Laura Balshaw - Hospital Radio Presenter

[00:00:00.120] - Martyn Brown

Ladies and gentlemen, podcast enthusiasts and fellow music aficionados get ready to journey through time and sound as we introduce you to a remarkable guest who has truly earned a regal monica. It is with great pleasure and we present to you a captivating individual who has taken the airwaves by storm and carved her own path in the world of radio and music. Affectionally known as the Queen of the '80s, please welcome Laura Balshaw. Laura, hello and thank you for being our guest today.

 

[00:00:34.380] - Laura Balshaw

Hello. Thank you for having me, Martyn. It's an absolute pleasure to talk to you.

 

[00:00:39.730] - Martyn Brown

Thank you very much indeed. Do appreciate it. You're very welcome. You're the first hospital radio presenter, which is what we're here for, really. Yes. And first female in the series. So well done to that. Power to the people. Yeah, that's good. Great to hear. Can I start off by asking you, please? Can you share the story of how you got started as a hospital radio presenter at Charlie Hospital Radio in August 2002?

 

[00:01:04.850] - Laura Balshaw

Yes, it was. Yes, yes. It's just 21 years. Yeah, I always did a bit of DJ when I was at youth club in the 80s and always fancied doing something with radio. And it wasn't until I became a patient actually at Charlie Hospital. I was having an operation. I thought I was only going to be in for the day and it turned out I ended up staying overnight. And I got visited by the hospital radio team asking for a request and then I saw something in the paper that they were looking for people to do it as well. I thought I'd really like to have a go at it and I thought it's worth me having a go. I got in touch with them and they invited me in and I did an interview. Then I went around visiting round the wards, getting to know the audience really more than anything, seeing the people that are coming in and what music they're asking for. Then I started doing a Thursday afternoon request show because I only used to work part-time then. I used to go around the wards and then go back to the studio and do a show like that.

 

[00:02:09.680] - Laura Balshaw

Literally, people were fresh listening because they literally just seen me on the wards. Then as things transpired, I ended up doing the Request Show on a Tuesday evening, which is literally just come back after COVID. We've not got as many water workers at the moment. So Tuesday, 8:00 till 9:00, I choose a different theme every week. And because we're on the web, we get people that text in or contact us via our Facebook or our Twitter page. And yeah, because I can play requests and patients can phone from the bedside as well if they want to.

 

[00:02:49.950] - Martyn Brown

You filled in my first three questions there. Thank you very much.

 

[00:02:54.640] - Laura Balshaw

Oh, do you? Sorry. That's fine.

 

[00:02:56.260] - Martyn Brown

That is great. That proves you really are a presenter because that's what they do. You describe your typical routine when you used to go around the wards and then present your shows. So what people did you meet? Did that make up your show? Did that give you the idea?

 

[00:03:13.850] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, on the Thursday afternoon show, the request that they would make, I would tailor the show round to that genre of music or whatever that we're in. I had some fantastic experiences meeting people on the wards. Sometimes you'd go in and it'd be really quiet. And then there was a particular story I went in and we were just talking and I got all the ladies talking about all the different types of music that they liked. And so I got my request up. I went, I shut the door and I was looking through the window and they were all still chattering about what? And they were all there getting ready to tune in and listen. So yeah, it was really important that.

 

[00:03:52.360] - Martyn Brown

So you mentioned having an evening show where you played requests. How did you curate the playlist for those shows?

 

[00:03:58.260] - Laura Balshaw

The Evening Request show, we have some ward walkers, they're purely ward walkers. They don't do any broadcasting, but they've been doing it for a very long time. They go out to visit people on the wards, talk to them. Some people don't have visitors. Some people have family that are away that they can't communicate with. So the ward walkers go to them and talk to them and find out how they're doing and what would they like to hear on the radio. And that's how they put the playlist together. Now you do get quite a few people say, Oh, I like such an artist, pick such an artist, or they'll say, Oh, I want a particular track, but I don't know the artist. Obviously that's where our knowledge all comes in. And then I basically play those between 8:00 and 9:00 on a Tuesday nights. So I don't actually get down to the wards now because I work full-time. But when the opportunity arises, I do go around the wards if I can, because that's what it's all about, meeting your audience.

 

[00:05:02.590] - Martyn Brown

And do you produce everything yourself that right from the beginning of taking the request? Absolutely, yeah. Getting out there.

 

[00:05:08.660] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, I do everything myself, social media, everything.

 

[00:05:13.000] - Martyn Brown

Is everybody on your station responsible for their own show? Or do you have somebody that's helping you out?

 

[00:05:18.250] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, we have a station coordinator who's like chairperson and then we have a station manager. But it's mainly a team effort to be honest because there's such a different array of people. The youngest we have now is probably about 30 and our oldest member is about 85. So we've got a real wide spectrum of people who have like experienced different genres of music and literally different genres of music. We have a guy, we call him Mr. Rock and Roll, because what he doesn't know about the 50s just isn't worth knowing. And he does a show where he just plays all 50s rock and roll and all that things. And so he's very specialist in what he does. We had somebody else who used to do country music, and then we had somebody else who used to do... Who does 70s actually, 70s music, and then we have somebody else who does 60s, and then, of course, I do the 80s. But we don't try to restrict it too much because, again, you've got to keep your audience interested.

