Ayr Hospital Radio

Ayr Hospital Radio serves patients at Ayr and Biggart Hospitals, bringing a locally rooted selection of music and volunteer presentation to both sites. Older favourites, one-hit wonders and contemporary hits all feature in its stated musical range. The service also welcomes people in the surrounding community, extending its Ayrshire identity beyond an audience currently staying in hospital.

Requests can be made for patients, relatives, friends and neighbours, with greetings also welcomed for NHS staff and individual wards. This gives the programme team a direct way to acknowledge the people listening. A familiar record can accompany a message from outside the hospital, while the presenters' different musical interests provide variety within the broadcast.

Its beginnings go back to Ayr Hospitals Relay Radio in 1953, when broadcasts came from Somerset Park, the home of Ayr United. Football commentaries were accompanied by music before matches and at half-time. A Sunday music programme followed in 1981, and University Hospital Ayr became the station's home in 1990. That progression from match commentary to a wider request service explains the continuing combination of local roots, volunteer involvement and music chosen for patients.

The organisation is a registered charity supported by donations, sponsorship and volunteers. NHS Ayrshire and Arran provides its studio premises, linking the radio service with the local healthcare setting in which it works. Alongside its hospital role, the station maintains online listening and a programme archive, allowing the same community sound to be heard at home.