What do Black Midi’s Cameron Picton, drummer Steve Noble and Neneh Cherry have in common. The answer lies in the first 2 tracks. Plus a smidgeon of Scots music with FRAS (lovingly lifted ftom a BBC Alba film) and the legendary lost Shelagh McDonald who disappeared in 1971 and appeared again in 2005.
Hour One
My New Band Believe (Cameron Picton) – Numerology (Single 2026)Rip Rig + Panic – My Kind of Climate (Attitude 1983)X – Soul Kitchen (Los Angeles, 1980)Magazine – Philadelphia (The Correct Use Of Soap, 1980. Remastered 2007)The Hooters – Nervous Night (Nervous Night, 1985) The Fraternity Of Man – In The Morning (The Fraternity Of Man, 1968) The Tubes – Amnesia (The Completion Backward Principle, 1981) Furniture – Shake Like Judy Says (The Wrong People, 1986) The Mooney Suzuki – Alive & Amplified (Alive & Amplified 2004) Trombone Shorty – For True ft The Rebirth Brass Band & 5th Ward Weebie (Buckjump 2011) Los Lobos & Café Tacvba – La Venganza de Los Pelados (featuring Café Tacuba) (The Ride 2004) Hour Two
Fras – Techno Johnny’s (live on BBC Alba) (Flinne 2024) J.J. Cale – Call me the Breeze (Natural 1974) The Tubs – Fade to Black (Fade to Black, 2026) Sibongile Khumalo – Mayihlome (Immortal Secrets, 2000) Angélique Kidjo – Bahia (Black Ivory Soul, 2002) Caitlin Rose – Modern Dancing (CAZIMI, 2022) Joe Pug – Hymn #35 (Nation of Heat EP 2008) Aqua – I am What I am (World Pride Anthem at Copenhagen 2021) Juanita Stein – Stargazer (America, 2016) Shelagh McDonald – Stargazer (Stargazer 1971) Extended The Buzzcocks – I Believe (2008 Remaster) (A Different Kind of Tension 1979)
The passing of time could be a worrying process – but it’s not because ageing has never worried all those Peter Pans in the Pop business. They sneer at the aging process – think ‘My Generation’ by The Who and they treat it as a joke – as in ‘When I’m 64’ by The Beatles written by McCartney when he was 15. Sometimes the tone becomes more philosophical as with that other Beatle writer, George Harrison and ‘All Things Must Pass’. And then there is ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ by Peter, Paul and Mary – a song about the loss of childhood innocence or was it a subversive drugs anthem? This week the clock may be ticking but these songs are pictures in attic.
Hour One
Arthur ‘Dooley’ Wilson – As Time Goes By (As Time Goes By 1931)
Smashing Pumpkins – 1979 (Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness 1995)
Silversun Pickups – Growing Old is Getting Old (Swoon 2009)
Pulp – Help The Aged (This Is Hardcore 1997)
Example – The Evolution Of Man (The Evolution Of Man 2012)
Flogging Molly – Float (Float 2008)
The Kinks – Do You Remember Walter? (The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society 1968)
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass (All Things Must Pass 1970)
The Verve – Appalachian Springs (Forth 2008)
Keane – Bedshaped (Hopes and Fears 2004)
Alphaville – Forever Young (Forever Young 1984)
Paul Weller – Time Passes (Stanley Road 1994)
Hour Two
The Courteeners – Not Nineteen Forever (St Jude 2008)
Bob Seger – Against The Wind (Against The Wind 1980)
Rod Stewart – You Wear it Well (Never a Dull Moment 1972)
Bruce Springsteen – I’ll See You in My Dreams (Letter to You 2020)
Cat Stevens – Oh Very Young (Buddha and the Chocolate Box 1974)
Bob Dylan – Forever Young (Slow version)
Peter Paul & Mary – Puff the Magic Dragon (Moving 1963)
The Killers – When You Were Young (Sam’s Town 2006)
You Me at Six – When We Were Younger (Sinners Never Sleep 2011)
Jackson Browne – These Days (For Everyman 1973)
The Beatles – The Long and Winding Road (Let It Be 1970)
Three great train tracks from Doc Watson, Cream & Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Michael Nau, the new Chet Baker, lost UK indie dance band, Grand National, Tarkan’s Turkish lament, Leon’s Comet and the inexplicably knighted Sir Douglas Quintet. The whole world in your headphones. Don’t be late.
