25 years of lighting up the lives of youngsters
‘MAKING A DIFFERENCE’ IS MOTIVATION FOR RADIO
OU would be surprised what an eight-yearold will ask for,” says Raymond Watson, who is Radio Lollipop’s longest serving DJ in Glasgow.
Black Sabbath has been one of his most surprising requests, from a young patient of that age.
The 58-year-old has been playing tunes for seriously ill children in hospital since the international charity started broadcasting at the former Yorkhill hospital, and has only missed Christmas Day twice.
It’s not all Little Mix and Justin Bieber, he says, although they remain the most popular choices.
Despite describing himself as the “world’s worst DJ”.
When he started in 1991, volunteers were still using vinyl and children were using a telephones to phone in requests.
Now, it’s text and e-mail and MP3, however, the role of the radio station has not changed. To provide a bit of normality for young children, away from their bedrooms and siblings.
Over the years, Radio Lollipop has welcomed a host of celebrity guests DJs. Ally McCoist was due to make a short visit at the height of his playing career with Rangers, but instead spent hours with Raymond.
His son Mitchell was treated at Yorkhill. Ronan Keating is the most recent celebrity guest DJ at the new Royal Hospital for Children.
Despite volunteering for a over a quarter of a century, the enjoyment hasn’t faded for Raymond, who is from Dennistoun and works for Slaters Menswear by day.
“It’s just knowing you have made a difference to a child.” he says.
“Sometimes, if I’m not DJ-ing, I go up the wards and the child might be a bit withdrawn and after 20 minutes you’ve got them engaged. Knowing you have made a difference, that’s why I’m still doing the job.”
Radio Lollipop was launched in the UK in 1979 in the Royal Hospital for Children in Surrey, which at at the time was the biggest children’s hospital i n Europe.
It was launched in Glasgow, on October 28, 1991, although the station did not go live until April 4, 1992 and it now operates every night from 6pm-8pm and has around 35 volunteers, some of whom are former patients.
Raymond says: “I work in Slaters and I was on a day off and I was going through the papers and there was a feature in the paper, that they were starting a Radio Lollipop in Glasgow.
“I thought, that looks like fun and I was lucky enough to be accepted. There was eight of us on that miserable Wednesday night.
“The first song that was played was 2 Unlimited’s Get Ready for This.
“When the station moved from Yorkhill to the new hospital, that was the first song we played.
“I’m the world’s worst presenter. I keep making mistakes, most of them, I say I’ve done it on purpose.
“If you can spot the deliberate mistake, put the answers on the back of a £5 note. No-one has ever taken me up on that, which is a shame.”
Figures show one in four children will be admitted to hospital before reaching the age of 14.
Most have a recurring need for care and must return, repeatedly, to hospital. Some terminally ill children can spend much of their short lives in hospital.
As well as requesting their favourite music, young patients can also come into the little booth, which lights up green, and have a go on the controls.
Raymond says: “This radio station belongs to the children so if a child comes in and does this, we don’t say, ‘don’t touch that’. This is their station. You are just there as a custodian of it. If they want to take over, that’s fine.”
Raymond will play most requests, unless they have too many expletives and everything is checked, even radio edits. The volunteering work doesn’t end in the DJ booth. Every night, staff go up into the wards to distract the young patients with games and activities.