SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the NYU Medical Center have announced that they will launch a new, 24-hour radio channel called "Doctor Radio."
According to Scott Greenstein, the president of entertainment and sports for SIRIUS Radio, the channel will feature medical experts speaking on a wide range of topics in taped and live shows around the clock and call-in shows that allow people to speak to real doctors in real time about their health issues.
A recording studio will be set up at the NYU Medical Center to make it more convenient for working doctors to contribute to the project, Greenstein said.
"We're really excited about this," he said.
The project has been in the works for six to nine months, Greenstein said. The show will have a panel of about two dozen doctors that will be "regulars" on various programs, but a variety of guest experts and specialists have already been approached to be included in the line-up.
Meanwhile, members of the NYU community are also looking forward to Doctor Radio.
"Doctor Radio on Sirius represents the wave of the future for personal medical advice and knowledge," NYU Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Robert Grossman said in a press release.
In the press release, Grossman also said the Doctor Radio project would allow NYU doctors and "other world-class experts" to achieve a "level of connection and outreach" with a "diverse national audience."
Others believe this project is very timely.
"Medicine, I feel, is in a crisis," said Burt Goldberg, a clinical associate professor of chemistry. "Access to too much information and doctors not giving enough information to patients has eroded the confidence people have in doctors. Plus, patients never feel like they have enough time with their doctors to ask them questions."
Greenstein said that the radio company is "constantly looking at where there are caps in the marketplace" for their programming and in their research found a need for quality medical information, which Doctor Radio is hoping to give to listeners.
"It's such an important thing, especially when there are so many people in this city with such limited access to good medical care," Goldberg said. "So here, there's a vehicle."
SIRIUS is planning on launcing Doctor Radio by early 2008. It will be aired on SIRIUS channel 119.
Rachel Smith is a staff writer. E-mail her at news@nyunews.com.
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