Parklands turns up the volume for new care radio network

9 June 2021

A new radio network for carers has launched today with support from north care provider Parklands Care Homes.

Grantown based Parklands, which operates nine care homes in Moray and Highland, is the first major care home operator to back Care Radio, a new not for profit radio station for carers set up in response to the Covid pandemic. Managing director Ron Taylor will sit on the Advisory Board of Care Radio and Parklands will help support and promote the new station over the next three years.

Designed with NHS workers, care home employees and at-home carers in mind, Care Radio aims to celebrate the role of carers in society and the incredible sacrifices frontline carers – paid and unpaid – have made during the pandemic.

With a remit to surprise, delight and support those who care, Care Radio will offer a mix of classic hits, interviews, news and listener stories.

The volunteer Care Radio team includes experienced broadcasters, journalists and producers, backed by finance, fundraising and media professionals, with programming input from care providers and carers themselves.

Care Radio Content Director Gary Robinson is a former managing director of MFR in Inverness. He said: “We are delighted to be working with the team from Parklands Care Homes. Their staff, like many others in the care sector, have been on the frontline of the response to the Covid pandemic, working selflessly to support others. Care Radio is designed to support these carers and celebrate the role they continue to make in society.

“We are thrilled to have Ron Taylor from Parklands joining our Advisory Board. As an award winning care provider covering a vast swathe of the north of Scotland, Parklands will be an important champion for our new station and Ron Taylor’s input will be invaluable.”

Ron Taylor, managing director of Parklands Care Homes said: “I know from my own personal experience as a young carer that it can be a lonely and often solitary experience and I think that carers around the UK will really warm to Care Radio. It’s an exciting new concept and one that Parklands is enthusiastic to support. Care Radio will be a voice that carers can relate to and trust, a source of light relief for them and their families, offering support and comfort when they need it.”

The station can be heard through the Care Radio app, which is available from Apple and Android stores, and can be heard online at www.careradio.org