Adrian and Andy are Radio Joy’s twice weekly breakfast show hosts and we know what to expect from breakfast radio – congenial banality, mindless chatter and a certain blokey or campy rapport between two egotistical hosts.

Adrian and Andy fancy themselves as, well, they fancy themselves full-stop, but as the gay boys’ version of Hamish and Andy they fall far short of the occasional hilarity Hamish Blake can provide. The sort of extroversion that carries a radio show doesn’t necessarily translate to the stage, and, sadly for these two, they are so accustomed to keeping up the piffle on the airwaves that they don’t know when to stop.

Obviously breakfast radio doesn’t offer any real audience feedback and these two are assured of a niche audience, a situation that doesn’t allow for much real objectivity. Being cute and gay just ain’t enough and they are not nearly as fascinating as they seem to imagine they might be.

I took my best big poof to this just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything and he described it as ‘mildly amusing’. The audience seemed to be made up mostly of older gay guys, which was telling, rather than the hosts’ peers. To be fair, a couple of tipsy women behind us were having themselves a hoot.

Adrian and Andy do provide some (amateurish) variety with a spoof of a quiz show, videos of their trip to Sydney and attempts to toilet train a cat and a spin on Dancing in the Street along with an homage to the 90s and a bit of song – but why lip-synch to a recording of yourself, for heaven’s sake? This show needs some vigorous excising, and some actual jokes. The Puffing Billy story was just awful and out of place. Have definitely had more laughs.

JOY 94.9 & V Australia present
Radio Husbands
Andy & Adrian

Visit: andyandadrian.com

Source: http://www.australianstage.com.au

CBAA President Deborah Welch

As the Federal election approaches, the Community Broadcasting sector is ramping up its lobbying effort for increased funding and recognition. The Community Broadcasting Association (CBAA) has now released its latest forward planning strategy, looking ahead to 2015. The document sets out the path the sector wants to follow in the next few years to “renew Australia’s Community Broadcasting sector and create the world’s most innovative, accessible community media,” and secure funding.

Community Broadcasting is “an important third sector, one based on community participation and control and world renowned for its innovation and reach,” according to the document, which stakes the claims of real community media against pretenders:

“Whilst global corporations now claim to be ‘community media’ as a branding exercise, not-for-profit Community Broadcasting allows people to genuinely shape and determine their media through active participation, ownership and control.”

The five‐year plan aims to create “the world’s most innovative, accessible community media sector.”

In Year 1 of the plan, community broadcasting seeks new annual funding of $25 million to develop community broadcasting as a key resource within the emerging Digital Economy. It highlights that 77% of content on community radio stations is locally produced and says community radio is the most cost‐effective means of meeting specialist content needs.

In Year 2, additional community media funding of $35 million is requested. In Year 3, $45 million is needed, in Year 4 another $45 is requested, and in Year 5 the sector wants another $45 million, as summarised in the chart at the bottom of this page.

The plan says Community Broadcasting can provide “the essential social inclusion strategies to enable all parts of our community to learn, work, engage, connect, access services and have a voice.” The proposal “supports the future strength and cohesion of local Australian communities.”

“Leveraging from the 30 year investment in our sector to date, we have the baseline infrastructure, specific training skills and expertise, community involvement, audiences, local connections and a commitment to social inclusion to produce strong outcomes. Our five‐year plan will see our stations transition to community digital hubs, offering a wide range of facilities, and opportunities to participate to all Australians.”

As part of the campaign to bring the community sector’s funding needs to prominence, CBAA President Deborah Welch wrote an opinion piece in Fairfax online publication The National Times, saying:

“In response to community needs and people’s desire to be involved, there are now 526 services around Australia. Notably, 80% of long-term licensed community radio services are now located in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia. We are Australia’s largest media sector and we are not-for-profit.

“Every month an audience of 9.5 million Australians, 57% of the population, tunes in to community radio. Between 2004 and 2008 our audience grew by 20 per cent. . . Our programming is as Australian and as local as content gets. It is created by community members, for their communities and it’s much-needed.

“At a time when commercial radio is seeking exemptions from Australian music quotas for digital broadcasts, community radio genuinely supports local talent, exceeding our 25% quota by broadcasting 36% Australian music.”

