Hospital Radio – ever heard such a thing?

Pardon my ignorance, but I had never heard of hospital radio before. Until last week when I was in for an appointment and picked up a magazine entitled, what else but, "Durham Hospitals Radio (DHR). Apparently the Durham station has been going since the 1960s, and many hospitals in many countries have their own radio stations. I was a week in Addenbrooks Hospital in Cambridge way back, but I don't remember any radio on offer. So how many of you out there have enjoyed hospital radio?

The free issue of "Durham Hospitals Radio"
magazine, available at the hospital!

One of the articles in this magazine claims that hospital radio was initiated in the Walter Reed General Hospital, Washington DC, in 1919. The first hospital radio transmissions were then started in England in 1925 at the York County Hospital, using headphones and loudspeakers. Other countries stated to have hospital radio are Japan and The Netherlands.

In Durham at least, DHR is run entirely by volunteers and is a registered charity. It runs 24-hours a day with hourly programmes, such as Easy Listening, A-Z of Pop, The Breakfast Show, 50's Thru to 70's [sic], The Folk Show, Classical Hour, Musical Box [from musicals], Listeners Choice, 80's 90's and Noughties,* Late Show, Country, and Gospel. I note that "World Music" is absent from this list – maybe a volunteer is needed to showcase other countries' folk and court musics...

* Here in England, the 'Noughties' refers to the decade from 2000 to 2009; this is because the 00 are two 'noughts', i.e. zeros. What do you call this decade?