**Trustees’ Report and Annual Review 2023 – 1 January 31 December 2023** **A Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered in England and Wales, no. 1191302** ## **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Basingstoke and North Hants Hospital,
Aldermaston Road
Basingstoke
Hants
RG24 9NA
www.hrbasingstoke.co.uk
**----- End of picture text -----**
**Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** **Trustees’ Report** The trustees of Hospital Radio Basingstoke present their annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023. Hospital Radio Basingstoke is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation governed by a constitution as agreed by the members of the organisation on 1 September 2020. ## **Charitable Objectives (as per constitution)** The objects of the CIO are: The relief of sickness, poor health and old age amongst people living in Basingstoke and the surrounding area by providing a local broadcasting service for hospitals, residential homes and similar institutions, and for patients receiving community care, and the advancement of health and prevention or relief of sickness for the public benefit through the promotion of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, and the importance of maintaining good personal mental and physical health by (mainly, but not exclusively) the means of broadcasting health education messages to people living in Basingstoke and the surrounding area. ## **Organisation** HRB is run entirely by volunteers, who pay an annual membership subscription. It is governed by a constitution and managed by an Executive Committee (the charity’s Trustees), which is elected annually by the membership. ## **Charity Trustees** Chairman Dave Leonard (until September 2023) Station Manager Treasurer David Ravenhill (until March 2023) Inga Adomaviciute (from March 2023) Secretary Margot Konitzer Programme Controller Neil Ogden Public Relations Officer Scott Rawlings Fundraising Officer April Haywood (until November 2023) Training Officer Elliot Moyle Engineer Committee Member without Portfolio Anna Heath (from March 2023) **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** ## **Related Organisations** HRB is a member of the Hospital Broadcasting Association, the national charity that supports and promotes hospital broadcasting in the UK. HRB’s members have in the last twelve months attended their national conference. HRB also receives notifications of events run by the Basingstoke Voluntary Association and advertises for volunteers on the BVA’s website. Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Tru st manages the hospital where HRB’s studio is based. Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital is one of 3 hospitals managed by the trust. Members of HRB’s committee have liaised with the management of the trust, the communications team and the voluntary services team of the trust on a regular basis. HRB depends upon the services of Hospedia Limited who provide and maintain the bedside entertainment units. They supply headphones which HRB’s members regularly distribute to patients during ward rounds. Since March 2023, HRB also depended on the services of UK DAB Networks (Operations) Ltd, the operator of the Basingstoke Small Scale DAB multiplex for its DAB service. This company went into liquidation in October 2023 and since then a new operator, Basingstoke DAB Ltd, has taken over the licence and is in the process of finding a new site for the transmission equipment to resume the SSDAB service. ## **Review of Activities and Achievements** Since HRB was awarded a C-DSP licence in May 2021, we were working towards launching on SSDAB soon after the Basingstoke Multiplex went on air. The date for this was set at 31 March 2023. The station purchased new imaging and refreshed its programme schedule to aim at the wider audience that it was hoped the station would attract, as well as continuing to broadcast around the wards of the hospital. The reasoning for being on SSDAB broadcasting around Basingstoke is promoting health and wellbeing and a healthy lifestyle to the people of Basingstoke and the local area, to try and keep people out of hospital. This is in line with the future aims of the NHS and also very much at the heart of the thinking of how the new hospital in Basingstoke will work with more treatment being undertaken at home and in the community. **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** More and more hospital radio stations are looking to go down this route with SSDAB licences being advertised around the country. This follows stations who have already become health and wellbeing and community stations on FM frequencies. Our emphasis would be on promoting health and wellbeing with the following programming commitments made to Ofcom in the C-DSP licence application form. Our application form stated our listeners would be able to expect a _“great selection of music chosen from the past six decades as well as becoming involved in our speech content. Our advice on health, wellbeing and lifestyle issues will be produced and presented in an accessible and engaging way and in a subtle manner, encouraging listeners into living a healthier and fulfilling life._ _We will continue to broadcast our popular request shows and our varied programme schedule will extend to the community outside of our existing listenership providing an ‘easy listening’ mix of music.”