At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals were not allowing anyone to visit patients in person.

To help prevent the spread of the virus, patients had to be separated on hospital wards and could only talk to loved ones remotely.

For many, this will have meant that their hospital stay was particularly lonely and stressful.

Read more:The latest news from the Borough of Southend

However, they weren’t quite alone – Southend Hospital Radio was there to continue bringing its shows to the site for all to listen to.

The station, which is run entirely by volunteers, has been broadcasting from the hospital since 1977 and earlier this month on February 5 celebrated its 45th anniversary.

Today (14 February) marks the 100th anniversary of British broadcasting, as amateur radio station 2MT started from a former army hut next to Marconi Laboratories at Writtle, near Chelmsford on 14 February 1922.

It was the first British radio station to do regular entertainment broadcasts.

Pete Sipple, chairman of Southend Hospital Radio, remarked on the difference the station is making to the hospital.

The station has 45 registered volunteers, 35 of whom are active members. The show’s presenters have already won national awards for their work.

Mr Sipple said: “These are hard-working, long-hours people.

“Our motto is ‘a friend by your bedside’ – this encompasses what we do. We are there for the patients, they are sad and lonely, no one likes being in the hospital.

“If you can’t hug loved ones, we can be the patient’s bedside friend.”

Before Covid times, radio volunteers used to go to wards, talk to patients, get their feedback on shows and answer any song requests, usually getting a response positive.

But now, due to restrictions still in place since December’s Omicron wave, volunteers cannot be in patient wards.

Mr Sipple added: “Because we can’t access the services, we can’t get regular feedback, but we know people are listening.

“We’re hoping we’ll get back to some sort of normality, but then Omicron struck.

“As we celebrate our 45th anniversary, in these difficult times when family and friends have not always been able to visit us, our service has continued to help patients stay connected with music, information, news, entertainment, interviews and information to help make the patient’s journey a little brighter.”

The radio station was launched at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 5, 1977, after then-Mayor Neville Moss raised funds for a radio service at the hospital, the appeal of the mayor during his tenure in 1976.

For Mr. Sipple, along with others who attended, the station served as a springboard for their careers in the broadcasting industry.

He said: “I’ve been involved since 1985, I joined as a junior typing assistant then.

“It’s a weird feature, people get into it and get a job at a bigger radio station. I went to work for Essex FM, which is now called Heart.

“A lot of people made the same trip.”

To mark the 100th anniversary of UK broadcasting, Southend Hospital Radio is today broadcasting an hour-long special, ‘100 Years of UK Broadcasting’, watching the launch with the help of radio enthusiast Jim Salmon and the Marconi historian Tim Wander.

Mr Sipple added: “It’s amazing to think that broadcasting started 100 years ago, with some pioneering test transmissions from radio station 2MT, here in Essex.

“Those initial broadcasts were heard by a handful of radio experimenters, but this led to the radio we know today, with hundreds of thousands of radio stations around the world.”

The special airs at 7 p.m. on Mondays and can also be heard on www.getshr.uk.

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