 

[00:06:28.820] - Martyn Brown

What about the audience share now? It used to be when you went into hospital, you had to tune into hospital radio. That was the thing. Now you've got competition where they've only got a touch a button or bring their own iPad in or something and you're not getting listened to. Does that affect you? Or have you got a good following?

 

[00:06:44.630] - Laura Balshaw

No, our listening figures are quite good considering because the radio is free. If they tune into their hospital, they'll have to tune into channel one and it's completely free 24 hours a day. And then they can phone the studio for free. We do get people that ring in and want to speak to somebody. And then if they bring their iPads or whatever they bring in, again, we've just been fortunate enough we've just developed our own app that you can literally get straight onto the hospital radio and it also links you up to all the social media as well. So if you're sat in bed listening to the show and you want to, you just press on one of the social media and it can get a message through to the team straight away. So it's absolutely amazing, because if I just go back a little bit. So when I started hospital radio, it was just in the hospital and they were still using the... You know the headphones that you see in the carry-on films?

 

[00:07:43.730] - Martyn Brown

Oh right, yeah.

 

[00:07:44.870] - Laura Balshaw

They were still using those. So that's how much it has come on in such a short space of time. If anybody had said to me, in 20 years' time, you're going to be able to go on the World-wide-web and speak to people outside the hospital around the world, I'd have probably just laughed and said, You're making that up. Because it was traditional hospital radio and the fact that it was only people in the hospital that got to listen. It was very centralised in how it was done.

 

[00:08:15.130] - Martyn Brown

It's good how you've changed with the times because I know of hospital radio stations that refused to go online. They said, No, it's strictly for us. We're going to stay faithful to our hospital listeners and the local community. But they were getting squashed out of it. And the hospital radios had to compete with internet radio stations, which have grown and grown. Did you find the transition smooth or did you just.

 

[00:08:37.490] - Laura Balshaw

Naturally fall in to place? Once we got going, which was 2016, we've never looked back because like you say, you attract an audience from outside, but you also attract people who are still coming in as patients. Our demographic for Chawley Hospital is quite old in the fact that a lot of the patients are elderly, so some of them don't have iPads so they'll still use the headsets. And it's also the fact that we can have people communicate from the outside that say, Oh, my such a body is in such a ward, will you play them a track and give them a mention that I've sent them a message? So we're communication in and a communication out as well. So it's good. So yeah, once we started in 2016, we've never looked back.

 

[00:09:24.780] - Martyn Brown

That's good. Have you ever been tempted to go further afield? I know personally I'm looking at starting my own radio station. It's so easy to do now. You literally just from your own desk at home with a bit of kit. You can broadcast with your own show doing your own thing. Have you ever attempted to go away from hospital radio or do something else different?

 

[00:09:46.820] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, no. When COVID hit, obviously the studio was closed, we were really lucky because we've got two guys that are really hot on the technology and they were able to get it so that the 24 hours system played and then when somebody wanted to go live from home, they could just do a transfer over. Don't ask me how they did it because that was beyond my capabilities. And yes, I did actually get a mixing desk and I got a microphone, but just time ran away with me and I know we were at home and everything, but I was actually still working full-time and then I had other responsibilities. I didn't do it from home, but we had quite a few presenters that did. And then we had pre-recorded shows that went out. And so the station carried on all the way through the pandemic for anybody who wanted to listen. And it worked really well. Yes, I do get asked to do things. But I always gravitate back. I did something for a local radio a few years ago, a community station, and they said, When I was like, 'Hospital radio, I always gravitate back to whatever happens.

 

[00:10:58.680] - Martyn Brown

So do you find several people that I've spoken to already, there's the presenter with the ego and they wanted to go onto the station because I'm a DJ, look at me. Do you have any of those? Have you come across any of those?

 

[00:11:12.620] - Laura Balshaw

Yes, we've had a few over the years that have been there and they don't last because that's not what the Ethos of Hospital Radio is. It's about caring about people and a lot of us use it for our own benefit as well to reach out to people and for them to reach out to us. Yeah, you do get those occasionally.

 

[00:11:34.560] - Martyn Brown

I've heard some fantastic anecdotes and how they always get their come-upance.

 

[00:11:41.230] - Laura Balshaw

So.

 

[00:11:43.230] - Martyn Brown

I was going to ask you, what do you think attracts people? Because like you say, you've got a 30-year-old and 85-year-old. What attracts people to do it? What makes them want to do it? And they're so happy doing it, aren't they?

 

[00:11:53.880] - Laura Balshaw

Yes. Like I said, when I started, and we've tried to keep the same format, really. When somebody comes, the first thing, they don't go in the studio and start broadcasting. They have to go out to the wards and meet the patients. And to be honest as well, we get a lot of support from the staff. Because the staff are very good, because for them, it's a lifeline for them because they can get somebody nice and settled listening to something. They can move around, give patients all the attention they need by. And so they love it. They're always asking why isn't it pipe through the hospital so that they can hear. Or sometimes in a ward, because there's a bay, it's probably four or six beds, they'll put it on speaker so everybody can hear. We get a lot of support from the staff at the porters as well. Our studio is a purpose-built studio next to the porters and they look after us really well. I think it's the fact that it is like a family. It's a family though. Sometimes you don't see people from week to week. I won't see anybody when I go in tomorrow, but there's always people around in another way on social media and...