_ Our programme schedule continued to deliver this throughout 2023 with more hours of in house produced shows than recent years alongside the use of syndicated shows to further enhance our programme output. We tried to use presenter-led shows as much as possible. A review was undertaken of the music library and how the music is scheduled. Whilst not wanting to reduce the huge range of music that is played, it was thought that concentrating on the more well known artists and songs during daytime hours would help to attract new listeners to the station on DAB. Our application stated that we would provide _“local news plus our event guide will give the community the information that will keep them up to date alongside information on recreational activities in the area which will encourage people to participate._ ” And we continued to do this every day with – around 8 local news bulletins per day on weekdays and 5 6 per day at weekends. The station has an ongoing and long standing agreement with the Basingstoke Gazette to use stories from their website which we continued to do as well as making use of press releases that we received direct. Our HRB Diary feature and our “Mix” shows promoted local events, the latter also offering a range of local news, features, interviews and information. **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** The “Mix” shows also include The Word on Health, a regular feature profiling a different illness or medical condition. We also featured various hospital health related campaigns throughout the year with interviews with the staff involved e.g. Stop Smoking Day. The team were ever mindful of the everyday pressures that the NHS has been facing and promoted through our programmes ways that the public could help the hospital deal with those pressures. Wherever we could we broadcast messages or promotions made by the hospital communications team to help get their messages across. As COVID pressures eased throughout the year, we were able to get fully back to normal with visiting the wards for our Music on Demand shows. Visiting patients around the hospital is at the centre of what hospital radio does and in 2023 we played more requests than we have done for several years; it was our 4[th] highest request total ever. We reached several “milestone” requests during 2023 and established the format of asking members of staff to reveal them on air. – – Request No. 118,000 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Rule Britannia played by Jon Perkin on Friday 17 February 2023 – – Request No. 119,000 Louis Armstrong Wonderful World played by Neil Ogden on Sunday 7 May 2023 – – Request No. 120,000 Majesty and Glory Performers Great is Thy Faithfulness played on Friday 14 July 2023 by Jon Perkin – – Request No. 121,000 Duran Duran Ordinary World played on Tuesday 3 October 2023 by Hugh Higgins We did also receive requests from outside the hospital, mostly via WhatsApp, and we certainly intend to build on this when we are back on DAB in 2024. ## **Out and About** Just as the easing of COVID restrictions led to ward visiting getting back to normal, so many events around Basingstoke were back up and running too and the station aimed to get out and about at as many of them as possible during the summer months. We were at the Basingstoke Transport Festival, the opening of Tadley Skate Park, Tadley Treacle Fair, Basingstoke Fire Station Open Day, and the Old **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** Basing Carnival, plus various events that formed part of The Basingstoke Festival including live coverage of the opening parade through the town. We also offered extensive coverage of the Basingstoke Half Marathon. We have covered many events in nearby Alton over the years due to the fact that residents of Alton will more than likely come to Basingstoke should they need hospital treatment, meaning that Alton is very much part of our area. We have met residents of Alton on many occasions around the wards. In 2023 we were at the annual Alton Classic Car Show, something that we have been going to for many years. Our coverage of outside events fulfilled another of our commitments made in our C- DSP application: “ _We will showcase the work of various health/care services and broadcast live from local charity and cultural events and encourage listeners to contact us to talk about events that they are involved in.”_ The final event of the year that we covered was Abseil Into Christmas which was a fundraising event for Hampshire Hospitals Charity that involved fundraisers abseiling down the side of the main hospital building. We covered the event live on air in 6 hours of special live shows, interviewing the organisers and some of those who took part, as well as two of our members, Scott Rawlings and Daisy Redford, actually doing the abseil themselves. Scott was live on the air at the time. At all the events visited during the year, station magazines and business cards were handed out and this seemed to lead to more listening as the highest number of listening hours ever was recorded for online listening. Taking both online listening and listening around the hospital together, we achieved 10,000 hours or more each month during most of the year and the number of unique listeners recorded as listening online also grew