Whipps Cross Hospital Radio volunteers are not just limited to
working at our studios, but also get out and about in the community locally to produce a
number of different programmes. These include sports commentary and interviews from local
and distant grounds, interviews with local people and recording local groups and bands.
During our FM broadcasts we have also transmitted live programmes from local sites such as
the Lea Valley leisure centre and Ice-rink and the Leyton Swimming pool.
Our regular sports coverage for hospital patients includes live football commentary, in particular from West Ham and Leyton Orient, but also featuring Spurs, Arsenal and Charlton. We endeavour to provide a Saturday afternoon of sport, but in recent years changes to the sporting calendar have led to an increasing number of additional programmes on Sundays and midweek evenings. Over the past couple of seasons many hospital patients have been on the edges of their beds thanks to some late night penalty shootouts carried live on Whipps Cross, and at the end of last season we were even at the Millennium Stadium for live coverage of West Ham's playoff final. Several members of our sports team also work for the BBC or Independent Radio - so if you listen in you may even recognise some of the names!
Whipps Cross Hospital Radio broadcasts a Christmas Carol service each year for patients at Whipps Cross, either from the Hospital Chapel or a local church and on average we record and produce about 10 or 11 concerts a year. Shown here is the Waltham Forest Co-op Brass Band at a concert we recorded at the Chingford Assembly Hall. |
 Our outside broadcast equipment has been
growing over the last few years. In addition to recording local bands and groups we use it
(with some powerful amplifiers and loudspeakers) for providing a public address (PA)
system at fetes both for other local charities and ourselves. Some of the equipment is
also used for music recordings that are made at our studios.
We have a 20 channel Soundcraft mixer that is designed especially for live music recording and broadcast, we also have a second smaller Soundcraft mixer for smaller events and PA use. The mixers are connected to an outboard equipment rack that is full of professional sound processing equipment. We usually mix to stereo at the event and record digitally on Digital Audio Tape machines (DATs). We have a range of microphones that we can use along with lots of cables and interface equipment to help us connect to the bands or venues equipment. Once the recording is made it is transferred to a computer for editing, after which the finished programme is transferred to our computer playout system for transmission and also burnt to CD for archiving. |
For more information on our outside activities you can call us, or send us an email
Remember to keep your eyes open at the next local event that you go to - as we may be there as well.
We also go out and record local bands and groups. Some of the
recent events that we have recorded include a charity concert at the Sir James Hawkey Hall
in Wanstead with the New Redbridge Wind Orchestra, A concert by the locally based Les
Leader Big Band at Ray Park. New young local bands that appeared at the Redbridge shows
‘Battle of the Bands’ competition were also featured in a programme that we
produced on the event.