 

[00:13:15.040] - Laura Balshaw

We were all always all connected.

 

[00:13:18.910] - Martyn Brown

Yeah, I noticed that the nickname Queen of the '80s is quite caty. How did your passion for '80s music develop and how did you decide to incorporate it into your radio persona?

 

[00:13:31.010] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah. So when I started, I went in with, Oh, I love the '80s. What music do you like? I love the '80s. But I've kept a record of some of my first shows that I did, and I can tell with the visiting that I'd done, I tailored the show to the people that were in the hospital. It was quite a diverse mixture. It was like Queen, Kate Bush, Elton John. It was really diverse. Although obviously I absolutely love the 80s, I can't do a show on 80s every single week because that's not what hospital radio is about. I do some specials and I get the... If one of the ward walkers says, Oh, it's Laura who's on tonight, she's really into 80s, and somebody'll go, Oh, can you play me such a thing? Or, Can you ask her to pick such a thing? I do get that. But yeah, because like I said, I've just been into the music and it's just carried on from my teenage years. And yeah, I'm just still quite obsessed with it all. And I think social media has made it even more accessible than it was. We only had Smash hit's in the 80s.

 

[00:14:39.440] - Laura Balshaw

Now you can chat to your favourite pop star online and it's unbelievable.

 

[00:14:46.210] - Martyn Brown

You've mentioned the social media several times and, but although some people can't stand it, I think it's great for something that we're involved with.

 

[00:14:56.400] - Laura Balshaw

Absolutely.

 

[00:14:57.480] - Martyn Brown

Because if you are there, you just have to put yourself in front of them and you've got yourself a show, haven't you?

 

[00:15:02.570] - Laura Balshaw

Really? Yeah, absolutely. People like to get involved and they're interested because I think the way I look at it is I was a patient in hospital. I know how I felt in hospital. I was lucky I had family and some people don't and it's a lifeline, really. I think some people do put themselves in their shoes. As I said, how would I feel if I was in hospital? It'd be nice to have somebody to listen to and was playing music that picked me up thing.

 

[00:15:33.390] - Martyn Brown

With over, I know, 8,700 Twitter followers, it's clear that you've built a strong online presence. Yes. You've already touched on this. But how did you manage to grow your social media following, especially to the context of your love for the '80s music?

 

[00:15:50.710] - Laura Balshaw

That's a very good question. Like I said, I just found Twitter. I know it's called X, but it'll never be called X in my book. It's always going to be Twitter. It was the fact that you could communicate with... You could say something and then you would get, Oh, I remember this. Oh, do you remember this? And it just grew like that. I must admit, sometimes I think, How did I end up with that many people? But it's people who've got a genuine interest in the music and people are interested in hospital radio because it's a radio station. It's not like your normal radio station where they play something and they have the adverts. We don't have any adverts whatsoever. No, we've got no advertising or anything. All we play is the gingles and some are information gingles for people being in hospital to help them, giving them telephone numbers if they need to contact somebody over something. But basically, and then we just all promote each other's shows.

 

[00:16:51.580] - Martyn Brown

Supporting yourself. Do you go out to do events and stuff to bring income in?

 

[00:16:55.900] - Laura Balshaw

No, we don't, to be honest. We just generate income ourselves, to be honest. We are very lucky that we get a lot of support from the Lancashire teaching hospitals. They do help towards our costs. How that came about, we used to have a little hut that was on the site of the hospital, which was before my time. And then when they were doing the refurb, the particular person at the time, they'd used hospital radio and they could see the benefits of it. So we got this purpose-built studio within the depths of the hospital, like I said, quite near where the porters are. So we've got two studios and a vinyl library.

 

[00:17:40.860] - Martyn Brown

Vinyl library. I like this? Yes.

 

[00:17:44.320] - Laura Balshaw

When.

 

[00:17:45.480] - Martyn Brown

I started the vinyl impressions, I had 10,000, I think, vinyl records and it took me four and a half years to transcribe them from vinyl to put them onto a computer system so I could put them in easily. But I love the vinyl when all you could get is vinyl.

 

[00:18:00.200] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, you see, this is again, this is how things have changed. When I went, it was all CDs. We had mini discs as well. I remember those very well. But they didn't take off very well either. But it was like the vinyl library, everyone kept looking at, What are we going to do with this? What are we going to do with this? We're going to. It was an ongoing thing. It was so nice. It was all that. And like you said, now it's all come back around again.

 

[00:18:25.020] - Martyn Brown

Yeah, I did use mini disc for a short while. I ran a DJ agency and it was great to record things. And with the titles coming up and you could find it quickly. And if you had a good night, you knew which Minidist to use. But like you said, it soon went through a phase, didn't it? And then they tried to make them.

 

[00:18:43.730] - Laura Balshaw

Four slides big. Yeah. We use it mainly for the jingles because like you say, it's very handy because then we can have a Minidisk, a CD, or we have our QuickPick system, and then we have two lovely turntables as well that get regularly serviced.