throughout much of the year. Our Christmas schedule each year starts with Neil Ogden’s Sound of Sunday BIG Christmas Show, which, following the easing of restrictions, was back to its full length from the studio with a five and a half hour live show of special guests, competitions and requests, plus the return live around the wards of the Great Christmas Cracker Dash. Guests included Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy from Neighbours) and singer Alexander O’Neal. The s taff competition to win a family ticket to the Anvil’s Christmas panto generated the most entries ever and overall the show achieved its highest online listening ever. **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** There were live shows throughout Christmas, including Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as well as a comprehensive selection of special shows for the festive period. ## **NHS75 Day** In July 2023, the NHS celebrated 75 years with many events around the country. To mark the occasion, the station ran a day of special live shows presented from both inside and outside the studio. A gazebo was set up outside the studio with staff coming to see us throughout the day to have a chat, make a request or just sit and listen to the music. The local care homes who take part in Residents’ Requests were invit ed to come along and Rowan Lodge took up the invitation, sitting outside listening to the music and choosing their favourites themselves. Other guests came along during the day including Basingstoke’s Mayor. As part of NHS75 we also asked staff to tell us why they enjoyed working for the NHS, with the results being played out during the summer and in a compilation programme at Christmas. The day was also to promote the fact that it was 3 months of broadcasting on DAB. ## **Residents’ Requests** Making programmes for local care homes is something that we continued to do throughout the year and we believe that this is an important part of our programme schedule. Monthly programmes for Cherry Blossom Manor, Oak Lodge and Rowan Lodge continued throughout the year with the homes involved valuing the playing of residents’ favourite songs and hearing their name mentioned on the radio. HRB also started working with Basingstoke Neighbourcare and going along regularly to the Tadley Community Social Group. For this and the shows for Cherry Blossom Manor, presenter Neil Ogden has been going in person to meet the residents and record them talking on air to introduce their favourite songs. Special editions of Residents’ Requests were recorded to coincide with the Coronation and Local Radio Day at Magnolia Court assisted living in Basingstoke. ## **Awards Nominations** Every year, the Hospital Broadcasting Association organises the National Hospital Radio Awards as part of its annual conference to celebrate the **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** thousands of hours of volunteering by hospital radio volunteers across the UK and the high standard of programming they produce. HRB has had consistent success at the awards over the years and in 2023 added four more nominations to the previous 51. A programme promo for Neil Ogden’s Sound of Sunday was nominated in Best Station Promotion, Neil Ogden was nominated in Best Male Presenter, an edition of Residents’ Requests for the Platinum Jubilee was nominated in Best Special Event and the station was once again shortlisted in Station of the Year. Two members of the station were present at the conference weekend in Bolton in March, although there were no wins this time around. ## **Generating Income** As our promotion and awareness on DAB increased throughout the summer, it was very frustrating that we should find out that the company running the Basingstoke DAB multiplex had gone into liquidation in October. We had just started to explore new funding opportunities with advertising and sponsorship and just before Christmas secured our first paid advertiser. However we felt that we needed to put the rest of our search for sponsors and advertisers on hold until we were back on DAB so that we could offer the maximum potential publicity. The rest of our income was generated through producing a magazine, a quiz night, and several tin rattles. We also have several supporters through the Basingstoke Community Lottery who select us as their good cause to support with 50% of their weekly £1 ticket and we have had some one-off donations. We also benefitted from commission earning site EasyFundraising and as an Amazon Associate. The increased costs of being on DAB mean our running costs are higher and we know that the cost of being on the Basingstoke multiplex will be increasing significantly when things are back up and running. Advertising and sponsorship in 2024 will be more significant in order to meet those increased costs. ## **Volunteers** HRB’s activities would, of course, not be possible without a dedicated team of volunteers working hard to provide the service for our audience. **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** These include those who present, most of whom regularly visit the wards to collect requests, and those whose primary role is to visit the wards to collect requests for later shows. Throughout the year, the number of members hovered at between 20 and 25 with some new recruits, but also others who decided to leave