VOLUNTEERS at a hospital radio station have proved they are the hottest news on the airwaves after being voted the best in the country.

Staff at Auckland Hospital Radio, at Bishop Auckland Hospital, broke the sound barrier with cheers as the announcement was made at the 2003 National Hospital Radio Awards.

The awards, sponsored by PPL and Independent Radio News, are run by the UK Hospital Broadcasting Association and Auckland Hospital Radio were competing against 270 stations countrywide.

Volunteer Lindsay McElhone watched the awards, in Slough, on the Internet in her home in Bishop Auckland.

She said: "The others cannot remember what the judges said about us because they were so excited and I could not hear a word because of all the screams."

The station submitted a ten-minute documentary on how it ran its hospital radio programmes every day.

Station manager Craig Robinson said: "This is a great honour for the station. All the volunteers who work so hard were thrilled by the news.

"We couldn't have done this without the help and support of County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which has backed us all the way through both moral support and financial help.''

The station provides a 24-hour service to patients and staff at Bishop Auckland Hospital and Weardale Community Hospital in Stanhope.

John Saxby, chief executive of the County Durham and Darlington trust, said: "The hospital radio volunteers do a wonderful job and I am delighted that they have been recognised in this way."