Hour One
1. NATI – Golden (live at Hoolie in Glasgow on BBC Alba 2023)
2. New Age Healers – Radiate (The Spin Out, 2024)
3. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – In This Home of Ice (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 2006)
4. Pauline Murray – Screaming in the Darkness (Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls,
1980)
5. Grand National – Playing in the Distance (Kicking the National Habit 2004)
6. Sir Douglas Quintet – At The Crossroads (Mendocino, 1969)
7. Leon’s Comet – Paperbag (Paperbag Single 2026)
8. Dub Colossus – We Stand (Dub Will Keep Us Together, 2026)
A single moment is all it takes. Life can hinge on something that happens once – a glance, a mistake, a kiss, a loss, a revelation and music is the place to go when we want to feel that moment again. The doorway you only walk through once. This week we play songs about the instant everything changes. The one moment, person or experience that made us, once upon a time.
Hour One
Ian Hunter – Once Bitten, Twice Shy (Ian Hunter 1975)
Stevie Wonder – For Once in My Life (For Once in My Life, 1968)
Bleach Lab – If You Only Feel It Once (Lost in a Rush of Emptiness, 2023)
Duels – Once in the Night (The Bright Lights & What I Should Have Learned, 2006)
Matt Berry – To Live For What Once Was (Heard Noises, 2005)
Northern Uproar – Girl I Once Knew (Yesterday Tomorrow Today, 1996)
Sam Hunt – Young Once (Southside, 2020)
Jesse Mac Cormack – All at Once (Solo, 2019)
Jeff Buckley – Opened Once (Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, 1998)
Frank Ortega – Two Places at Once (Two Places at Once, 2008)
Bonnie Raitt – All at Once (Luck of the Draw, 1991)
Hour Two
The Strokes – You Only Live Once (First Impressions of Earth, 2006)
The Veils – The Stars Came Out Once the Lights Went Out (Troubles of the Brain EP, 2011)
The Magic Numbers – Once I Had (The Runaway, 2010)
Bradford – Everything at Once (Bradford, 1990)
James Morrison – Once When I Was Little (Songs for You, Truths for Me, 2008)
Air – Once Upon a Time (Pocket Symphony, 2007)
Liam Gallagher – Once (Acoustic Piano) (Radio 1 Piano Sessions, 2019)
Shura – Just Once (Just Once – Single, 2014)
The Like – Once Things Look Up (Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?, 2005)
The Righteous Brothers – Just Once in My Life (Just Once in My Life, 1965)
Stockholm Monsters – All at Once (Alma Mater Plus, 1984)
The Fray – All at Once (How to Save a Life, 2005)
Alex Thomas – How It Was Once (Here I Go EP, 2013)
We play the whole spectrum this week from 40s Gospel to 50s Doo-Wop, we mark the passing of Dave Mason and we look at the long career of Dion – his strange stalker, Jarvis Cocker with Pulp.
Hour One
The Swan Silvertones – Trouble in My Way (The Incredibles Swan Silvertones 1947)
Prisonaires – Don’t Say Tomorrow (Single, 1954)
Pop-O-Pies – Truckin’ (The White EP, 1981)
Buffalo Springfield – Pretty Girl Why (Last Time Around 1968)
Dion – Only You Know (Born to Be With You 1975)
Jarvis Cocker – Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time (Jarvis 2006)
Dion & The Belmonts – (I Was) Born to Cry (Lovers Who Wander 1962)
Pulp – Born to Cry (Notting Hill OST 1999)
The Silent Comedy – All Saints Day (Common Faults 2011)
Dead Beats – Choose You (Single, 1980)
Dave Mason – We Just Disagree (Let It Flow, 1977)
Detroit Emeralds – You’re Getting a Little too Smart (Vinyl album version) (I’m in Love with You 1973) Hour Two
Aaron Frazer – If I Got It (Your Love Brought It) (Introducing, 2020)
The Painted Ship – Frustration (B-Side Little White Lies Single 1967)
Jimmie Vaughan – Lost In You (Out There, 1998)
Jess Klein – Little White Dove (Draw Them Near, 2000)
Mirah – Stumbling (Dedication, 2026)
The Drowning Craze – Storage Case (Single, 1981)
The Henry Girls – December Moon (December Moon, 2011)
Indigo Girls – Power Of Two (Swamp Ophelia, 1995)
Bon Iver ft Danielle Haim – If Only I Could Wait (Sable, fable 2025)
Alabama Shakes – I Found You (Boys & Girls 2012)
John Hiatt/Loudon Wainwright III – My Girl (B Side Thank You Girl 1987) (Bring the Family 1987)
Prayer and contemporary music have always shared the same emotions: a voice reaching outward, upward, or inward, trying to make sense of the world. Strip away the ritual and what remains is the universal act of asking: for clarity, for comfort, for courage, for connection. Modern songwriters do this constantly. A whispered plea, a midnight confession, or a quiet hope set to melody. In this sense, the pop charts and the pews aren’t strangers at all; they’re simply two private placeswhere people practise the same ancient desire to speak their hearts into the dark and wait for an answer.
