If you have ever been a hospital patient, you may have heard some of the many programmes that are broadcast from a radio station run by volunteers to your bedside Patientline unit.

In all of the Oxford hospitals, that station is called Radio Cherwell, and this year it is celebrating 40 years of hospital broadcasting with a series of programmes on BBC Radio Oxford.

Radio Therapy - A celebration of local hospital broadcasting begins on Sunday at 9pm. The series will look back at the inception of Radio Cherwell by a group of telephone engineers in 1967, with archive clips, interviews and music spanning 40 years.

It will feature guests who have been involved with hospital radio, such as Ukulele Bob and BBC Oxford sports editor and television presenter Jerome Sale.

Producer Mark Watson will present the series with Radio Cherwell's chairman, Neil Stockton, as they examine the history of hospital radio, which had its pioneering broadcast in 1926 in York. Volunteering with Radio Cherwell not only gives you a sense of pride in helping to present and produce a wide variety of award-winning programmes with state of the art studio equipment, but also the knowledge that you are making patients feel a little better and, hopefully, hastening their recovery. Certainly there are many patients who tell us how much we've "cheered them up" or "alleviated their boredom".

Patients often ask: "Why can't I listen to Radio Cherwell at home?" The simple answer is that we are only able to broadcast to the hospitals in Oxford, yet we still manage to reach thousands of patients.

Our station is based at the Churchill Hospital in Headington and is staffed by more than 60 volunteers. We visit all the hospitals, collecting requests from patients, organising quiz teams and distributing leaflets containing bingo cards, and patients can win anything from a mug to a meal for two.

Hospital Radio Cherwell broadcasts live from 7pm every evening, and all weekend, though if patients select our channel on their bedside unit at any other time, they will hear BBC Radio Oxford. So we are excited that Radio Oxford is broadcasting this series about hospital radio as it enables everyone outside of the hospital to hear our unique sound.

So tune in to BBC Radio Oxford on Sunday and maybe you will feel motivated to come and join us at Hospital Radio Cherwell.

If you have any memories of hospital radio, or you have been involved, they would like to hear from you. Please contact Neil Stockton on 01865 225522.

To contact Radio Cherwell, visit our website www.radiocherwell.com: or write to Radio Cherwell, Churchill Hospital, Old Road, Headington, Oxford 0X3 7LJ. Telephone 01865 225522.