Radio HBS

HBS, the Hospital Broadcasting Service, is a Scottish charitable broadcaster serving patients in Glasgow and Paisley. Its main hospital audience includes Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Gartnavel General Hospital, Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. Nightly request programmes form a central part of a service that combines music, information and a personal connection with people receiving care.

Volunteers visit patients, collect their choices and find the recordings they want to hear. Listeners outside hospital can also make requests, allowing relatives and former patients to share in the same service. Specialist music programmes widen the selection beyond those individual choices, while recordings made at local events bring some of the surrounding community into the hospital listening experience.

The team includes music librarians, fundraisers, engineers and programme leaders as well as presenters and ward visitors. Training supports people joining those roles. HBS raises the money needed to sustain its work through donations and fundraising events, with voluntary contributions underpinning both the broadcasts and the contact with patients.

Several people who began broadcasting at HBS went on to wider careers, including Ken Bruce, George Bowie, Linda Sinclair, Charles Nove, Paul Coia and Ross King. For other members, the station remains a way to contribute to their community through a shared interest in music and conversation. Its hospital purpose continues alongside a wider online audience, keeping the programme accessible to listeners whose relationship with the service extends beyond a stay on the wards.