Teenage hospital patient's dream comes true after spending day as radio presenter

Eliza Reid, 15, had a short stay at Russell's Hall Hospital after some minor surgery. When the schoolgirl told staff of her aspirations to be a radio presenter, they were keen to step in and help her achieve her goal.

Her nurses put her in touch with Black Country Radio, based at the Waterfront, Brierley Hill, where she was treated to a VIP tour of the studio complex before sitting in and helping afternoon presenter Dan Richards with his 12 to 2pm Saturday show.

Eliza, of Norton in Stourbridge, said she 'really enjoyed her day' and learnt a lot about presenting and producing a radio programme. She has decided to enrol in a media studies course when she finishes secondary school.

Her mother Louise Reid said: "It was great - Dan himself had attended similar media courses and was then able to pass on valuable information from personal experience."

Dan, who has also carried out work for BBC Radio Leicester and Smooth Radio, said: "Having Eliza in the studio was great - she's clearly passionate about radio and it's always good to see the next generation embracing the platform.

"The other thing that was great was the studio didn't phase her; she took it in her stride and asked as many questions as she could which is so important.

"Getting my first job in the industry was a fight and that's only going to get harder as the years go by, so to have an interest in what we do and, by her own admission, be prepared to work from the ground up, rather than expecting to start on the Breakfast Show, is so refreshing.

"Radio is about so much more nowadays than talking into a microphone and we've got a huge variety of people in our team bringing a lot of different expertise to the floor. I'm sure Eliza will be successful, whichever route she decides to take to follow her dream."

Eliza has now said her ambition is to one day become a presenter on Black Country Radio.