New EMS Radio Station Attracts International Attention

Seasoned Paramedic Teams up With Hobby Radio Broadcaster to Create a Radio Station Dedicated to Global Emergency Medical Services.

Gordon Bates, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Andrew Winter of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, launched a new internet radio station earlier this year on April ^17th dedicated to medical first responders.

Bates, who has spent more than 45 years in EMS and has a music background, came up with the idea 20 years ago.

He thought it would be a great way to connect the medical first responder profession worldwide, while at the same time creating a business opportunity.

Bates said, “For a number of reasons, the timing wasn’t right until now”. He related that, 20 years ago, he asked Andrew to secure the name, RadioEMS, declaring in kind of a humorous tone that they would need it one day.

Andrew Winter, a relative and business associate of Bates, has the training and experience in radio, broadcasting, internet radio operations, and website design, which are all essential to establishing the operational side of RadioEMS.

Winter also worked for several years coordinating international air and ground ambulance patient transports, binding his understanding of radio broadcasting with the medical response profession.

“It’s exciting,” said Winter. “With today’s technology, we can prerecord our music, shows and interviews, and broadcast globally at FM output, making this a very high quality yet relatively low cost and manageable venture.”

The RadioEMS goal is to create and inspire a global connection for all Emergency Medical Responders. The station will do this by broadcasting music, information, and education, while ensuring that two of the constant components are humour and fun.

Bates wants RadioEMS to be a contributor to the EMS profession, while offering advertisers targeted marketing opportunities to those who influence the purchase of industry products and services. And it looks like things are headed in that direction.

Bates and Winter cannot conceal their excitement when talking about early success. They knew starting out that it would take time to reach the EMS profession on a global basis and to attract dedicated listeners, so station exposure will be key to their success.

With potential listeners widely dispersed around the globe, RadioEMS is experiencing encouraging response from a variety of countries.

They have regular listeners, have conducted interviews, and have received tremendous feedback from numerous people and emergency response services within Canada, the USA, South Africa, India, Kenya, Central America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, and more.

“It’s a lot of fun and very invigorating to receive such a positive response immediately following our launch”, Winter said. However, as we can see, they’re just getting started. Not bad for a home-based business!

You can tune into RadioEMS from any location at: www.radioems.com

If you have any suggestions or ideas for something you’d like to hear on RadioEMS, Gordon can be reached via: [email protected]