It's not just budding presenters who cut their teeth working in hospital radio, some of the biggest names in pop also started out on the wards.
Hospital Radio is a national institution in Britain. From football commentaries to the hit parade, the patients' bedside speaker has become their therapeutic friend.
It has helped launch the career of many a musician - as a rare, previously unbroadcast interview with an unknown Liverpudlian band called The Beatles shows.
Plus, it's done wonders for many a budding presenter too: Simon Mayo, Philip Schofield and Ken Bruce all cut their teeth at the hospital radio microphone.
In this Archive Hour programme, former volunteer and current Radio 4 presenter Carolyn Quinn traces hospital broadcasting's people and history, and assesses the future of this medicine for the ears.
