BHBN Hospital Radio has expanded its reach by launching into online streaming – making it permanently accessible to the general public for the first time in its 62 years of broadcasting.

Until now, the volunteer-run hospital radio station – based in the old Queen Elizabeth Hospital building – could only broadcast to patients in the six NHS hospitals across Birmingham via tuned-in media units at patients’ bedsides.

Now the online stream means that accessibility for patients will be much easier, with many coming into hospitals with their own mobile and tablet devices. It also means that people receiving home care, as well as friends and relatives of those in hospital for any length of time, will be able to tune in and call in to request a song dedication for themselves or someone else.

Colin Monnaf, Programme Controller for BHBN, said: “This is a really exciting time for BHBN. The expansion to online broadcasting will really boost the potential for us to reach more patients than ever.

“Accessibility of the station for our patients is key to enabling us to deliver our services easily and, with more and more people tuning into radio and music stations via a variety of online devices these days, our expansion into online broadcasting was the direction we all agreed we needed to go in.”

BHBN broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, delivering a range of entertainment, music and sport-based programmes designed to appeal to the range of patients in hospital. Patients will still be able to tune in via their bedside media units if they wish, with the online broadcasts also now being available via the TuneIn radio app on tablet and compatible mobile devices, and via the online stream on the website.