This weekend sees the end of the first run of our Extra season of shows.  We started on Friday afternoons and then added Saturdays with an extra hour of Sound of Sunday features during the lockdown period, all produced from our remote studios.

The show in all its 3 editions has changed over the summer, but will gradually be returning to a more normal production in the coming weeks although still being produced live from our remote studio.  Listeners will still be at the heart of what we  do each week, but as of this weekend we’ll be bringing back features such as Milestone Request Replay and Soap Update and replaying some ofthe Random Vinyl choices from previous months.

Series 29 of the show will come to an end in August and we’ll be taking our annual summer break, although it may be unlikely that we’ll be able to produce our regular summer special shows from local events as there quite possibly won’t be any local events.

When we return for series 30, hopefully we’ll be back in the studio and we can start looking forward to another year of shows that will include our 30th anniversary next March.  There are still uncertainties though.  What will our Christmas Show look like this year for example.

In the meantime join us for our final Extra shows of the series on Friday and Saturday and then live on Sunday from 1.30 including, on the day that he would have been in Basingstoke, another chance to hear Johnny Ball when he was on the show last year.

A huge number of events are being cancelled or postponed in 2020 and one of those is the annual Alton Lions Party in the Park, a regular fund raising event for Treloar College and other local charities that usually takes place in the Public Gardens in Alton.  It would be happening this weekend but instead, we’ll be broadcasting a revised repeat of our Summer Special from 2019 that was there last year.

So you can relive all the fun of the 2019 Wild West themed party on Saturday 6 June at 4pm.

Since the end of March the show has sounded very different to normal.  In line with government guidelines, the show has not come from HRB’s studio since 22 March and has been produced from the home of Studio 63 Productions in Tadley since.

For most of that time, the show has been recorded in advance.  An initial attempt at a live show did not go quite to plan, and whilst changes to the show were planned, the opportunity was taken to repeat our interview with Michele Monro and some of the Morrisons Prize Draw winners.

Gradually though a new format has evolved and the new “Staying at Home” show was created.

For several weeks this was also based around a recorded show format, featuring some of the show’s normal features plus one or two new extras, but for the last two weeks, it has been possible to do the show live from a remote studio, and that is the way it will hopefully stay for the next few weeks, bringing back the ability to take phone calls and play requests.

There may be more features added in the coming weeks as we build confidence in live remote shows and what is possible broadcasting in this way, but the most important thing about the show as always is the requests and thanks to HRB’s team of ward visitors, they have kept coming.

we also got to thinking that with a bit of extra time on our hands, how about creating an extra show, so The Sound of Sunday EXTRA came on air on a Friday afternoon at the start of May.

It’s an hour on a Friday afternoon with some of the regular features from the main show.  And from Saturday 23 May, the show will be heard on a Saturday afternoon too!

We hope to be back in the studio at HRB later in the summer, but it looks like we will be broadcasting from home for at least the remainder of this series, which is due to come to an end at the end of July.  Series 30 was planned to start at the end of August and we had started planning some special shows for our 30th year.  Hopefully we can still do some of that but one thing is for sure, series 29 has been different to any other year we’ve done!

We’re going twice a week from next week with a brand new extra show every Friday afternoon.

The new show will be on the air for an hour from 3 – 4pm with more of the features that will be part of the new Staying at Home show which starts this weekend.

More Lost TV, Myths and Legends and That’s Life plus Everything Sounds is back, all about how we use sound in our everyday lives.

The show will run for as long as the lockdown restrictions continue, staring on Friday 1 May.

The last show we did that had any sense of normality was on 22 March.  That was our 29th birthday show with guest Michele Monro.  Since then we have tried out the technology that would make it possible to present the show live away from the studio.  That was only partially successful and awaits the installation of some new technology at HRB’s studio.

We can though produce shows recorded shortly in advance and have done so in various forms over the last few weeks with some of our regular features and some requests too.

From this week, for the next few weeks, we have a new format that will bring some of our regular features together in a new look 2-hour show.

We can play requests, and you’ll also hear regulars such as That’s Life, The A to Z of Pop Trivia Challenge, Quiet Quarter of an Hour, Word Whizz and The Big End.  There will be the return of Myths and Legends and more Lost TV.

Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can return to the studio, but things look like being a bit different for some time to come.

The daughter of one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s and 1970s, Matt Monro, will join us on 22 March as the special guest on The 29th birthday edition of the show.

Known as The Man with the Golden Voice, he filled cabarets, nightclubs, music halls, and stadiums across the world in his 30-year career, described as “one of the most underrated pop vocalists of the ’60s”, who “possessed the easiest, most perfect baritone in the business”.

His recordings include the UK Top 10 hits: “Portrait of My Love”, “My Kind of Girl”, “Softly As I Leave You”, “Walk Away” and “Yesterday” (Originally by The Beatles). He also recorded several film themes such as “From Russia with Love” for the James Bond film of the same name, “Born Free” for the film of the same name and “On Days Like These” for The Italian Job.

Michele Monro will be talking about life growing up in the Monro household, the occasion her father took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 and the brand new album of unheard recordings that were made in 1967 and that are being released this month.

Michele will also be revealing HRB’s 110,000th request to be played.

Michele Monro on The Sound of Sunday, 22 March from 1.30pm

We are pleased to announce that our interview with John, a patient who was a drummer to the likes of Matt Monro, Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones has been nominated for an award.

When the nominations for the National Hospital Radio Awards were revealed just after midnight on New Year’s Day, Drummer John was on the shortlist for Best Speech Package.

The full proramme, which was half an hour long, was first heard in the summer and during it we heard about how John worked with some of the big stars of the 1960s and even got to perform in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance, and when he was introduced to her aftwards, he made her smile!

HRB has also been nominated for Best Station Promotion and Station of the Year and the winners will be announced at the end of March a a gala night in Bolton,.

The weekend prize draw made its return to HRB in February 2019 and on 29 December, we’ll remember some of those who have won and received their prize on the air later in the afternoon.

The draw has always been popular and there have been some very enthusiastice winners since it returned.

The winners compilation will follow another chance to hear Drummer John, who was drummer to the likes of Matt Monro, Shirley Bassey and Ton Jones and who, as a patient, we chatted to during the summer.  The interview has been entered into the National Hospital Radio Awards 2020 with the shortlists to be announced on New Year’s Day.

Hear the show from 12.30 on 29 December.