Radio Nene Valley

Radio Nene Valley is Northampton's hospital radio service, broadcasting to Northampton General Hospital since 1971. Its programmes run throughout the day and night, with a particular focus on entertainment during a hospital stay. The station is a registered charity staffed entirely by volunteers, bringing people from different backgrounds into a shared local broadcasting project.

Requests and dedications are central to its relationship with patients. A listener can choose music for themselves, another patient, a friend or a relative, adding a message and ward details to connect the broadcast with a particular person. Presented programmes give those choices a setting, while the station's Smile! magazine provides another record of its programme offering.

Before the station existed, hospital administrator Stanley Hill relayed Northampton Town home-match commentaries to patients during the 1950s. The radio service itself first broadcast as Radio Titania on 7 November 1971, using a vacant nurse's bedroom above the Billing Road entrance. Its record library, studio and office initially shared that small space. A move into the former hospital kitchens in 1983 provided room for a larger broadcasting suite, marking an important step in the development of Radio Nene Valley.

Listening is available free to patients through the hospital's entertainment facilities and on personal devices, with online access also reaching people elsewhere. Membership includes programme-making and the supporting work needed to maintain the charity. The service's Northampton General connection gives it a defined audience and a purpose that extends beyond simply supplying a continuous selection of records.