Hour One
Coldplay ft Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna & Tini. – We Pray (Moon Music 2024)
George Michael – Praying for Time (remaster) (Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 1990)
U2 – American Prayer (Nelson Mandela AIDS Concert: African Prayer (2004)
Bruce Springsteen – The Power Of Prayer (Letter To You 2020)
Seal – Prayer For The Dying (Seal 1994)
Arethra Franklin & The London Philharmonic Orchestra – I Say a Little Prayer (A Brand New Me 2017)
Celine Dion & Andreas Bocelli – The Prayer (Single 2008)
Rascal Flatts – Bless the Broken Road (Feels Like Today 2004)
Carolina Liar – Show Me What I’m Looking For (Coming to Terms 2008)
Drew Holcomb & The Neighbours – What Would I do without You (Good Light 2013)
Slowdive – Prayer Remembered (Everything Is Alive 2023)Hour Two
Hour Two
The Goo Goo Dolls – Prayer in my Pocket (Boxes 2016)
Danny Wilson – Mary’s Prayer (Meet Danny Wilson 1987)
Calvin Harris ft Haim – Pray to God (Motion 2014)
Little Boots – Every Night I Say A Prayer (Nocturnes 2012)
The Beths – Mother, Pray for Me (Straight Line was a Lie 2025)
Kodaline – Pray (In a Perfect World 2013)
The Coral – Drifter’s Prayer (Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show 2023)
Sipho – Prayers (Prayers & Paranoia 2023)
Brian Owens & the Deacons of Soul – Prayer For My Children (Soul Of Ferguson 2017)
Josephine – Pray that I Move (Portrait 2012)
Cousteau – She Don’t Hear Your Prayer (Cousteau 1990)
Cerys Williams – Rev Eli Jenkins Prayer (Dylan Thomas, A Child’s Christmas, Poems & Tiger Eggs 2014)
Michael W. Smith – Prayer For Taylor (Freedom 2000)
A mini tribute to Dean Wareham, founder of Galaxie 500, solo artist and duetting with wife Britta, finishing with their version of the Seekers hit ‘Carnival is Over’- which brings a completely new meaning to the song, poignant right now. Film maker David Lynch claims he listened to it 100 times in a row. Plus a new release from local dream pop duo DreamCoaster.
Hour One
The Alarm – Live Today (Transformation 2026)
Redd Kross – Lady in the Front Row (Phaseshifter, 1993)
Aiko el grupo – Peñacastillo (Single, 2023)
Dreamcoaster – Catch Me When I Fall (Single 2026)
Sarah MacDougall – Sometimes You Lose, Sometimes You Win (The Greatest Ones Alive 2011)
The Little Willies – For The Good Times (For the Good Times 2011)
Galaxie 500 – Flowers (Today 2004)
Dean Wareham – You Were the Ones I Had to Betray (That’s the Price of Loving Me 2025)
Dean & Britta – The Carnival is Over (The Carnival is Over Single 2020)
Ghostpoet ft Nadine Shah – X Marks the Spot (Shedding Skin 2015)
Cornershop – The Safety Of Objects (Born Disco, Died Heavy Metal 7” single, 1994)
David Byrne & Caetano Veloso – Dreamworld / Marco de Canavezes (Red Hot & Lisbon, 1998) Hour Two
The accordion is an instrument you might think you already know. Think again. The squeezebox has travelled through centuries, across borders, through cafés, carnivals, protest marches and back‑street bars, and yet it still plays on.
You’ll hear it lift indie anthems, ground folk ballads, and weave through electronic textures where it simply shouldn’t sound this good. It adds breath to circuit boards, adventure to minimalism, and an old voice to machine-made music. It reminds us that music is still made by air moving through reeds.
Hour One
Peter Sarstedt – Where do you go to my lovely? (Peter Sarstedt 1969)
The Beach Boys – God Only Knows (1966)
The Young Rascals – How Can I Be Sure (Groovin’ 1967)
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Mr Bojangles (Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy 1970)
Nilsson – Gotta Get Up (Nilsson Schmilsson
Cole Gallagher – Chatting Through Steel (The Confluence 2021)
Bruce Springsteen – 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle
1973)
Arcade Fire – Neighbourhood 2 (Laika) (Funeral 2004)
Ceili Rain – Love Travels (Say KAY-lee 1997)
Steve Earle – Burnin’ It Down (The Low Highway 2013)
Los Lobos – La Bamba (La Bamba Soundtrack 1987)
Dire Straits – Romeo & Juliet (Making Movies 1980)
Hospital radio in the UK began in the 1920s, when volunteers started bringing live sports commentary into hospitals so patients could follow local football matches. The first recognised service is usually credited to York County Hospital in 1925, where commentary was piped directly to bedsides.
