About us
Established in 1972, CHR is a charitable organisation staffed entirely from volunteers. Our membership encompasses all ages and occupations. The one aim however, is to provide an entertaining and professional broadcasting service to our listeners.
Chichester Hospital Radio was officially opened on Friday 22nd September 1972 from a converted storeroom in the hospital. After just 3 years it moved to the current studios in a building that was previously used as a pram store! The studio was officially opened by Leslie Crowther.
May 2000 marked the launch of the 1431 AM service around the hospital grounds allowing CHR to be heard not only on the nurse call systems at the bedside but on bedside radios for improved convenience. We now are also available online, on your devices and your smart speakers!
Chichester Hospital Radio is a truly local radio service. Situated in the grounds of St. Richard's Hospital, our presenters regularly interact with listeners before, during and after programmes. As a result, we are ever mindful of the listening needs of our audience. Recognising that listener needs change when one is unwell or hospitalised, CHR focuses on the middle ground of easy listening music. This covers a wide variety of relaxing styles. We are fortunate to have on our team several musical experts who present specialist programmes such as jazz, country, light orchestral, folk and adult orientated rock. A good mix of speech driven material featuring classic comedy, local news, magazine features, documentaries, dramas, poetry and stories balances these shows. There is also news from around the hospital featuring some of the many other voluntary organisations, additional health care information and non-denominational religious broadcasts too.
CHR broadcasts include a nightly Patient Request Programme - 'The Listener's Choice' - a service that no other broadcaster provides. Many patients have told CHR how thrilled they were to hear their request played on the air, and how much better they felt as a result.
CHR is run by a 'Council of Representatives', who each have responsibilities for different aspects of providing the radio service.