 

[00:19:01.740] - Martyn Brown

So if you've got music on computer that you can just touch the screen and all that business in it?

 

[00:19:06.690] - Laura Balshaw

Yes. Some presenters bring in their own laptop or their iPad or whatever. To be honest, I've only just started using my iPad in the last... I've only been back since June, so prior to that I always tended to use CDs or vinyl.

 

[00:19:27.540] - Martyn Brown

Yeah, and I think as well, when it's your own, you get a feel for the... You can almost read the audience and know what's in it. It's a natural thing rather than being overproduced or whatever.

 

[00:19:40.130] - Laura Balshaw

And so I do like- When I used to DJ at youth club, it was seven-inch singles. That's all it was. And it's like, so I do find it amazing how we've transitioned.

 

[00:19:53.050] - Martyn Brown

I used to come up and say, have you got such and such a record? Yep. Can you play the B-side? And you're like...

 

[00:19:58.990] - Laura Balshaw

There.

 

[00:20:00.730] - Martyn Brown

We go. So interacting with 80s stars and even getting voice messages, that sounds incredible. Could you share some memorable interactions or experiences you've had through your online presence?

 

[00:20:16.050] - Laura Balshaw

In particular, Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet. He was one of my first followers, actually, when I was on Twitter. And he's really into the hospital radio ethos. He really gets it. He had... He was ill for quite a while and he was in hospital, so he understands the ethos behind it. And yeah, he's recorded quite a few voice messages for the hospital radio. He's even tweeted in, Can you play such a record? I've just been sharing that obviously I've done a search in 2001, so it's 2022. Yeah, 22 years. Because you get an award from the Lancashire Teaching Hospital when you've done 10-year service, 20 years and so on. I've got my 20 year service, but obviously I only got it presented to me later because of COVID. I'd shared it and he'd liked it. Like I said, he sent a few messages and said he really understands it and he's really supportive of it. In fact, quite a lot of them are. Claire Grogan as well. She tends to tweet quite a bit as well. So it's really good.Of

 

[00:21:24.000] - Martyn Brown

 Altered Images.

 

[00:21:25.350] - Laura Balshaw

Yes, yes, yes.

 

[00:21:27.420] - Martyn Brown

Are they still going?

 

[00:21:29.060] - Laura Balshaw

They are indeed. She's doing a 40th anniversary show in October. So I'll be going to that. So yeah, she gets it. She did an interview for Hospital Radio a few years ago.

 

[00:21:41.650] - Martyn Brown

Can you give us any insights you gain from talking with such an established artist?

 

[00:21:47.170] - Laura Balshaw

It's funny because you just think of... I know obviously they're big stars, but you just think of them as ordinary people, really. And they're all very down to earth. I've met loads of different '80s stars and sometimes the first thing I say is, I'm Queen of the '80s, I'm Twitter, and they go, Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's who you are. Yeah, yeah. And they'll recognise you. And every time I see Martin Kemp, he always says, How's the radio going? How's it going? What have you been doing? And he always asks.

 

[00:22:16.320] - Martyn Brown

That's brilliant. And when they do the voiceovers, so many people just pinch them from somewhere, but make them fit in their station, they're putting their voice, welcome to. And they put their station name. It is genuine.

 

[00:22:26.630] - Laura Balshaw

They really did. It is genuine. Yes, yes. What is obviously is recorded one into his iPhone and he's obviously on the move because there's a bit of background noise, but it's such a good clip. You just couldn't pay to get that. You really couldn't.

 

[00:22:44.130] - Martyn Brown

Love that. So what challenges have you faced as a radio presenter and how did you overcome them? Did any particular moments stand out as turning points in your career?

 

[00:22:56.590] - Laura Balshaw

Covid has been a big thing because literally we shut the doors whenever it was in March 2020. And it was a long journey to get the studio back open because obviously, hospitals were probably one of the last places where they were still using masks and all that thing. So that was quite tough because just trying to overcome the health and safety and the risk assessments to get the studio open. But obviously, we managed to get it done. And we opened again in June 2023. So we've literally still in its infancy, really. So it's trying to get back the routines that we had before people going around the wards. We have one gentleman that does every Sunday and he goes around the wards and then he does his show. So it's slowly coming back. But I think that was definitely... In fact, it was funny because I was in last week and there was somebody in with me because he was checking the equipment when he did his show and we've got all the CDs on the... And I said to him, I said, Three years ago, I used to be able to walk over and pick a CD that I knew exactly where it was, exactly what was on it.

 

[00:24:13.640] - Laura Balshaw

Now, three years later, I'm having to relearn all that. I'm just like, Oh, I know we've got this somewhere, but where is it? Those have been a bit of a challenge. We've had periods where we haven't been able to go near the studio because there's been an outbreak of something in the hospital and sometimes we have gone down with the internet. That is very few and far between that because like I said, we are very lucky. We have some really talented tech guys that do a lot of work behind the scenes. So yeah, so-.

 

[00:24:45.290] - Martyn Brown

I think hospital radio is a lot more difficult than people imagine. They thought you just come in, you just turn up and do it, and it's just for enthusiasts.

