TRIBUTES have been paid following the death on an Irishman who was one of the oldest hospital radio DJs in Britain.
Bradford-based Patrick Murphy died last month at the age of 95.
He had been a DJ on St Luke’s Hospital Radio Station until the age of 93, having started spinning records at St. Luke’s Sound in 2012.
The Kildare native, who hailed from The Curragh, first moved to London in 1945.
He moved on to Bradford in 1951 to work in engineering and set down roots in the West Yorkshire city.
Kildare native Patrick Murphy joined St Luke's Hospital Radio at the age of 82He met his wife Doris at the city’s Gaiety Club and after marrying the couple moved to Odsal, where they raised their daughter, Michelle.
Mrs Murphy died in 1994 after contracting tuberculosis.
A keen music fan, Mr Murphy took up the hospital radio position in his retirement, at the age of 82.
He was still presenting his show twice weekly until two years ago, when illness forced him to step away from the role.
“Our sincere condolences to all of Patrick’s family at this very sad time and his hospital radio colleagues who have lost a truly great presenter,” Clare Bancroft, head of volunteering at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, said this week.
“Patrick was an amazing person,” she added.
“He was kind, caring and such good fun. He brought a smile to everyone’s face when he popped up regularly on St Luke’s Sound.
“Here at Bradford Teaching Hospitals we are truly grateful for everything he did for us and our patients. He will be sorely missed.”
David Rathmell, the Chairperson for St. Luke’s Sound Hospital Radio, remembered Mr Murphy as someone who was “always with a ready smile and a joke”.
“For 12 years Patrick was a valued member of our team of presenters,” he said.
“He was 93 years old when illness finally forced him to leave the studio which broke all our hearts as we dearly loved him as a colleague and a friend,” he explained.
“I feel privileged to have known Patrick,” Mr Rathnell added.
“There was no doubt about Patrick’s enthusiasm and dedication to our radio station, and we are ever so grateful for the years and time he gave to St Luke’s Sound.
Mr Murphy left his hometown in The Curragh and moved to England in 1945“His photograph is on the wall in our studio and will always be there. R.I.P. my friend.”
Prior to his retirement in 2024, Mr Murphy told Bradford Teaching Hospitals that he applied for the hospital radio position after seeing a newspaper advert for new DJs to help run its programmes.
“I thought 'that’s just the job for me’ so I went down to the station, had an interview, got the gig and have been there ever since,” he said at the time.
“I like to play music to get people’s toes tapping and smiles to their faces,” he added.
Mr Murphy's show was on the air on Wednesday and Thursday mornings every week, and he was known for his signature tune being the Oldest Swinger in Town by Frank Cromit.
He even continued broadcasting at St. Luke’s Sound throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The studio was wiped down before I began my show and it’s just you on your own broadcasting to the hospital and its patients,” he said of that period.
“Hospital radio is an essential service in my view means everything to me,” he added, stating: "There’s been too much misery recently in the world.
“For two mornings a week I am pleasing people and bringing them joy so what’s not to like about that? I get to play my happy music and bring smiles to people’s faces.”
Mr Murphy died on December 27, 2025. His funeral will be held at 10am at St Joseph’s Church in Bradford on Monday, January 26.
