Radio Heatherwood 2015 Year Thirty Nine, January to June a look back
at the events and deeds of 2015 on Radio Heatherwood.
Background
It's early days in the life of the new Frimley trust management who
had taken over in the previous October,uncertainty about the hospital
site still remained at the beginning of the year, against this
backdrop the remaining volunteers continue their weekly visits.
Another year of if's or but's as the future of the hospital is debated
in the press and wider community.
Stories and snippets of information taken from the staff newsletter
and from behind the scenes, It's 2015:-
January-March 2015
January
Rumours are circulating around the hospital, that ward 4 will move to
old ward 8.
Radio history 2014 three pages are added to web site.
New video's added for 2001,2002,2003 to you tube and the radio history
site.
12th January
Help Files Update
Today uploaded a new FAQ page which now includes the new link info
from the main web site plus on an android phone how to make it run
better.The wi-fi user guide has also been updated and can be
downloaded from the help menu.
Last night's progress included: one radio issue, one log on and 2 life
stories! It was an interesting night.
20th January Ward Report
Ward about half full. I gave out 3 sets of leaflets, all the patients
that had smart phones/tabs etc had connected to the Wi-fi. One chap
said that it would have been to expensive to connect to the free
WiFi....???
24th January
The SSID which is the name which displays which network you are
connected to is changed.
We have gone from "Rhapsody" to "1 Rhapsody(Free Wi-Fi)"
The reason for this is two fold firstly to put our network at the top
of the list of available networks on users mobile devices. Secondly it
tells them that it is Free.
I would hope it will then make it easier to get people to connect with
us. Some devices may not show all of the name but when you come to get
someone connected you should see it straight away.
In early January a radio was ordered from a European supplier, with
the view to use on the wards, sadly the radio arrived with European
fitting. To make it work we would need an adaptor to use on the mains
plug.
Early February Katie Ayers completes 10 years service, she continues
to be a valued member of the team.
Google advise league and radio web sites do not meet with new criteria
for mobile friendly sites.
Throughout the early months of the year, the station secretary is
forced to review every web page on all three of the web sites, comply
with google's new rules.
11th February
A meeting with trust reps produces an outcome of Wi-fi no longer
required, once ward 4 moves.
A flurry of emails from the project team at the trust, asking if we
can provide radio services on some new wards including ward 8.
The short answer NO.
Internet streaming development is underway.
Discussions between the management of the radio after the meeting with
the trust reps concluded that any future for the radio at the
hospital, will only be maintained if the station moves towards
providing a radio signal on the internet allowing for any kind of
changes on the hospital site.
In preparation to move the station onto the internet, the existing
play list for the twenty four hour service needs to be overhauled and
all BBC content to be removed in addition to keep the average songs
down per hour as it's this which will determine the cost in providing
the internet service.
The existing studio software for live programs doesn't allow for
internet broadcasting and also the studio pc's are twelve years old
using windows 2000.
A number of programs are reviewed and a new free software which is
popular is
RadioDJ. This is chosen as
the preferred program.
22nd February
Staff briefed on the development of the internet project.
March
Metadata sending is investigated and a solution found.
The software on the rhapsody twenty four hour service was initially
thought not to be able to supply the song data (artist title =
Metadata )to the internet stream.
Some engineering investigations and trials carried out by the station
engineer ensures that the existing rhapsody computer will not have to
have it's software updated or new software paid for.
Hospital radio Bedford contact us with regard to our internet radio’s
and wi-fi service.
Audio player for website is purchased which is html5 compatible.
History web site makeover complete with two new pages added and all
jingle jukeboxes updated with new html5 player.
13th April Ward Report
Not many patients on the ward tonight but there was a fair bit of
activity nonetheless. One lady already had a radio and we gave her
visitor the login details for later. Another lady was issued with a
radio and another 3 people logged on.
Internet Radio Project
As part of the project it's critical information of items played is
added to the internet stream. Here an early drawing of how it all
works.
At the league meeting last night, it was agreed that £5000 be set
aside to fund the first year on the internet and to pay for all the
equipment so that Radio Heatherwood can be launched ASAP. Lots of
questions I'm sure you will have and when I get a chance I will
produce a timetable on how events will develop. If you have any
burning questions, just post them here so that everyone will see the
answers.
Radio Heatherwood on the Internet Staff Bulletin Board
An update on what's happening, Today a new version of Rhapsody started
to play out with some changes which should hopefully not lead us into
too many problems with content. IE all the BBC comedy has been removed
from the schedule along with some other cosmetic changes.
We will now run this for two weeks so that I can analyse the playlists
to ensure compliance with the PPL for internet stations
In the background, I have been working on a change to our library
database which will facilitate a function should you need to broadcast
using material from the library, which hasn't been ripped to the wave
database.
I have also been checking and completing some if's or buts about the
technical side of linking the studio's to our internet stream
provider.
We are a ways off yet from going live but we are moving in the right
direction.
June
8th June Ward Report
More people on the ward tonight but many of them were happy with their
own entertainment. However, one person took the log on details for
later and Jenny helped a lady log on via her phone so she could listen
to the radio.
New history video added for 2004 to you tube and the radio history
site.
Radio Heatherwood Will Provide An Internet Radio Stream
14th February
Manager Dave Smith writes to trust reps:-
After our meeting this past week, Peter and I have decided to revisit
the previous project of putting Radio Heatherwood on the internet.
Last visited last year, things change in a digital media year.
Speaking to Peter today, the early signs are very encouraging,
especially as the advent of postcode locks, prevents anyone outside UK
being able to stream our service, thus curtailing unwarranted charges,
the cost of internet service would be well within our means.
I won't bore you with the technical stuff, once ward 4 relocates to
ward 8, we would remove our equipment from ward 4, we also accept that
this will also mean a period of being "off Air" as such. The wi-fi has
served us well, with the advent of the hospitals own wi-fi , we would
not be seeking to install it elsewhere on the hospital. The provision
of cabled services over great distance is now outdated with modern
technology.
At the time of our meeting, we were unaware that Frimley park already
broadcasts via the internet, so an avenue we might explore with them,
experiences of set up etc, in the future.
Looking at Heatherwood as it stands at the moment, I.E. ward 4 and
ward 1 day surgery, we would switch to internet broadcasting to serve
these ward, we do still need to know if part of the plan for
Heatherwood is wards etc in the future.
The studio is also due to move at some point, so planning of future
services would need to take this into account.
As our history shows, the radio was a very active part of the
Heatherwood community, the public face and active fundraising for the
hospital via the League of Friends or directly promoting ward and
department events, it would be nice through the new technology to
return to that again.
Presently we are continuing with looking at the internet as it does
provide real hope for us, we are going as far as we can without
spending any money at this point, once we have further information on
the future shape of the hospital, also the result of the meeting at
the end of the month on the future of Hospital radio within Frimley
Health, we can look forward with hope and interesting times ahead.
Footnote:- Trust reps never acknowledged or replied!!