 

[00:24:54.670] - Laura Balshaw

But.

 

[00:24:55.710] - Martyn Brown

There's so many aspects to it. Do you have a magazine?

 

[00:24:59.590] - Laura Balshaw

We did do. Again, it's gone by the wayside because of COVID. Like I said, we are very lucky because the language teacher in the hospital put things in their magazines. And like I said, they want to support us and sometimes they'll get in touch and say, Can you do such and such a thing? So you will do things for people in the hospital as well.

 

[00:25:22.810] - Martyn Brown

What about recruitment? Are people coming on board all the time? Is there a queue?

 

[00:25:27.030] - Laura Balshaw

Do you know it is very hard to get on hospital radio. We had some presenters from Central... They were called Centry Radio at the time. I think they might be called something else now, might be Grady. It might be Grid, it might be hard. Anyway, we had them come and they said that they found that getting into hospital radio is much more harder than actually getting into commercial radio. Yeah, because obviously there's the patients and all that thing. So we have to follow the hospital protocol. But also we're looking for people who want to give like a long term commitment. We're not like you were saying earlier on, we don't want people coming in and just thinking it's a leg up to get into normal radio I know, ain't they? Yeah. And most of the people that come stay with us for a long time. We've had a couple of people who've had the 50-year service wards. The main ones that are still coming, they're between 30 and 40 years now. And obviously I'm 22, but yeah, so people come and they do stay.

 

[00:26:44.140] - Martyn Brown

I do find from experience that a lot of the hospital radio stations tend to get applicants that are DJs doing weddings and parties and stuff that want to get on. The DJing is different than presenting, isn't it?

 

[00:27:00.820] - Laura Balshaw

Absolutely, yes. Yeah.

 

[00:27:03.250] - Martyn Brown

Yeah. Presenting it is a whole new world and a whole new skill that needs to be learned to get it right. And it's got to be so natural as well. We often mentioned previous presenters from the BBC or something, somebody's got a favourite that they not base themselves on, but they look up to them as their mentor has been. And I noticed your appearance is on Century Radio, BBC Radio, Lancashire, and Radio Stoke are impressive. Can you share a bit about those experiences and how they contributed to your growth as a presenter?

 

[00:27:38.100] - Laura Balshaw

As I was saying, Century Radio invited me to their studios and it was in Media City, and I went on The Breakfast Show and that was good because I wanted to see how a commercial radio station worked. So that was quite interesting. And then they came back to us and they came on hospital radio and they absolutely loved it. And they were really impressed. And like I said, they said that it's much harder to get on hospital radio than it is to get into commercial radio. Yeah, so on BBC Radio Lancashire, I've done a few things on there now, but we did... When the station was 50 years old, some of the team went to see John Gilmore, who does the evening programme on BBC Radio Lancashire. He invited us into the studio and he did an interview with us. And they've been to our studio because they did a fundraising for children in and they cycled into the hospital grounds and then they came on there as well. Yeah, and then Radio Stoke, it was the last minute. I'd been to a show at the theatre in Stoke, Sounds of the '80s show, and obviously they'd seen my name online and they said, You're the perfect person to speak to.

 

[00:28:50.560] - Laura Balshaw

So they wanted to talk to me about the show because, fortunately, I got to meet Claire Grogan and I got to meet Holly Johnson that night as well. They were very interested in what they had to say about Stoke. So that was very interesting. These things keep popping up now and again where I get asked to do things.

 

[00:29:10.030] - Martyn Brown

That's lovely. And again, as I said before, you get that feel good factor and people appreciate what you're doing they get.

 

[00:29:16.130] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, absolutely.

 

[00:29:18.300] - Martyn Brown

Balancing a day job as an insurance broker with your radio presenting must require great time management. How do you manage your schedule to pursue both your passions effectively?

 

[00:29:31.810] - Laura Balshaw

Yes, I do the radio, social media, so I have to do that. I usually do that in the morning before I start work and then after work. Then Tuesdays I do my show, so I'll come home from work because I'm doing hybrid work and stuff like that. It's quite handy. So then I just obviously I go to the studio on a Tuesday. But yeah, it can be quite difficult. But I've got my weekends free. Oh, that's good. I don't do any broke in the weekends. So yeah, weekends are free. So that does help quite a bit.

 

[00:30:04.040] - Martyn Brown

I noticed that collecting vinyl is another hobby of yours. You've talked as well. So how does your love for vinyl records tie into your role as a radio presenter and your passion for music in general?

 

[00:30:16.400] - Laura Balshaw

I started collecting vinyl in the '80s. I had assets for quite a while and then I went into vinyl and I started getting more and more vinyl. And then, of course, we moved over to CDs. So I've've got a massive collection of CDs now. But then the vinyl started coming back and then I started picking up rare vinyl of particular artists that I like. And then obviously it's absolutely flourished the vinyl market and then they keep releasing ones in nice, pretty colours. One of my latest memes that's gone down absolutely perfect on Twitter is it looks like a book cover, the old Penguin books, and it says, I'm not going to buy any... I'm telling myself I'm not going to buy any more vinyl and other jokes to be told. And that's gone down really well. And a friend of mine said, That is you to a T, because it's like, Oh, something's cool. Oh, I'll have to have it. So yes, he's got a little bit out of hand, if I'm honest. Don't let my husband hear that. Yeah, you can hear it all. Yeah, you.

