York Hospital Radio volunteer Keith Lea will celebrate 60 years with the station this Saturday (July 26).
On the Saturday, he will present a six-hour live show, starting at 10am, featuring music from each of the years he has spent on air.
He will be joined by family members, friends, and fellow presenters, and also by Clare Grainger, deputy Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire.
Mr Lea, from York, joined the then-Ebor Tape Recording Club in July 1965 at the age of 16, because he enjoyed making tape recordings.
He found he had joined a hospital radio station – based, at the time, in a disused pathology lab at the former Fulford Military Hospital.
Mr Lea collected requests and helped to compile and record weekly programmes for ten hospitals across York, broadcast via Post Office landlines.
During the 1960s, he continued to present request shows and work on recorded interviews, taking part in the first live broadcasts in 1968 for what became the York Hospital Broadcasting Service.
Mr Lea has long been passionate about Outside Broadcasts (OBs) and now leads the station’s OB team.
His first event of this kind was in 1971, when he covered a three-day gala at Bootham Park Hospital as part of York’s 1,900th anniversary celebrations.
By the 1970s, the station was based at The Grange on Huntington Road, and required new studios.
Mr Lea helped to raise £63,000 for a purpose-built studio complex, which opened in 1983.
He later served as chairman from 1985 to 1987, and managed the station’s mobile fundraising disco for many years.
Mr Lea was instrumental in the station’s move to its current studios in 1993.
Today, he presents a Saturday morning show from 10am as part of a team including fellow presenters Sharon Chow and Steve Eccles.
He also records and broadcasts events and shows from venues such as the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York Minster, and York Barbican.
Mr Lea said: “Hospital radio was a treasure trove of opportunities and life experiences, which I embraced as a ‘Jack of All Trades’ and master of only a few.
“It’s been a personal journey of challenges, triumphs, teamwork, technology, friendships, and fun!
“York Hospital Radio has endured and evolved, and I’m proud to be part of its journey.”
Ian Clennan, chairman of York Hospital Radio, said: “Huge congratulations to Keith on his amazing 60 years with us.
“I am immensely grateful to Keith for his unique contribution to hospital radio in the city for six decades.”
York Hospital Radio is a registered charity and broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