Through the 1940s–60s, the movement expanded rapidly. Volunteers built makeshift studios, curated record libraries, and created programmes tailored to patients’ needs — dedications, request shows, gentle humour, and companionship through long nights.
By the 1970s, hospital radio had become a national institution, with hundreds of stations across the UK. It became a training ground for young broadcasters, a community hub, and a vital wellbeing service long before “wellbeing” was a formal concept.
Today, hospital radio continues as a volunteer‑driven service offering comfort, continuity, and human connection — the very things that matter most when someone is unwell or isolated.
Broadcasters Who Emerged from Hospital Radio
Many of the UK’s most recognisable voices began behind the modest microphones of hospital stations. Some of the most notable include:
Ken Bruce — began at Glasgow Hospital Broadcasting Service before becoming one of the most enduring voices on BBC Radio 2.
Chris Moyles — started at Wakefield’s Broadcast to Hospitals (WBH) before rising to BBC Radio 1 Breakfast fame.
Scott Mills — joined Southampton Hospital Radio at 16, launching a career that led to Radio 1, Radio 2, and national TV.
Huw Stephens — began at Rookwood Hospital Radio in Cardiff before becoming a champion of new music on Radio 1 and 6 Music.
Graham Norton — volunteered at Cork’s hospital radio service before becoming one of the UK’s most recognisable broadcasters.
Simon Mayo — cut his teeth at Southlands Hospital Radio in Worthing before his long BBC career.
Phillip Schofield — began at Hospital Radio Plymouth before becoming a household name on national TV.
Each of them has spoken about the same thing: hospital radio teaches intimacy, empathy, timing, and the art of speaking to one person — not an audience. It’s where broadcasters learn that radio is not a performance, but a relationship.
The story begins in 1972, when volunteers converted a disused butchers shop and a group emerged who converted a butcher’s shop in the grounds of Southlands Hospital, Shoreham-by-Sea, into a tiny studio. The new service was called Radio Southlands, broadcasting just a few hours a week to patients in Southlands Hospital.
In the early to mid eighties it became clear that there was a similar need in the larger Worthing Hospital. This led to Worthing Hospital Radio launching on the 11th April 1986. The first studios were located inside Zachary Merton Hospital, the small community/rehabilitation hospital on the north side of Worthing, before it moved into Park Avenue, close to the main hospital and later into the Adur Civic Centre in Shoreham.
Through the 1980s, the station grew in ambition and profile. As the service expanded to cover Worthing Hospitals, it evolved into Coastway Hospital Radio, reflecting its wider coastal audience and modernised output and extended it service to Sussex County Hospital and the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton.
In 2004, the station rebranded again as Seaside Hospital Radio, the name it still carries today. It now broadcasts 24 hours a day, online and via hospital systems, run entirely by volunteers and still rooted in its founding mission: to comfort, distract, and accompany patients through music, conversation, and companionship.
Hour One
Peggy Lee – “Fever” (Single, 1958)
James Taylor – “You’ve Got a Friend” (Mud Slide Slim, 1971)
The Beatles – “Getting Better” (Sgt. Pepper’s, 1967)
Charlie Dore – “Pilot of the Airwaves” (Where to Now, 1979)
Frank Sinatra – “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!, 1956)
Alma Cogan – “Dreamboat” (Single, 1955)
The Seekers – “Georgy Girl” (Georgy Girl OST, 1966)
Leo Sayer – “Orchard Road” (Have You Ever Been in Love, 1983)
David Soul – “Don’t Give Up on Us” (Single, 1976)
Van Morrison – “And the Healing Has Begun” (Into the Music, 1979)
The Hollies – “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (Single, 1969)
Hour Two
Mama Cass – “It’s Getting Better” (Bubblegum, Lemonade &… Something for Mama, 1969)
The Beach Boys – “God Only Knows” (Pet Sounds, 1966)
The Beautiful South – “Song for Whoever” (Welcome to the Beautiful South, 1989)
John Miles – “Music” (Rebel, 1976)
ABC – “The Look of Love” (The Lexicon of Love, 1982)
Culture Club – “Time (Clock of the Heart)” (Single, 1982)
Spandau Ballet – “True” (True, 1983)
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – “This Guy’s in Love with You” (Single, 1968)