Lobbying efforts are also being conducted on a local level, with many community stations giving the same message to their state and local federal government representatives. Edge Radio in Tasmania has so far been successful in this area.

Source: http://www.radioinfo.com.au

Community station 2ser 107.3, is switching to an all female format for International Women’s Day on Monday.

2ser 107.3 will celebrate the day by going all female from 6am to 9pm.

The special broadcast continues a 2ser tradition which has been underway for more than a decade.

The 15 hour special will cover a wide range of womenʼs issues and concerns, from international affairs to local arts and music.

The Broadcast will also feature a live interview with comedian Judith Lucy as well as a special edition of the prisoners program Jailbreak and a one hour special featuring women’s jazz and poetry.

There will also be a Radio Atticus feature on women and the law, several music programs with all female independent artists and local band Miss Little performing live in the 2ser studio.

Source: http://www.radioinfo.com.au

To be a migrant is a dislocating and often lonely experience, no matter what the circumstances of arrival in Australia.  Expat Brits, South Africans and Kiwis, get their ‘fix’ of home on websites such as Poms In Oz, (www.pomsinoz.com), Rainbow Nation (http://www.rainbownation.com/au ) and Stuff.co.nz (www.stuff.co.nz) But for many non-English speaking migrants, community radio quickly becomes their link to their original culture as they settle in to Australia.

Community radio provides a “home on the airwaves” for arrivals.   Here, they keep up with news from their country of origin, follow the fortunes of their hometown footy team, access local community news and, most importantly, listen to ethnic music.  Community radio is a vital part of the assimilation process for non-English speaking migrants, providing a vital link between their own culture, and Australian culture and helping to maintain community connections and networks. Far from separating non-English speakers from “mainstream” Australia, a recent study by Griffith University found that community radio greatly helps in the process for non-English speaking migrants.+

Communications on community radio can be specifically targeted by both language and location.   Since the early 1990s, Radio 2MIA in the regional centre of Griffith, New South Wales has added Tongan, Fijian and Samoan to its programming, as the community of agricultural guest workers from the Pacific Islands has continued to grow.

The programming on Wollongong’s 2VOX reflects this community’s steeltown roots with programming in the languages of the post-war arrivals – Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian and Bosnian.  For older migrants, community radio fulfils an important need for cultural maintenance,

The Somali community of Australia is too small and geographically dispersed to afford their own newspaper.   Furthermore, the Somali culture is oral and literacy levels in this community are low.  Community radio permits access to the Somali language, music and news on a suburb-specific basis in both Melbourne and Sydney.

Large multi-lingual stations such as 2000FM in Sydney, 4EB in Brisbane, 3ZZZ in Melbourne, 5EBI in Adelaide and 6EBA in Perth provide airtime access to an incredibly diverse range of non-English speaking communities.

Daniel Laforest of community media representation company Spots & Space says:  Community radio is extremely adaptable, in part because it is a not-for-profit sector – the stations are able to adapt quickly to the needs of emerging communities. There is without a doubt an advantage to advertising on community radio to new arrivals, they tend to establish their buying habits early on and there are good opportunities to ‘own’ the market before the media consumption habits broaden.

Melbourne’s 3ZZZ runs “Starting Out”, a media-training project for refugees.  Trainees Lilian Abbew and Yaa-dufie “Emilia” Otteng are collaborating to build the foundation for a rich multilingual program for Ghanaians in Melbourne.

Community radio in Australia is a powerful grassroots medium. For advertisers, non-English language community radio is a practical and cost-effective communications channel.  For the listeners, community radio is a friendly voice and a vital part of life in Australia.

+ Griffith University: Dr Sudan Forde, Associate Professor Michael Meadows and Dr Jacqui Ewart

Community radio is the largest independent media sector in Australia and provides a diversity of radio programming that is not available anywhere else.

* One in four community radio listeners do not listen to any commercial radio in an average month.
* Community radio is strong in regional Australia and 91 community radio stations nationally, are the only provider of local content.
* Community radio is a cost-effective option for advertisers on a budget

Compelling reasons to advertise on community radio.

For more information: www.spotsandspace.com.au