Mid Downs Radio back on the air at Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath

The hospital radio station, which has been broadcasting music, news and health information for 45 years, went off the air in July 2022.

MDR secretary Cathy Barnett said: “The Hospital Trust agreed to foot the bill as they needed to move the aerial to a new site across the rear car park. This was first promised as only taking a few weeks, but due to various on-site problems the weeks stretched into months. Finally the new aerial was erected by Radica in the autumn, but, still no signal. The underground cable was found to be rotten and with reports of the whole PRH underground system having to be closed to fix this. The MDR Technical Team had to sit back and wait results of the survey.”

Cathy said that Princess Royal patients and staff were without their 1350AM radio programmes but could still receive the station on their bedside units and the speaker system.

But she said that last week Radica ‘performed the miracle’ of managing to connect the station back to the aerial. She said: “Fingers crossed this will last until the site work is finished in a few months. Until then, Mid Downs Radio 1350AM will be back with their well-loved mix of music, chat and news of Mid Sussex goings-on.”

Wendy Swinton-Eagle from Mid Downs Hospital Radio added: “We are delighted to be back broadcasting on 1350AM and very grateful to the Trust for all their help.”

She continued: “Mid Downs Radio has always been, and continues to be, available on the internet through the hospital WiFi, in the community here and further afield through smart speakers, through TuneIn and other apps and through our website www.mdr.org.uk.”

Mid Downs Radio is a registered charity with over 46 years broadcasting as a hospital radio and has studios in the Princess Royal Hospital. It is a distinct station from Mid Sussex Radio, which used to be Burgess Hill Radio.

Wendy said: “Hospital radios have long been an established starting point for many well known broadcasters and we are proud to include BBC South East’s political editor Charlotte Wright as a former MDR trainee and presenter.”

Mid Downs Radio is recruiting new volunteers in different areas like presenter and production. To find out how to join visit www.mdr.org.uk or email [email protected].