Malcolm Mardon, chairman of Hospital Radio Exeter, tells the story of a station that has been on air since 1974, and reflects on fifty-one years of walking hospital wards, collecting requests, and keeping patients company.

Hospital Radio Exeter was founded by police inspector Terry Roberts, who had spent years trying to persuade hospital management to give it a go. When they finally said yes, the station started with five hundred pounds from the League of Friends, a small mixing desk, two microphones and two record players. Malcolm joined at the founding meeting in December 1974, offered to make the tea, and has never left. He is the only member from that original group still on the station.

The station broadcasts seven days a week to patients at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and to care homes across the area, w ...