About Us

About Us...

Beginnings

Founded in 1952, it is not only one of the largest hospital radio services in the country but is one of the few which broadcasts to more than one hospital. BHBS can be heard daily in all hospitals in the Bristol area. It is a registered charity # 264775 and staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers.

Go here for a more detailed history.

Request A Song - click on the mic

Recognised as the of the UK's Top Hospital Stations 93,95,and 96.

BHBS Today

After its 1952 beginning when it began transmitting programmes to 6 hospitals in the city, BHBS expanded in the 1960s to a total of 25 hospitals (including the prison hospital), the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol General, Southmead (including the Avon Orthopaedic Centre) and Frenchay.

Today's service is transmitted to 10 hospitals covering approximately 8,000 beds, broadcasting 200 record requests every week. We also provide full commentary on all Bristol Rovers and Bristol City home games along with rugby commentary from The Memorial Stadium, the home of Bristol Football Club. All classical concerts from the Colston Hall and also shows from the Bristol Hippodrome are relayed to the hospitals along with recordings from St George's Concert Hall on Brandon Hill.

BHBS broadcasts programmes, 24 hours a day, of music and entertainment plus all the main concerts and sporting events including live relays from the Colston Hall, football grounds and rugby matches. The aim of the service is to provide patients with the music they want to hear and it is not unusual to play as many as 50 requests in an evening. There is a library of some 60,000 record tracks in the studio. To assist patients with making requests a small team of BHBS visitors visits the wards to ask patients what they would like to hear.

BHBS can be contacted by email , by telephone on 0117 929 3303, or by writing to
BHBS, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol BS2 8HW