About Kliniken-Radio Gesundfunk

Kliniken-Radio Gesundfunk

Kliniken-Radio Gesundfunk is hospital radio in its purest form: the "Gesundfunk" (health radio) of the Klinikenradio Bietigheim-Ludwigsburg e.V., broadcasting for the patients of the hospitals in Bietigheim-Bissingen and Ludwigsburg. On air since March 1977 — nearly five decades — the station is run entirely by volunteers, none of whom work in healthcare professionally, and has been a registered non-profit association since September 2001. Live programmes run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. out of the studio in the Bietigheim hospital: music, greetings, wishes and visits — a familiar voice wishing you well, announcing a visit, sending a musical greeting, the headphones as the connection to the world outside the ward — the Gesundfunk as the window, the music as the view — the ward's outlook, the broadcast's gift. The tagesschau once came to film them: 25 volunteers, eight hours of programme a week, one mission — to give sick people joy, to fulfil small wishes, to bring a little light to the hospital day — the volunteers' mission, the patients' reward — the joy given, the joy received, the Gesundfunk's circle.

Overview

The Gesundfunk is a social institution: a hospital radio operated exclusively on a voluntary, non-profit basis — the "soziale Einrichtung" as the self-description, the charity as the legal form — the social institution that happens to broadcast — the charity first, the radio second, the patients always. It is heard in the Klinikum Ludwigsburg and the Krankenhaus Bietigheim — at the bedside, through the hospital's internal distribution, the programme travelling the corridors the volunteers cannot walk — the signal as the visitor, the broadcast as the rounds — the doctor's visit, the radio's visit, the healing's helpers. The live schedule is Tuesday to Thursday, 6–8 p.m., from the broadcast studio inside the Bietigheim hospital. Patients reach the studio via the free clinic number 55640 (from outside 07142-79-55640), by email or by WhatsApp — for wishes, greetings and dedications — or simply come by the studio to visit: the doors open, the volunteers glad to see you — the studio visit as the therapy, the broadcaster as the neighbour — the open door, the glad face, the human contact.

The programme's purpose is stated plainly: to make the hospital stay varied and pleasant with music and word contributions, to put patients in good spirits, and to contribute to recovery and entertainment — the "abwechslungsreich" as the prescription, the good mood as the therapy — the variety as the medicine, the cheer as the cure — the Gesundfunk's prescription, the patients' placebo that works. The "Radiomacher" — the radio makers — have nothing to do with the hospital professionally; they volunteer their free time for the wellbeing of their sick fellow humans, the amateurs as the professionals of the heart — the non-professionals as the experts in caring — the volunteers' qualification, the heart's diploma. Imagine: headphones on, a familiar voice wishes you a speedy recovery, announces a visit, sends a musical greeting — radio as medicine's companion, the voice as the visitor who never leaves — the broadcast as the bedside manner, the radio as the round — the voice's visit, the ward's comfort.

History

The "Gesundfunk" has existed in the Bietigheim-Bissingen hospital since March 1977 — the health radio as a hospital tradition older than most commercial stations, the March 1977 as the birthday of bedside broadcasting in the region — the Gesundfunk's founding month, the tradition's start — the March 1977 that began it all, the Gesundfunk's genesis. In September 2001 the operation was formalized as the non-profit association Klinikenradio Bietigheim-Ludwigsburg e.V. — the volunteers becoming the Verein, the goodwill becoming the legal form — the September 2001 as the incorporation of kindness. The 45th anniversary was celebrated on 2 April 2022 with a "Klinikenradio-Zeitreise" (time travel): the team on air live for 14 hours, journeying through the decades — the archive as the programme, the history as the celebration, the two MP3 parts as the monument — the 14 hours, the decades, the anniversary in audio.

The station's reputation extends beyond the region: in 2016 the Swiss Spitalradio LuZ visited Bietigheim — the hospital radios of two countries discovering how close they are, the surprise visit arranged from Switzerland, the evening ending with the guest himself interviewed live (in standard German, to his amusement) and an invitation to Lucerne's hospital radio day on 24 September 2016. The tagesschau's "mittendrin" report brought the Gesundfunk to the national audience: 25 volunteers making radio for patients, eight hours a week, fulfilling small wishes and giving joy — the ARD's cameras in the Bietigheim studio, the nation meeting the volunteers — the tagesschau's tribute, the country's thanks.

Programming

The live programme — Tuesday to Thursday, 6–8 p.m. — is built around the patients: musical greetings, dedications, wishes transmitted via the clinic hotline, email and WhatsApp — the 55640 as the hotline of hope, the studio as the post office of the wards — the free clinic number, the patients' lifeline. The station's online archive documents the breadth: interviews with doctors (the RKH's chief physicians, the regional directors), musicians and entertainers (the SDR/SWR legend Matthias Holtmann), reports from the RKH clinics' simulation centre in Vaihingen (the microphone at the medical training — the simulation centre report, the radio at the bedside of learning), lectures (Prof. Gerd Gigerenzer on decision-making — head or gut), and conversations with local cultural figures. Live programmes from retirement and care homes extend the mission beyond the hospital walls — the Gesundfunk as the care-home radio too — the mission beyond the hospital, the radio for the aged. The homepage, the technology, the database, the moderation, the editing — all volunteer roles, all open to newcomers: the website's "Lust mitzumachen?" as the permanent invitation — the call for volunteers, the open door online.

Organization and Ownership

The Klinikenradio Bietigheim-Ludwigsburg e.V. is a registered non-profit association (since September 2001), run exclusively by volunteers on a charitable basis — the "gemeinnützig" as the legal seal, the volunteering as the operating principle — the non-profit's promise, the volunteers' practice. The board chairs (as of the mid-2010s: Uschi Freynick and Bettina Ruchay) lead the team of around 25 active radio makers — the two chairwomen who welcomed the Swiss guests, the volunteers who are the station — the board as the hosts, the team as the heart. The association is financed through membership fees and donations — no advertising, no commercial operation, the purity of the non-profit — the membership fees, the donations, the mission without the market. Detailed financial figures are not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted.

Digital Presence

The station's home is klinikenradio.de: the "Über uns" page, the programme archive with MP3s of past shows and interviews, the contact channels — the website as the station's front door, the archive as its library — the klinikenradio.de as the digital hospital corridor. The archive is the station's memory — interviews, reports and the 14-hour anniversary marathon available as downloads, the MP3s as the monument to 45 years — the anniversary marathon, the interviews, the decades in audio. WhatsApp (0157 511 822 70) and email connect the bedsides to the studio — the digital threads between the ward and the microphone — the WhatsApp, the email, the 55640, the connection. As a hospital-internal broadcaster, the Gesundfunk's digital presence serves the volunteers and the curious — the radio itself happens where it matters: at the patient's ear, in the hospital's quiet hours — the evening programmes, the night's comfort, the radio's watch.