When incumbent, Michele Bawden, decided not to renew her contract after two years at the helm, the CBAA sought someone with the industry experience to steer Australia’s largest broadcast sector through the complexities of new media technologies and services.

Kath Letch has decided to relocate from Melbourne to Sydney to take on the challenge. Kath has most recently been in the role of Digital Radio Project Manager working with 37 mainland capital city metro-wide stations to establish the first wave of community digital radio services.

Kath’s list of accomplishments in community broadcasting is impressive. Under fourteen years of Kath’s management, Melbourne’s 3RRR was transformed from a fragile station with a dedicated audience into a robust multimedia beacon for independent and alternative views and music.

3RRR will always carry the legacy of Kath’s skills and dedication. Her ability to harness the commitment of people and resources to one of the most popular community stations in the country enabled her to bring together the complex tasks needed to secure a strong and successful future for the station.

She now moves to manage a national organisation representing more than 500 community radio and television services. The number of community radio licences in Australia (358) outnumber those in the commercial (274), ABC (65) and SBS (4) stations combined.

Kath Letch has worked in voluntary and paid capacities in community broadcasting in two states and on a national level for over 20 years. After growing up in bayside Melbourne, she moved to Perth in her twenties to work in education and became involved in the early days of community radio there. She began broadcasting on 6UVS, and became Station Manager when the station returned to the airwaves as 6RTR in 1991.

She has worked on numerous national bodies including the CBAA National Committee as President for four years, the AMRAP advisory committee, and the Digital Radio Consultative Committee.

Kath’s commitment to independent community media and extensive knowledge of the sector in programming, management, training, co-ordinating volunteers and staff, chairing committees, technical knowledge, understanding audiences, promotions, project management, administration, finance, and the special ‘birds eye view’ gained through her time at the national level will be great assets to her role as CBAA General Manager.

Kath commences at the CBAA on September 20.

The day kicked off with a performance from SYN Free Kick Competition winners Money for Rope, followed by Little Freddy and the Pops and the Blackeyed Susans before the big game had even started.

The first half of the match was all Rockdogs. Megahertz fans were forced to busy themselves at the bar and immerse themselves in the halftime performance from The Living End rather than even think about the second half of football to come, with the Rockdogs leading 28 points to 2 at the major break.

The Megahertz ran out of the rooms after halftime like women and men possessed and started winning possessions all over the ground with far fresher legs than their rivals. Still victory felt out of reach until Jess McGuire (RRR’s Wired For Sound) made a fifty metre penalty count over a tall line of Rockdogs’ defense with only minutes to go.

Stew Farrell (despite ongoing taunts from his All Over The Shop co-host and commentator Leapin Larry L) put the nail in the Rockdogs’ coffin and sealed a one point Megahertz victory with a mark and goal from the forward pocket with less than 10 seconds on the clock.

Consistent all day at both ends of the field, Chris Gill (RRR’s Get Down) took out best on ground in the post match awards before Nick Barker and the Reptiles closed proceedings capping off a brilliant day for all.

Thanks to everyone who came down to rejoice in community spirit and help charity partner Reclink raise funds to provide sporting, social and arts activities to enhance the lives of people experiencing disadvantage.

Source: CBAA 3PBS

Fbi

(L to R: Jason Allen (SYN TV Executive Producer), Jack Post, Alex Ford and Adrian McMahon (SYN FM Programming Manager and former Producer of the Jack & Fordy Show)

Radio is undergoing a seismic shift, similar to that of the late 1970’s.   Then, change was precipitated by youth disenchantment with the dominant Rock-FM format and the emergence of Punk music.  There was an explosion of independent new stations, including 3RRR in Melbourne, 2JJ (which became JJJ) in Sydney and 4ZZZ in Brisbane.   Together with 3D (Adelaide), 2SER (Sydney) and 6RTRFM (Perth), these strong stations have evolved from wild child to icon, in their 20+ years of existence.

The cycle is repeating now, driven partly by the worldwide dance music phenomenon, and partly by the desire of younger audiences to take charge of the airwaves one again.  To create original content and to write the playlist.

Community radio is the ideal home for young, would-be-broadcasters.  Like the internet – another young medium – community radio encourages personal access, independence and communities of interest.  Unlike the internet, these new stations have powerful FM transmitters offering broadcast coverage of the entire metropolitan area.  In the case of Sydney’s Fbi, the signal is clearly heard from the Blue Mountains to Wollongong.

While relatively new, these stations are by no means rough.  Professional production standards, excellent programming, fully interactive websites, talkback/chat, outside broadcasts and events are all vital ways in which the stations interact with audiences and the broader community.

Hobart’s newcomer Edge Radio took out Radio Station Of The Year award at the Community Broadcasting Association’s national conference in December 2003.

In Melbourne, Jack Post and Alex Ford (Jack and Fordy) are the famously young hosts of the Friday show for SYN TV.  The pair recently won Community TVs Antenna Award for best male presenters. SYN TV’s innovative show is broadcast 4-5pm daily in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, and simulcast on SYN FM in Melbourne.  The cross-platform broadcast on TV and Radio is the only one of its kind in Australia and Jack Post and Alex Ford (Jack and Fordy) seem certain to follow Channel 31s most famous son – Rove McManus, to success.

The talent and innovation coming from the new wave of community youth broadcasters will be a major influence on the radio industry in the next few years.