WHO ARE FOREST RADIO?
WHETHER YOU'VE BEEN LISTENING FOR YEARS OR HAVE JUST DIDCOVERED US, OUR STORY GOES BACK FURTHER THAN YOU THINK.
In fact it goes right back to 1976 when a small group of volunteers got together with a local estate agent.
Take a look at our story below and find out how we grew from humble beginnings to a nationwide home for good time oldies.
1976: Forest Radio for the Forest Hospital
Originally called Forest Radio
and later changed to Radio Forest, the organisation was founded in November 1976. We were the brainchild of local Buckhurst Hill estate agent Heather Thirtle. We were established initially to provide music and entertainment to the patients and staff of the Forest Hospital in Buckhurst Hill, Essex.
A small team
of eight people including co-founder Nick Churchill, Noel Carter, Chris Potter and Ken Warriner, built the studio and installed the equipment required to get the station on air.
In 1978 Stuart McDonald
became the first elected Chairman, and registered Radio Forest as a charity
"to relieve sickness through entertainment". For many years Stuart was the guiding light of the organisation and maintained that commitment throughout his career as a well-respected Television Director, until his untimely death in 2021.
The photo above shows some of our volunteers back in 1980 huddled around our first studio at St. Margaret's Hospital in Epping.
1980's: Moving to Epping
By 1980 the organisation had grown with 30 people
providing a radio service six nights a week. The studios expanded and moved to St. Margaret’s Hospital,
Epping in 1980 but continued to broadcast to the Forest Hospital via a landline until it eventually closed.
By 1985 over 40 volunteers
were broadcasting, ward visiting and raising funds seven days a week.
The photo above shows some of our volunteers back in 1980 huddled around our first studio at St. Margaret's.
1990's: Radio Forest FM
In 1990, as Radio Forest continued to expand, we opened our third on air studio.
Further new equipment enabled the station to provide recorded music and information overnight making us one of the first of our kind to provide a 24-hour service.
In 1996 Radio Forest was granted a license by the Radio Authority (later Ofcom), to broadcast on FM
for 28 days to the Epping Forest area over the Christmas period. The public response was incredible, enabling the station to compete commercially with other local stations and raise much needed funds.
Above you can see our lunch time presenter David Bartley in the studio.
A move within St. Margaret's Hospital in 1999 meant the building of new studios and the embracing of modern digital technology. Radio Forest was once again a pioneer by developing its own digital sustaining service, with the ability to provide a true 24-hour service including local and national news.
2000's: Classic Hits Forest Gold
In November 2002
Radio Forest launched its second radio service 'Classic Hits Forest Gold'.
Playing a non-stop mix of hits form the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
In 2003 Classic Hits Forest Gold launched at Ongar War memorial Community Hospital, in Essex, via a radio link and by 2005 Radio Forest was also able to provide 'Classic Hits Forest Gold' to Plane, Poplar and Orchard wards at St. Margaret's Hospital.
201o's: Forest Gold goes global
By 2010 Forest Gold
and its sister station Forest One
were broadcasting to the Derwent Centre in Harlow, Saffron Walden Community Hospital, Brentwood Community Hospital and the newly rebuilt St. Margaret's Hospital.
Many of our listeners within the hospitals we served started asking us if there was a way they could continue to listen from home, so in 2012 we celebrated Forest Gold’s 10th birthday
by launching as an internet radio station. Now fully presented and playing good time oldies from the 50’s to the 90’s.
202o's: Digital radio
By 2020 Classic Hits Forest Gold had grown a loyal fan base outside the NHS making us the second
most popular internet radio station in Essex
on TuneIn Radio (the popular radio app that serves Alexa and Google Play). Over 24 thousand
people across the UK and beyond were now regular listeners.
In 2021 Ofcom issued a handful of FM licences to serve small communities as a 12-month trial. Forest Gold applied and won a licence. We began broadcasting on 99.3 FM
to the St Margaret's area of Epping on 5th September 2021.
2024 saw a name change, when Classic Hits Forest Gold became Classic Hits Forest Radio, a full circle to 1976, with a return to our original name.
In 2026 Classic Hits Forest Radio has over 30,000 listeners a week online
and now is available on DAB in West Essex and East Herts, providing music to remember along with health and wellbeing information, community & events news and a family of presenters.
50 years in the making
Throughout our 50-year history,
Radio Forest
has been run entirely by volunteers. We have been a registered charity for much of that time and despite our success beyond the NHS corridors, providing entertainment to hospitals and long-term care facilities will always be an essential part of what we do. We're truly grateful to all our loyal listeners who have joined us along the way and continue to support us into our 5th decade.
We pride ourselves on producing radio that stands up alongside commercial and BBC radio. Many of our volunteers have gone on to carve professional careers in broadcasting. In fact, many of the voices you hear on air today also work in the media.
Our Feel Good Team is made up of staff from Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT) and Classic Hits Forest Radio who have worked collaboratively to bring this project together. EPUT West Essex Integrated Community Physical and Mental Health teams joined together to develop a range of helpful soundbites to advise and support health promotion strategies for listeners. The Feel Good team invite you to tune in to Classic Hits Forest Radio for regular Feel Good information on how to make small changes that could have a big impact on your mind, body and spirit. We hope you enjoy listening. For more information on our Feel Good soundbites please click on the links below.
On our community bulletin board you can find details of events, exhibitions and things to do in the Epping area. If you'd like to tell us about your event, look out for contact details at the foot of this page.
Here on Forest Radio, we love to celebrate peoples birthdays. So here are 5 birthdays in September from musicians that have had a major influence in the music industry. You may even share a birthday with one of these legends.
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 500 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Duran Duran. But don't get too comfy, it is only 500 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 250 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Jerry Lee Lewis. But don't get too comfy, it is only 250 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 400 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Chas & Dave. But don't get too comfy, it is only 250 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a musical genre we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 600 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about classical music. But don't get too comfy, it is only 600 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 400 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Phil Collins. But don't get too comfy, it is only 400 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 400 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Meat Loaf. But don't get too comfy, it is only 400 words (ish).
Reggae is a musical genre that originated from Jamaica and gained popularity in the 1960s. The genre was highly influenced by American jazz, ska, rocksteady and rhythm and blues. Usually, reggae music is off beat, has a slow tempo and is drum and bass heavy. Lyrics often were politicised and stressed the social and economic injustices in the world. The genre is often linked to Rastafarianism and has spread to countries across the world. Reggae spread to the UK in the 70s and influenced bands such as UB40, Steel Pulse and Aswad. Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley and the Wailers and UB40 are three of the most influential and successful reggae artists of all time. See below a little about each artist.