 

[00:31:32.150] - Martyn Brown

Can hear it all. It's always right all along.

 

[00:31:35.220] - Laura Balshaw

Could.

 

[00:31:36.150] - Martyn Brown

You discuss the process of preparing and conducting interviews with fellow artists and musicians? Any tips for engaging and insightful interviews?

 

[00:31:48.660] - Laura Balshaw

I haven't done that many, if I'm honest. But like I say, the ones that I have done, it was like when I did the one with Claire, I said, This is going to be not like any other interview that you've been. I said, You've had before. Because I said, it's like obviously when the press do it or TV or whatever, they seem to ask the same thing over and over again, or they go over the same old ground. Whereas I like to ask them stuff that perhaps nobody else would ask them about the particular record that they did or something that they're interested in. Like when I did it with Claire, she was in a kitchen. She had a dog barking. She had a daughter sat there eating a bag of crisps, and she had a husband, which her husband was the original guitarist in Altered Images. He was doing the washing up. So it was like, I said, Oh, don't treat it as an interview, just treat it as a chat with an old friend thing. I said. And I'm the old friend because you don't look old enough because she's... I mean, she looks fabulous for her age.

 

[00:32:49.900] - Laura Balshaw

And yeah, so we just talked about... We talked about all sorts and she started telling me about the new album and none of this had gone out anywhere. She was telling me about... Yeah, so it was like... Because she'd opened up and we just got chatting. And then every time I see her now, it's like we're old friends anyway. We just chat and she'll... It's the same with Martin Kemp and Steve Normans of Spandau Ballet as well. We just chat to them. And Steve again, he's interested in hospital radio. He's a big advocate for it. He's recorded for us as well. Yeah, so it's- You do.

 

[00:33:34.230] - Martyn Brown

Speak to a celebrity, a true celebrity. You think sometimes their eyes glaze over and they think, Oh, no, they're bored. So asking something different or being something different must be a real thrill for them. I think you get more out of them when you do that rather than just what's your favourite colour? What can give you your biggest hit now.

 

[00:33:56.310] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, that's it. I met Toyah, it must be about 15 years ago. It's the first time I've met her and it was a comic con event. And she was there and she was sat behind the desk, she was on her own. I took my son and I just got chatting to her and I said to Ryan, I said, Do you recognise this lady's voice? And he's like, It's a telly tubbies. And she was laughing. And then we got talking about living in Birmingham. She was talking about Duran. And then we got talking about a song, what a particular song. And it was obvious, somebody had never asked her this before because she was like, Oh, and she was really putting the thinking cap on. And yeah, it's just how you approach it, I think.

 

[00:34:39.250] - Martyn Brown

Oh, it's wonderful. No wonder if you've got such a big following. Radio has evolved significantly over the years. How have you adapted to changes in the technology and audience expectations while maintaining your unique style?

 

[00:34:55.930] - Laura Balshaw

Like I said, when I first started on hospital radio, it was literally CDs, mini disc, that was it. It would just go out through the hospital. Then obviously it's evolved with the fact that you can use your own laptop and there's computers. And I've've been quite late to that, if I'm honest. I still like the traditional using the CDs and that thing. But I do like to mix it up by using sound clips and stuff like that, which is stuff that I wouldn't have done before. So yeah, I've had to move with the times a bit. As for audience, yeah, if I'm doing a request show, it's whatever that patient wants, even if it's a band I don't like or it's a song I don't like, that's not... Doesn't even come into it because it's important that you play what the patient asks for, or someone who's outside the hospital even. So yeah, because that can be challenging at times, playing something that you don't particularly like and introducing it and saying something positive about. But it's just what you do.

 

[00:36:06.690] - Martyn Brown

Is there anything you wouldn't play like the Suicide is painless by Mash?

 

[00:36:10.290] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, there are quite a few hospital radio songs that we don't play. Yes, that's probably going to be one of them. There's a really good 80s song that I like that's very popular called I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight by the Cutting Crew. We decided that's not suitable. The Jam, The Bitterest pill, Stairway to Heaven. But we do get asked for these things occasionally. We get asked for My Way a lot. Now the end is near.

 

[00:36:39.780] - Martyn Brown

One of the most requested. Yeah.

 

[00:36:42.370] - Laura Balshaw

In fact, in the year 2012, I did a countdown of the most requested songs on the show, The Hospital Radio, and My Way was at the top. Yeah.

 

[00:36:57.140] - Martyn Brown

It's a brilliant song, isn't it? Absolutely. Yes.

 

[00:36:59.280] - Laura Balshaw

And then we have patients that will ask for a Christmas song in July and will play it because if that's what they want, they've come up with a reason.

 

[00:37:11.640] - Martyn Brown

Is there a genre you won't touch? Like punk rock or rap?

 

[00:37:16.030] - Laura Balshaw

We'll play it as long as it is suitable. There are some rap songs that are suitable, very few and far between. But yeah, nothing's really off limits, instrumental. We do get asked for classical quite a bit as well. So we've got quite a nice selection of classical.

