A passion to make people smile
One Hospital Radio Plymouth volunteer has just marked 45 years on air, where he presents a show intended to turn silence into laughter on the wards.
Steve Glanville, from St Budeaux, has led an interesting life that has taken many twists and turns, but the constant is his passion to volunteer and to help put a smile on people’s faces.
As a young man, Steve left secondary school and worked for three years at the Sunday Independent in Plymouth - it was while he worked in administration at the newspaper that he met reporter Bob Smith who was also a presenter at Hospital Radio Plymouth (HRP).
Bob encouraged Steve to see what HRP had to offer - and the rest, as they say, is history!
Steve officially joined in 1977 and his first job was to visit the wards in all Plymouth hospitals to get patients’ requests for songs for Bob’s show.
Now, 45 years later Steve is very much a part of the HRP furniture and his time with the station has included an eventful live broadcast, or two, making long-lasting friendships, and it is also where he met his wife Mandy.
He has also encountered many up and coming star reporters and radio presenters who have come through the HRP doors. Once-upon-a-time Steve used to help a 16-year-old present a Saturday night show called ‘Phillip’s Bran Tub’. This young man would one day become one of Britain’s best loved TV presenters, the one and only Phillip Schofield.
Thinking on your feet and making quick decisions is part of the fun of live broadcasting, but Steve has admitted that sometimes, radio presenting can go ‘slightly’ wrong. One example involved two volunteers from HRP. These men ‘loathed each other with a passion’ said Steve and would always argue. One day Bob Smith had had enough of this and threw them into a self operating radio booth and closed to door, telling them to ‘sort it out!’
Steve laughs: ‘We then get a call from Derriford that said, “I do think the play is very well acted but the language is a little strong!” The previous presenter had left the microphone on live!’
Steve met his wife Mandy at HRP but it was thanks to a little ‘nudge’ from Bob that their relationship grew.
‘Mandy was in the production studio at the same time I was in the self op studio. We did like each other but one day I was told I couldn’t do something in the self op studio as there was a fault, so they told me to go to the studio with Mandy. That little “fault” was the start of our 35 year relationship, or so I thought. Four months ago I was telling our Station Manager Keith Jolley this story and he looked at me and smiled and said, “there was no fault”. Bob had noticed we liked each other and gave us a nudge - so Bob Smith, thank you very much!’
Steve began presenting Steve Glanville’s Programme in 1978 and worked solo until 2009 when he joined forces with Jill Bright. The pair now present Request Line each Wednesday.
‘I love presenting but I love visiting the wards. When I visit the wards they are silent - the patients aren’t talking. I get the requests, have a chat with the patients and then I leave, but when I leave I can hear that they are all talking to each other about the music they have chosen and that’s the biggest thing for me. To get people talking and make them smile.’
Science and surgery
Steve was born and raised in St Budeaux and attended Kings Tamerton Secondary School where he fell in love with science. He pursued a career in the science profession in 1973 and became a science technician at Bishop Vaughan Catholic School, which then became St Boniface's Catholic College in 1981, where he stayed for the next 42 years, during which time he trained and became a science teacher.
Steve said: ‘I used to conduct shows to get the kids interested in science and I did this for the school and called them the ‘Whizzbang Show’ with explosions and everything, which I probably wouldn’t be allowed to do now!’
The shows were so popular that Steve was approached by The Royal Society to take his shows on tour to other schools in the South West, something he did for five years before he decided to retire in 2015.
Steve was a keen sportsman but following a tennis match, just before he was due to retire, Steve suffered a heart attack that resulted in him having five stents.
‘Funny thing about that, I was put on a ward that I had been visiting for requests for ten years,’ said Steve, smiling.
‘I was in Bickleigh ward for five days and when I was in there I listened to Hospital Radio Plymouth and on came Celine Dion’s song “My Heart Will Go On”. . .’
He recovered and managed to go back to work before retiring, on his own terms, that same year.
Two years later though Steve had to have another stent added. Unfortunately, on the same day following the operation Steve suffered a second heart attack right outside the cardiac lab.
‘I mean, if you’re going to have a heart attack that was the best place to be. They rushed me straight in and I had nine stents added. They said if I had the heart attack anywhere else in the building then I wouldn’t have made it.’
Hospital Radio and awards
Hospital Radio Plymouth has been serving the community for over 50 years, visiting patients, collecting requests and broadcasting to Derriford Hospital and its offshoots. Run exclusively by volunteers, the charity has overcome a series of challenges over the decades, including changes in technology, several moves and constant fundraising to keep the station on air.
Volunteers at HRP have been nominated for six awards in this year’s Hospital Broadcasting Awards, including the prestigious Station of the Year Award.
HRP have been nominated for Station of the Year every year since 2008, winning bronze, silver or gold eight times.
Keith Jolley said: ‘The impact of coronavirus has shown just how important Hospital Radio is in lifting the spirits of those in hospital and the wider community. Our volunteers continue to do an incredible job, keeping communities connected even when they may be physically distanced. The fact we’ve been nominated for so many awards is testament to the amazing work our volunteers do.’
By Lindsay Turpin