Media UK

HWD Hospital Radio

HWD Hospital Radio was one of the first hospital radio stations in the UK and started life as Heavy Woollen District Hospitals Broadcast Association.

The Heavy Woollen District is the historic name for the area around Dewsbury and Batley in West Yorkshire which used to have a large mill industry.

The association was founded in 1952 to provide rugby league commentaries from Dewsbury's Crown Flatt and Batley's Mount Pleasant grounds to listeners in local hospitals and residential care homes.

The service soon began to grow, with a regular record request programme added in the late 1950s.

HWD Hospital Radio moved to Batley General Hospital in the early 1960s taking up residence in the attic and broadcasting to three local hospitals as well as five residential care homes in the are. In the late 1980s, NHS restructuring amalgamated the existing hospitals into a new site at Staincliffe - Dewsbury & District Hospital.

The building of the new hospital meant a rapid fundraising effort was needed to raise £15,000 and build a state-of-the-art studio facility. This was before the days of the National Lottery!

The studio complex and the hospital itself were opened by Margaret Thatcher in 1989 beginning a new chapter in the the history of HWD Hospital Radio.

Radio people who have or still do broadcast on HWD include BBC Radio Leeds' Stuart Barrett, Real Radio (Wales)'s Ian Brannan, Kev Wilson and John Tolson from Ridings FM, James Cridland, Media UK founder and Virgin Radio webmaster, Ricky Durkin (PD at Real Radio Wales), Paul Bromley (Pennine FM, Viking FM, Ridings FM, Dearne FM) and former BBC Radio 2 presenter Steve Truelove.

Other former broadcasters include Simon Parrock, Alan Ross, and Martin Lee.