A plea

[J]

Guys and girls of SZ, anybody who can pass this on, or pass it to the relevant person, I'll appreciate it big time.. as will many others.

Southend Hospital, have a hospital radio station, as do most hospitals, completely run by volunteers, and a complete charity with no funding.

They provide radio and entertainment to Sick patients, people who are just visiting, staff etc etc.

One of the highlights, is the agreement with SUFC that provide live match coverage on home games, so sick fans don't miss out.

However, SUFC have told them they need to make way for bigger networks for the Chelsea game, and "kicked" the Hospital radio out for the evening.

The Upshot is, there are going to be sick people, ill disabled etc etc, who cannot now listen to the game, as the radios don't provide commercial radio.

So can anyone help on here, or raise this with the club, and quickly, as i think this is disgusting.

 

[Alex]

As well as the Chelsea game being shown live on ITV1 its also on BC Radio 5 Live

 

[Maldon Blues]

As well as the Chelsea game being shown live on ITV1 its also on BC Radio 5 Live

From what he said, I understood the radios are only able to broadcast the Hospital Radio

 

[Che's Left Foot]

As a former member, I agree they do a fantastic job on a very strict budget. It's unfortunate they've been asked to free up space, however all of the bed-side units in the hospital receive BBC radio (including 5 Live) for free...

 

[Yellow Army]

Most hospital bed sides must surely have a TV near by and Radio 5 live isn't commercial so hopefully they will be able to still view/listen to the game.

 

[J]

Apparently it's only talksport who have the game. i do not know, however, if it is 5live, i can relay this back.

 

[jamesmut2000]

Apparently it's only talksport who have the game. i do not know, however, if it is 5live, i can relay this back.

Talksport don't cover FA cup games-it's Bbc only.
I'm sure it's on 5live because we are being paid for the radio broadcast.

 

[Che's Left Foot]

Apparently it's only talksport who have the game. i do not know, however, if it is 5live, i can relay this back.

It's live on 5live:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/schedules/2009/01/14

If anything, the club are saving Thameside Radio money - there's no need for their commentary when paitients will be able to listen on the BBC for free.

 

[Seaside Sailor]

All beds at the hospital have a tv unit above your head. for a reasonable rate you can charge a card with cash and watch tv make phone calls etc. My baby was born last new years eve I was visiting said baby and wife on new years day and watched sky sports news for the southend score whilst admiring the new offspring at half time of course. the tv has itv and therefore all sick/ill southend fans and anyone else can watch the game live.

 

[jassyfa1]

All beds at the hospital have a tv unit above your head. for a reasonable rate you can charge a card with cash and watch tv make phone calls etc. My baby was born last new years eve I was visiting said baby and wife on new years day and watched sky sports news for the southend score whilst admiring the new offspring at half time of course. the tv has itv and therefore all sick/ill southend fans and anyone else can watch the game live.

It was £5 for 24 hours. But the 24 hours started when you put the card into the TV unit and ended 24 hours later regardless if you only watched 1 programme.
A lot of the older people never watched TV or used the unit as they didn't have any money to pay for the unit.
The hospital also removed most of the normal TV's when the units were introduced, and the old radio headphones that went into a unit behind the bed are mostly not working due to lack of headphones.

 

[class]

Whilst I feel ashamed that the club has 'kicked out' the Hospital radio for this game, the TV's in the hospital have Radio 5 Live on them which is free, or for £4 you can watch the game (plus all other channels for 24 hours)

But completely agree with J on this one.....

 

[OldBlueLady]

It's a difficult one really because if the patients and visitors can easily get the coverage in the hospital then Hospital Radio really don't need to be there, however, I do see the point - if they're there usually why should they have to suffer in this way? For many years, we used to work with Hospital Radio, going round the wards over at Rochford Hospital collecting requests and bringing them back to the station (in the days before mobile phones!) - used to have a good laugh.

 

[Irate Ian]

This may be due or forced upon the club by some exclusivity term of contract, with BBC Radio, when selling the publication rights and cannot be overcome ?

I would like to think that is the case as J is right to point out that the hospital radio service is a fundamentally good & charitable service to the community run by volunteers, deserving of support from all.

"Smile" is the one I know and support.

 

[Crawliano]

How do I put this without sounding a complete arse?

I think here the club are proving the old adage that charity does actually begin at home...

Sorry, but sometimes a few extra Betties in the kitty is going to outweigh being kind and giving something for free. 5k may not seem a lot but that probably pays 2 players wages for one week, hurtling into a recession any extra cash has to be taken. Regardless of that, couldn't someone at hospital radio sit in the studio with ITV1 on a tv and commentate on that a la Talk Sport problem solved.

 

[Forever A Shrimper]

I agree what they are doing is disgusting, although its not that hard to just put that little green cable into the back of a computer and put MatchDayRadio through it.

 

[Yellow Army]

If the Beeb have the rights to the FA Cup games then there's not much you can do about it.

 

[South Bank Hank]

On the face of it, this doesn't seem very "nice", but I'd like to think the club weighed up the decision in the same way most of us would have done with all of the information in front of them. After all, they're human beings too.

Surely any decision they've made takes into account real financial considerations, contractual obligations, the pressure they're under to find space, the game being live on TV and the commentary being still available to hospital patients on radio five live?

As I said, not very nice, but there's always something more to these stories.