History

1950's

The history of hospital broadcasting in Aberdeen began in the 1950s when the Aberdeen Hospital Radio Association was set up to convey football commentary from Pittodrie to the hospitals of Aberdeen.

This was the brainchild of Ernie Buchan, a local businessman who as well as hiring PA equipment, also owned a small studio in Belmont Street.

On Sunday mornings, AHRA would also present the request show. All shows were broadcast by BT landline and AHRA continued to offer coverage of all AFC first and reserve teams until 1999.

1980

From the original studio in the basement of the Nurses Home, made available in February of 1980 by the hospital authorities, plans were drawn up for the formation of a new hospital radio service and Grampian Hospital Radio (GHR) was conceived.

This was all that was on offer until a group came together with the intention of offering a more fully-fledged hospital radio service. This group represented several local groups, consisting of students, DJs and the church.

Their first meeting was held at Inn at the Park in 1980 and following this, an approach was made to the Local Health Authorities who were highly receptive to the idea.

The group were handed a former and disused nurses sitting room for development into their studios and the station remained there we moved to our premises in Westburn Cottage.

1981

The construction of the studio followed and fund raising began with a will and determination as equipment had to be bought and installed. Grampian Hospital Radio was officially opened by television personality Donnie B. MacLeod on the 10th of January and a few days later, on January 14th 1981, the first programmes were transmitted

Early members included Aberdeen businessman Finlay Cran, Bruce Kennedy (who continued to be actively involved with the station long after his association with Northsound) and the first chairman of the organisation, Keith Fraser.

The first record played on the newly christened Grampian Hospital Radio was The Continental by Maureen McGovern, chosen for its introduction featuring the sound of corks popping.

The station broadcast from 7pm until 10pm, 7 days a week, although volunteer availability saw programming gradually increase at the weekends.

Very early in the station’s development, one member, John Innes, was particularly keen that Saturday broadcasting should incorporate a level of sports coverage. John became the real driving force behind the sports show, known as, "SportsMix". Originally, the Sportsmix would be hosted by team of as many as 4 or 5 presenters, and John would spend a considerable amount of time preparing scripts, tapes and much more "behind the scenes" to ensure the shows success. SportsMix can still be heard on GHR to this day.

However, any sports programming had to accommodate the Aberdeen Hospital Radio Association which was still offering coverage of all first and reserve team matches involving Aberdeen Football Club. 

For this reason, SportsMix broadcast from 1pm until 2:50 and returned after the match from 4:50 until 5:30 to offer a scores round up and post match discussion. As a result of this, and due largely to the technology available at the time, a "Priority Order" developed for use of the landlines. Bottom of this list was Radio 2, with GHR in third place, Aberdeen Hospital Radios Relay was second and top priority was given to the hospital Chaplain.

Switching from Radio 2 to GHR was by means of a key whereas it was the engineers in the switch room who controlled the change over to AHRA. 

It should be said, though, that this change would only take place when the hospital engineers were conveniently next passing the switch room, resulting in some rather sudden changes of programme! 

Sunday was largely used, at this time, as a day for training new volunteers and recording features for use throughout the shows. Again, volunteer availability has seen this rise dramatically. 

1984-1989

Between 1984 and 1989, the organisation was chaired by Ian McKessock, and it was he who set the foundations for the workings of his new committee,  a model that continues to this day.

Ian still talks very positively of this strong and dynamic group and much happened during his time at the helm. As a voluntary organisation with full charitable status, GHR relies entirely on donations to operate.

The station therefore adopted a much higher profile during this time as Ian and his committee would regularly organise flag days and the station was always represented in the annual Bon-Accord parade.

Perhaps the dedication and commitment of the volunteers at this time is best summarised by the example of Doreen Jeffrey. Doreen worked tirelessly to represent GHR in the hospital wards and is remembered for her work on Christmas Day when she would come in and work with the patients for whom  geography would have meant an otherwise lack of visitors. Her efforts were rewarded when she was nominated for a prestigious BT Award.

1992 Radio Rainbow

It had always been the intention of the committee of GHR to set up a specialist children’s service and this money was a major step in making that happen.

A competition was held in conjunction with the local press to choose the name of this new station with the first prize, again secured  by Bill, of a trip in a helicopter. A panel consisting of representatives from GHR and the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital would choose the winning entry. The final 2 entries were, "Rainbow" and "Sunshine" with Rainbow eventually winning, reflecting as it did the sentiments of the station and conveying aspirations of hope.

Radio Rainbow first went on the air on 5th August 1992. Bringing Radio Rainbow to the air was undoubtedly a major milestone for hospital broadcasting in Aberdeen, however, attempts to mark the openings of Rainbow did not share in this   success! On our first day of broadcasting, Bill Barclay slept in and missed his chance to be the first voice heard on the station (Andy Adam dutifully stood in!) and just prior to going on air to present the "official opening", Stuart Wood, the then youngest member of the organisation, took rather "cold feet" and Ian McKessock hurriedly stepped in with no script prepared!

The official opening of Radio Rainbow was celebrated with a small party for the children of the hospital. After this, Bryan Broomfield, who was head of the then Aberdeen Royal Hospitals Trust, officially declared the studios open at 2:30pm and Ian, standing in for Stuart, played "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". Graham Stephen hosted the first show of the day, before Ian returned with his scheduled broadcast.