For more than 50 years, Dave Nicholson has been on the airwaves at Radio Tyneside - the hospital and community radio station perhaps most well-known for broadcasting Newcastle United commentary to those in the city's hospitals.
Now, with no plans to step back from the mic, Dave and the team at Radio Tyneside is celebrating a £50,000 grant for a project will see the station go fully digital. The money has been donated by the Newcastle Hospitals Charity, which - along with the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust - has long supported the station.
Speaking in the run-up to the NHS' 75th birthday, Dave - who was made an OBE last year, too - said the support was vital and much appreciated. He was presented with a cheque - much outstripping what his team had hoped for - for the digitisation project at an event with past and present Radio Tyneside faces to mark his 50th anniversary on the airwaves.
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Speaking afterwards to ChronicleLive, he highlighted how vital the funding would be in nurturing the next generation of radio stars, providing a much-loved service to hospital patients in Newcastle and Gateshead and people living across the region. He said: "It's £50,000 for the funding of the project, rather than for the running of the station - so we will still need to fundraise.
"The support we've had from Newcastle Hospitals and the charity has been incredible. And in return we always try to impart as much vital health information as possible. What a digital future means is it will give us that bit more flexibility."
He said the presentation of the cheque for £50,000 last weekend has astounded the community of volunteers and alumni who care for Radio Tyneside - with jaws hitting the floor at the event. Dave added: "I was talking about how the big project we want to do would be to get the funding to transform everything into digital - and then, later, if only you'd seen the faces of everyone gathered together when they saw the cheque!"
Dave also took the chance, with Radio Tyneside President Ian White - who himself joined the station as a schoolboy before heading on to a glittering TV career - to talk about his memories of 50 years. He explained: "It was a lovely evening, very sociable. We had a talk-in Ian White asked me about people I had worked with, people I had interviewed.
"People like Norman Wisdom, or Jill Dando just two weeks before she was murdered. We spoke about Mike Neville, and we spoke about the station getting the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service from Prince Edward."
Much-loved broadcaster Mike was himself president of Radio Tyneside, and helped Dave get his first gig at the station half a century ago. They became lifelong friends.
Other highlights from Dave's long stint volunteering behind the mic - and behind the scenes - include inviting Max Johnson, 10, in for an interview with his mum. Max is the boy at the heart, quite literally, of Max and Keira's Law - which saw rules change so that organ donation is now an "opt-out"
He also reflected on why he still turns up at the station's Claremont Road HQ. "I don't know how long I will continue to do this for, thought I'm not stopping now," he said. "When I was younger I had this interest in radio and television, but when I left school I didn't go to university I went straight out to work - but I just had this interest in music.
"We have been lucky to have really great volunteers come here. We help them and then they go on to make their names! I feel like we are doing something so worthwhile and that's the reason I'm still here really. There are people we have working here at the moment who I can see a future in the media for them. I get such satisfaction out of that."
Teri Bayliss, Newcastle Hospitals Charity director added the charity had been "delighted" to back Radio Tyneside. She said: "The station has always played a significant role in keeping our region informed and entertained, and we know how much our staff, patients, and the wider community value Radio Tyneside and its team.
"The £50,000 grant for the local broadcaster is a great example of us delivering on the promise of positively impacting local organisations and their communities. We understand the profound impact volunteers can have and value the contribution that Radio Tyneside's Volunteers make to our region, we're very excited to see them continue their great work.
