Only 3 years since the launch of the Redbox range of analogue and digital interfaces, Sonifex have sold their 5000th Redbox. It was delivered to Julian Watson of Radio Medica in October 2001. The Redbox RB-SM2 dual stereo to mono converter was ordered as part of Radio Medica’s on-going studio refurbishments.
Radio Medica is the Hospital Radio service for the Goole and District Hospital in East Yorkshire. There are approximately 20 volunteers running Radio Medica with a core of 5 people handling the main day to day running of the station. Julian Watson (engineering) and Gary Booth (promotions) have a long history with Radio Medica having 28 years of experience between them. Gary commented : "It’s been difficult raising the finances to improve the facilities here, but we’ve mostly generated money from discos and road-show events held throughout the year. I think that we’ve got a good station awareness and we’re quite successful with the local press."
Julian added : "We’ve had a few people that have passed through Radio Medica on their way to steady jobs in commercial radio, such as Steve Jordan (Lincs FM, Viking and Century 106) and Keri Jones (Leicester Sound, GEM, Viking, Aire FM)."
Currently, there is a hard-wired audio system throughout the hospital and the station output is also accessible on the TV system which is distributed around most areas of the hospital, including the waiting rooms. Next year, it is hoped that an AM license will be awarded so that coverage of the whole hospital can be made more easily. Once a license is awarded, an extra £10,000 will need to be raised to get the transmitter up and running. Julian and Gary are hoping that an AM license will attract more presenters to the station, so that they can provide additional live shows for the patients in the hospital. Radio Medica broadcasts 24 hours a day using a combination of live broadcasting (approx 20 – 30 hours per week) and the Myriad automation system.
Julian commented "We pride ourselves on offering a totally varied selection of music. Generally, we follow a Gold format, with country, soul, classical, and easy listening music, but we also play more modern tracks. Most of the music has been donated and we have an extensive record collection. Our automation system has over 4,000 tracks which took over 6 months to load."
Radio Medica was originally founded in 1974 at a different site, opened by Sir Jimmy Saville. The current hospital radio studios were planned into the building of the new hospital when work began on it in 1987. There are 2 studios providing a master mono output – an edit/production studio that also houses the record archives, and a main on-air studio. The on-air studio is well equipped with a Studiotech Series A mixer, 2 x Denon CD players, 2 x Technics turntables, 2 x Sony minidisc machines, 1 x Myriad automation system, 1 reel to reel tape machine, 2 x Beyer M69 microphones and a stack of Sonifex CQ cart machines, still used by some presenters (!) The edit booth contained various equipment including a CD player, and a Myriad playout system.
There were two reasons for buying the Sonifex RB-SM2 stereo to mono converter. Firstly, the IRN news feed and the automation output needed to be mixed together. The RB-SM2 is used as a dual mono mixer to get a master mono output. The second reason for the purchase was to allow for future expansion – Julian wants to get a new stereo professional mixer for the edit booth and will need a stereo to mono converter to mix this down to a mono output.
Marcus Brooke, Managing Director of Sonifex Ltd commented "I’m delighted at the fantastic sales of our Redbox range of products. Their popularity is increasing all the time and it’s great to see Radio Medica making use of them."
The future for Radio Medica looks bright. Julian, Gary and Paul Stellings, the Studio Manager, have continual upgrade plans for the station and the addition of an AM license should generate a great deal of local interest.