the station. Recruitment was slow and with so few volunteers, it is often hard work to train new members. In fact only one person made their presenting debut in 2023 but there were several new members going through their training process at the end of the year. ## **Acknowledgements** HRB recognises and t hanks the hospital’s trust for their support throughout the year. They provide the station with power and phone and allow us to continue to be in the modular building on the site behind the Sherborne Building. ## **Future Plans** At the end of the year, the consultation was announced for the new hospital in Basingstoke, which could involve a new hospital being built at a site next to junction 7 of the M3, which would mean that the station would have to be relocated at some stage as part of that building process. The opening of the new hospital would be sometime around 2032, but it is believed we will know where it will be built sometime in the middle of 2024, after which the station will have to start planning for that eventual move. The increased running costs are one of the major risks to the charity. There are enough reserves to cover much of this for a period of time but the trustees will need to develop a plan during the coming months to increase future income to cover those costs longer term, most notably the increased licence costs of being on SSDAB. It should also be noted that good though it is having more listeners online, that will also bring with it extra costs. The Trustees aspire to refurbish both broadcast studios to bring them up to modern digital standards, and that will require significant fundraising and investment. Finally there is only a small amount of engineering capability within the station which can limit the ability to deal with technical issues. The Trustees will continue to look for more engineering and technical expertise in future recruitment. **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** ## **Financial Review and Accounts** A new treasurer Inga Adomaviciute joined the organisation in the first quarter of 2023, replacing predecessor David Ravenhill formally at the Annual General Meeting in March. The financial results presented in the Annual Review 2023 reflect the financial activity from 1 January to 31 December 2023. HRB’s expenditure exceeded income in 2023 with a loss of £326.09 mainly because of the increased licence costs of DAB. HRB managed its expenses and income and looked at options to reduce spending and increase revenue where possible. Insurance costs were reduced thanks to a new provider in Policy Bee. Although the membership fees remained the same, £10 for non-presenters and £25 for presenters, HRB improved its income from membership fees by nearly a third between 2022 and 2023. Lottery / Amazon / Easy Fundraising income increased by nearly a third from 2022 to 2023, however, revenue from On Show/Collection tins in shops decreased due to less tin collections in the supermarkets. Quiz Night income slightly decreased due to lower attendance than expected. A one-off income injection came from our magazine produced by Smile publications for £1,000. The cash balances on 31 December 2023 totalled £9,133.70 which includes restricted funds of £115.90 allocated to the purchase of internet radios. Overall, in 2023, the financial year has seen the charity maintain a steady balance sheet. **Hospital Radio Basingstoke** **Annual Report and Accounts 2023** ## **EXPENSES AND INCOME FOR THE PERIOD 1 JANUARY to 31 DECEMBER 2023** |**Notes:**
**EXPENDITURE**
Internet Radios
A
Studio refit costs
B
Studio / computer equip
Engineering and maintenance in studio
Air Conditioning
Building costs - alarms, fire extinguishers etc.
Computer software
Publicity / Promotions
Licences / HBA subs
BT / Wifi / Tablet Mobile
Furniture & buildings maintenance
Insurance
Website
T shirts
Outside events/raffles
Bank charges
On Air imaging (jingles & liners)
Music
Stationary/sundries
Grant Funding return
HRB Conference Bursary /Training|**2023**
**ACTUAL**
0.00
0.00
58.07
0.00
0.00
240.00
38.72
21.79
3,673.38
395.48
0.00
425.60
156.68
150.00
0.00
0.00
540.00
18.25
162.15
0.00
0.00| |---|---| |**TOTAL EXPENSES**|**5,880.12**| |**less refunds**
C|630.64| ||**5,249.48**| ||| |**INCOME**
Grant Funding - Internet Radios
A
Grant Funding - for Station Refit
B
Sale of studio equipment
Membership
Gift Aid
Lottery / Amazon / Easy Fundraising
T-SHIRTS
On Show/Collection tins in shops
Quiz Night
Fashion Show
Sponsorship and Advertising
Magazine
Other income
Other donations
Bank interest|0.00
0.00
0.00
591.00
0.00
688.56
75.00
1,107.17
591.64
0.00
0.00
1,000.00
30.00
768.13
71.89| |**TOTAL INCOME**|**4,923.39**| Hospital Radlo Basingstoke Annual Report and Accounts 2023 Net of recelpts / {payments) -326.09 Cash funds brought fonvard 9,459.79 Total funds carried forward 9,133.70 Anal is of funds Unrestricted Igeneral expenses) 9.203.60 Restricted - Internet Radio 115.30 Restricted- Lottery Grant Total Funds 9,318.90 8ank Accounts DEPOSIT &919.94 CURRENT 388.96 100 CLU8 10.00 Totrl Cash at bank 9,318. Net 0￿$tandIng 185.20 Total Cash and Monies due 9,133.70 Notes: A: Grants re￿iVed to be spent specifically on Internet Radios B: National Lottery £9790 rec'd Dec '19 and returned Dec'21 C: PR5 and PPL licence returtds during thange of licen￿ for SSDAB Signed Slgned Inga Adomavlclute (Treas er Margo er (Secr