The Charity “Truro Hospital Radio” was formed back in July 1980, although a Hospital Radio service in Truro dates back to the 1960’s when it was called the “Patient’s Record Request Programme”. Truro Hospital Radio was established with the help of the Lions Club of Truro; not only did they provide financial help to purchase some of the original equipment, many of the club’s members at the time were involved in the early days of the station.

Over the years the service has seen many members volunteer with the station, some of whom have made careers in the media industry; Justin Leigh (BBC Spotlight), David George (BBC Spotlight), David White (BBC Radio Cornwall), James Dundon (Pirate FM), Jonathan Morrell (ITV Tyne Tees/Sky News) are some famous names who volunteered with Truro Hospital Radio in the past.

The station has also seen many changes of locations with our studios being in numerous places from between the Tower Block lifts on the fourth floor to one of the staff residential buildings (see picture) – this was the station’s home for over 10 years! In early 2006 we moved into newly furnished and equipped, “state-of-the-art”, studios in the basement of the Tower Block, allowing us once again to be closer to our audience.

Technology has had a major impact on the station in recent years. In 2002 the station started broadcasting 24 Hours a day with the help of a computerised sustaining service used when presenters were not in the studio. The computer system also allowed most of our commonly played songs to be available at the click of a mouse. However, equipment like record players are still regularly used at the station and our presenters often find themselves searching through our extensive vinyl library in search of a patient’s request.

In Autumn 2008 Truro Hospital Radio extended its broadcasting to St. Michael’s Hospital in Hayle and West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance through the NHS IT Network. These hospitals have had their own broadcasting service in the past; however the services closed a number of years ago. Now patients there can enjoy the services provided by Truro Hospital Radio and have opportunities to request their favourite song to be played whilst they are in hospital.

To coincide with the launch of our broadcasting to the two hospitals in West Cornwall, the charity changed its working name, or identity to be Cornwall Hospital Broadcasting Network (CHBN) to reflect our provision of entertainment to those in other areas of the county.

The committed team at CHBN have many big plans for the future development of the station and the services that they provide, however, despite many membership and facility changes over the years the station is proud that the core values of the service in providing entertainment to the patients can still be demonstrated today.

The charity would like to express its gratitude to the Voluntary Services department at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust for the support and encouragement they provide, to develop our service.

As a registered charity we rely entirely upon volunteers, fundraising and associate support to support our current service and ongoing improvements. We are always keen to welcome new members and businesses to support our work and join our increasing list of supporters.