Radio Hillingdon

Radio Hillingdon began with Christmas carols and messages for hospital patients in December 1970. EMI apprentices John Mandrak and Steve Jones made the first broadcast from a staff rest room, and more apprentices joined the following month. A regular Sunday request programme followed. The service later moved from an electrician's hut to purpose-built premises opened by boxer Henry Cooper in December 1978.

The station remains based at Hillingdon Hospital, close to Heathrow Airport, and is run entirely by volunteers. Its audience also includes care-home residents and people receiving care in the community. Music requests and dedications are central to its purpose, giving listeners a personal connection with the people making the programmes. National and local news complement a selection intended to appeal across generations.

Steve Hickman presents breakfast, while Colin Moore's request programmes connect with individual care homes, including Ryefield Court and Cedar House. Evening request shows feature voices such as Graham Harrison, Peter Scott and Sarah Newton. This emphasis on listeners' own choices continues the idea behind the station's earliest broadcasts: making time in hospital or care feel less isolated through familiar music and friendly company.

Other programmes broaden the musical range. Dr Savi presents Smooth Groovers, Bob Ballard revisits artists known for a single major hit and Jeff Brown explores the seventies. Country selections, yacht rock and a gentler overnight mix provide further changes of pace. As a charity receiving no NHS funding for its daily running costs, Radio Hillingdon relies on its volunteers' fundraising as well as their work on air, sustaining a service that has grown from its original bedside audience into the wider borough.