 

[00:37:36.520] - Martyn Brown

You've got niche shows for each niche.

 

[00:37:39.370] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah.

 

[00:37:40.130] - Martyn Brown

Are live shows all the way through? Have you got syndicated shows?

 

[00:37:44.280] - Laura Balshaw

Yes, we have syndicated shows. We have, like I said, we're on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. On our website, it gives you an indication of what is on. And some of the prerecorded shows are particularly timed. We have a love song show that's on eleven o'clock till 12:00, which is more quiet, amazing. Then there'll be a meditation hour of music, and then we have what we call a mystery hour. That's in the afternoon and that's prerecorded shows, but they go in a loop. They can be played once and then they can be played again in a few weeks and it mixes it up. Then on a Sunday morning, we used to, in fact, only up until before COVID, we used to have a church service every Sunday for the patients to listen to. We've had to change our strategy with that, so we do hymns now because it was getting a bit complicated with it was coming from the same church and other churches wanted to be involved. And as we said, the best way is to just keep it generic and we just have hymn music.

 

[00:38:52.960] - Laura Balshaw

But that's every Sunday and that's very well received.

 

[00:38:57.160] - Martyn Brown

Right. So you have your religion and- Yeah, Do you have a rock show?

 

[00:39:01.940] - Laura Balshaw

Yes. Like I said, we have a wide variety of different stuff. We've got a new show. We've got one where he's doing all American music. So that's a new show. We had a show on a Saturday that that was all vinyl from start to finish.

 

[00:39:18.520] - Martyn Brown

Who decides this? Is there somebody that you get together or does somebody just say, This is what we're going to do?

 

[00:39:24.270] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, everybody is quite free in the fact that people put ideas forward and then if we can fit it in, we'll fit it in. Or, for example, the one the Love Song show, he works away. So he prerecords everything and sends it in. So that works and he has a show going out Monday to Friday.

 

[00:39:45.390] - Martyn Brown

And he has to time that so that it fits.

 

[00:39:47.800] - Laura Balshaw

You all. Yeah, exactly. But no, nothing. We were very open and try and let everybody do what they want, really. The will fit with the ethos.

 

[00:40:02.590] - Martyn Brown

That's fantastic. So for radio station owners creating a dedicated fan base, that's crucial. What strategies have you employed to connect with your audience and foster listener loyalty?

 

[00:40:17.370] - Laura Balshaw

We started off with our Facebook page and we had that right from the beginning. So we had a lot of people join that and people join in the area. And then it spread because then individual presenters then promote themselves and then get them their people to like our Facebook page. And then we went into the Twitter and the Instagram a few years ago and that seems to work quite well. What I find is you make a statement and then that's it. Whereas with the Instagram stories or the Twitter, you can start something and then it can roll from there. Like on a Tuesday night, I've got access to my own and the radio on so that the conversation will roll between 8:00 and 9:00.

 

[00:41:11.280] - Martyn Brown

So as someone who's passionate about the 80s, how do you infuse nostalgia into your radio shows without losing touch with contemporary trends and interests?

 

[00:41:23.720] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, to be honest, this is the thing I don't do 80s all the time because I know it's not what people want to hear all the time. Although obviously some of my followers are into the 80s, they're also a wide variety of music. So if I'm doing the request show, it will be determined by who's in the hospital. But then I can play additional tracks and I can gauge it from the playlist, the type of people that are in and the ones that I can add to. Like I said, I do some specials, '80s specials. I've done Christmas Eve every year, bar one year, I think, because I got snowed in. It's called a very '80s Christmas, and it's just an hour where I do memories of Christmases in the '80s, songs that were number one on Christmas Day in that decade. I'll play old adverts, clips and things, and just bring memories back, really, and just things like that. That is very specialist, but like I said, do only do that once a year. Then when I first went back, the first show I did, basically because I needed to remind myself of how to use all the equipment, I did a 40th anniversary of hits of 1983, and that was really popular.

 

[00:42:48.950] - Laura Balshaw

I put up a poll on Twitter to say I'm going to do another one. I'm going to do 1980 plus three years because obviously it would have been 40 years in 2020. And then I put a poll up and said 1980, 1981 and 1982. Anyway, everyone's voted into 1982. So tomorrow night I will pick artists and songs from that period. I do tend to pick artists that say, for example, when I did 1983, I used Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton Islands in the Stream, because I know that's the thing that goes down really well. I'll tailor songs that I like, but also that will keep him with the hospital radio theme. Tomorrow I'll pick something from 1982, but I'll pick it from something like by Cliff Richard or somebody like that. That's how I keep it fresh, really. I don't just play what everybody expects you to play. That's good when I get the comments that, Oh, I've not heard this on the radio for a very long time.

 

[00:44:08.180] - Martyn Brown

You mentioned you do polls and you get answers to the polls and that creates a feedback. What are the ways... How do you get feedback from your audience? How do you know how you're doing, how they're feeling? Do they write in? Do they phone in or text you?

