About

Organisation History « Beatles Audience Funding Sponsor Tour Directions Contact Us

History

A patient listens during the 1950s

It was April 1951 when the seed of an idea was planted, which was to continue growing for more than half a century.

Radio Clatterbridge began its life as a group of boys from a local youth group. They set about visiting patients at Clatterbridge General Hospital and playing them songs from a portable record player.

So popular was this idea, that it soon became possible to buy permanent gramophones and "broadcast" the songs back to the patients, via a simple land-line system.

The old studio

By the early 1960s, the new radio station was broadcasting a number of programmes every week. One of those, Sunday Spin, became a milestone in musical history. The presenter, Monty Lister, recorded the first broadcast interview with a new up-and-coming band, called The Beatles. Read more...

As technology advanced, a move of premises took Radio Clatterbridge into Larch House during the '70s. The station remained in these studios for nearly two decades.

Digital technology was first introduced during the late 1980s, as the station (now equipped with two studios) took delivery of it's first compact disc player.

The 1990s studio

In 1993, Radio Clatterbridge moved to a temporary home near to St John's Hospice. The temporary move lasted for nearly a decade.

Radio Clatterbridge made its permanent move into the old boiler house, renamed Larch House, over the winter of 2000/2001. The station's new home had to be developed from scratch. Successful applications for a number of grants enabled Radio Clatterbridge to fit a new studio for the new millennium. Take a tour of the current station building here.

Monty Lister reopens the station

Radio Clatterbridge was re-launched and reopened in April 2001 by Monty Lister.

In 2003, new computer equipment enabled the station to do something it had never been able to do before: Radio Clatterbridge now provides a 24-hour service for the hospital site. And, who knows, within the next few years you may just be able to pick Radio Clatterbridge up without needing a land-line connection...