Hospital radio show feature ideas - help needed please! :)

[ComingUpTrumps]

I've just started volunteering for a hospital radio station, and am receiving training for it at the moment.

It's been great so far, and the aim is to get me set up with my own show around mid-September hopefully.

The person training me has asked me to think of a few ideas for features in my show. I've really been thinking about this over the past few days, but haven't come up with any ideas so far.

AIBU to ask you for your help with thinking of feature ideas please?

Thanks :)

Anyone? :)

Can you take a different year each time and play requests from that year, interspersed with current affairs and entertainment from that year. You could speak about the TV programmes that were on, significant events and info about the singers of the records.

Have a listen to a local radio station and steal some of their ideas?!
Good luck. I work in a hospital and the radio station is absolutely dire!!

Songs with a colour in the title, body part or place name. And so on.
Desert island disks with whoever you can scoop up from the hospital.

Maybe ask for people to ring in with funny stories about themselves or look into local news stories that might make them laugh. Being in hospital can be miserable!

I did a spot on our local radio on a couple of occasions as a guest talking about poetry and literature. Read some of my poetry. Discussed poetry in general and how it is thought to be high brow but that there are many more poems that are not - can be funny and narrative stories.

Guess the year from the songs you play, interview local people with interesting stories/businesses, like the desert sand discs idea with people from the hospital too.

Whatever it is it needs to be light and fluffy.

Take a look at which "national day of" are coming up and run with that.

National pie day? Songs that you can change a lyric to pie.
National dog day? Tell us about your pets!

Could you give a run down of what has been going on in the soaps? I know a lot of the elderly patients couldn't afford the television and really, really missed the soaps. Just make sure you're talking about the week previous rather than anything coming up.

Alan Partridge.
A-ha!

I've worked in my hospital for nearly 14 years and only discovered last week that we have a radio station!

Meet a member of staff segment?

Local info, local good news stories, history of the are depending on time slot, diy (not sure how well that transfers into radio) , ooh if ever hacks, you know like the wooden spoon i the pan handle hole!

Good luck

Oh yes the national day idea. They do that on my local radio every afternoon.

Think about your clientele. The demographic of people staying in hospitals long term tends to be 60+.

History pieces.
Music from previous decades with a quiz.
Current affairs and local news.
Science/health news or topical issues debates.

Also depends on your style. Humour would be good, but only if that is something that comes naturally to you.

Interview ward volunteers on air so patients get to know them better.

History of hospital hour

Jokes.

Local am dram could come along and do an hour's skit, local comedian too?

Musical memories hour, ask patients or visitors to request a song and a story to go with it.

Theme days as above.

Trivia - ask a question or do a QI type snippet with a "did you know" slant.

The last time I stayed in hospital the segment I liked best was an elderly woman and a young lad presenting together. They had some interesting conversations!

The music was terrible though...

Book of the week?
Link questions? Answer of one question fits into the next question i.e. What national event happened on 1977? Silver jubilee , which wedding anniversary is silver?

Intersperse with ads for fags and alcohol

When I did hospital radio, anything that wasn't mor, 80s pop or frank sinatra sent the mentally officious hospital radio old guard into staring panic. I had a quiz on one show, have away mugs and moved the music policy around, I got 30 or 40 listeners contacting the show who loved it. Guess what I was pegged as.. Unprofessional and problematic...
So don't be too out there!

Films & TV or books

Things to do in hospital - get peoples recommendations

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions everyone :)

Had training today, and ran a few of the ideas on here past the people who are training me.

They liked the 'guess the year' idea that a few posters have suggested (play a couple of songs and mention current affairs and events that happened in that year).

They also liked another feature idea I had on French music (I'm in love with France ). The idea for the French music feature is to introduce two groups or singers and play a song by each of them before talking a little bit about the song and the singer/group.

Does anyone have any ideas for names for the two features please? Would love to hear your suggestions :)

Guess the year: The Calendar Conundrum.

Cliff Richard special for the lovely ladies of a certain age

Meet the staff segment, get different roles to explain who they are! Plenty of patients won't understand what a Nurse Practitioner does, what a junior doctor actually ranks as, what a pharmacist can help them with.

Reviewing coffee/food at various hospital restaurants tends to go down a storm, it's important...

Ahhh you're a star SpareChange that's fab! Thanks

Bingo, patients call in if they 'win' and you drop a prize off. They do it in children's hospitals abroad and goes down great