 

[00:44:21.680] - Laura Balshaw

Sometimes they send us messages, say that they're grateful that somebody's been around to visit them or they've enjoyed listening to the show. We get people messaging on the Facebook, really, that seems to be the best option. And then we do get people, say, on our Twitter.

 

[00:44:38.700] - Martyn Brown

As well. It's always great to have something to read out as well.

 

[00:44:41.730] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, it is. Yeah, very much.

 

[00:44:44.380] - Martyn Brown

It was at the show nicely and it's quality. I do know of presenters that make their requests up just to make it sound busy, but you've just got the perfect stage in there. Sounds amazing.

 

[00:44:54.720] - Laura Balshaw

Can.

 

[00:44:55.760] - Martyn Brown

You share a particularly heartwarming or memorable moment from your time as a hospital radio presenter that reaffirmed the impact of your work?

 

[00:45:06.000] - Laura Balshaw

We had a long term patient that was in, and he used to tell everybody in the wards that you had to listen to hospital radio, and he used to ring up and he used to make a request. He was in for a long time. This was before the Internet, so he used to ring up for chat and things like that. And then like I said, sometimes when you go down on the walls, like I said earlier, the walls were quiet and you go in and you try and get people talking and then you get one person who is sat next to you, the other person if they didn't want to talk, you'd get them talking and things like that, really. There's been so many things over the years. I can't just think of something off the top of my head apart from this one time that I went into the wall and like I said, it was very quiet and we got talking. And then I think one of the patients must have asked me about what music I liked, which was quite a surprise. So we got talking about '80s music. And then she said that she'd recorded over her daughter's top of the pop's appearance in Geron and she had to write to the BBC to see if she could get a copy of it.

 

[00:46:19.830] - Laura Balshaw

Then somebody else checked in and then somebody else. And it just is the coming together that's good.

 

[00:46:26.700] - Martyn Brown

That is the magic moment, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.

 

[00:46:29.790] - Martyn Brown

Your experiences span several various radio stations. What have you learned about the unique dynamics and challenges of hospital radio compared to other types of radio broadcasting?

 

[00:46:43.240] - Laura Balshaw

This is why I never went on commercial radio or anything because I wouldn't like them telling me what to play. This is the freedom you get on hospital radio, is that you can play what you want, but also you can tailor it to the people that are staying in the hospital. And also people listening outside the hospital now, like I said, that's become a very big part of it. So yeah, that is probably another reason why I wouldn't ever want to go anywhere but doing hospital radio for that very reason because you lose your creative input.

 

[00:47:21.900] - Martyn Brown

Yours is some producer who-.

 

[00:47:24.920] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, yeah. I may own producer so I can tell myself what to do. Yeah, we're all the same.

 

[00:47:32.330] - Martyn Brown

A lot of our audience and most of them are up and coming presenters and station owners. What advice do you have for aspiring radio presenters and station owners who want to make a meaningful impact in their communities and beyond?

 

[00:47:50.050] - Laura Balshaw

They need to understand their audience. They don't want to be looking at what everybody else is doing because everybody else is doing it. They need to be looking at ways of being slightly different, looking at the way they're output their music. Like I said, not playing all the same old songs. And the personality, they just need to be themselves and just put their own passion into it. And that will come across and I think that's what makes Chorley Hospital Radio a bit different because we all put our own into it. We always say we're not like any other radio station. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know. I think it's good.

 

[00:48:34.530] - Martyn Brown

I'll certainly be tuning in now. Laura, thank you for being the star on our show.

 

[00:48:39.840] - Laura Balshaw

And.

 

[00:48:40.990] - Martyn Brown

I do hope we can talk very soon again soon. We hope that we'll get on there. Thank you very much. And thank you for your time for the podcast. And I can't wait until this gets out to the world because you've just given the most amazing insight into hospital radio. People say it's dying off. It need to be in some areas. Absolutely. You're the proof of that.

 

[00:49:02.350] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, absolutely. It is still very important. They do studies in the NHS on music therapy and all that thing, and it always comes out very positively. It like to say I hope it continues and I wish you lots of success with your show as well. We have to get some of your shows on our station. I'm going to.

 

[00:49:22.430] - Martyn Brown

Go to that. If somebody wants to get in touch with the show, how would they contact you, Laura?

 

[00:49:27.360] - Laura Balshaw

We have our requests and that's chrweb. Org. Uk. That's probably the best one that comes through to the studio, and quite a few of us get to that email. So for anything, basically, people can get in touch like that. Then like I said, on our Facebook page and our Twitter and our Instagram as well. Like I said, we've got our new app that's just been launched and that apparently I've used it and it's absolutely fantastic. It's just.

 

[00:49:56.810] - Martyn Brown

Really good. I love the one touch and it comes on.

 

[00:49:59.000] - Laura Balshaw

Yeah, it's just amazing. So yeah, so that's very positive. So that's a good step forward for us.

 

[00:50:06.900] - Martyn Brown

I love that. I love the way you're keeping up with the technology and the wheel's turning. It's incredible. And so thank you very much for that. We'll put your contact details near the video and near the audio podcast. Laura Baushal, thank you very much. Goodbye.

 

[00:50:21.730] - Laura Balshaw

Yes, thank you. Thank you.