion transferred its operations, lock stock and record deck, to specially designed premises in April 1991. Within a year of the move the station broadcast live coverage of another official opening, when the West Wing of the hospital was opened by HRH The Duke of Kent, in 1992.
An appeal to raise funds for a studio refurbishment began in the autumn of 2004 with an article published in the Surrey Advertiser. The Guildford League of Friends kindly donated a significant sum to allow a new desk and computer playout system to be purchased and installed.