i like the idea of a youth focused station - i feel like it could be a real useful format if done right. the things i would do if i was in charge is have a show on each evening focused on different youth topics - health / sexuality (including one focused on LGBT+), law and legal issues, finance (and centrelink) and events in the news. each would be interactive where youth could call in and ask questions. hell have a video game / movie review show
You could have guests from the QPS, centrelink, caxton legal service etc come in and talk to the youth. BCC could come in just before school holidays and talk about the various events they have on to keep the youth occupied.
in conjuction we would work to get the name out there. high schools, unis and youth focused events would be where i would be focusing.
playing a bit of doof doof is not serving the youth - its just playing music. you need to empower the youth and give them info.
No throwing of shade meant, just from an outside observer view, thatās what it looked like.
Iām sure the politics around that time at Switch was quite extensive (I know what Community Radio politics are like).
As someone that has watched from down the road and running TCBLS from 1994 to 2001 on the Gold Coast as 95.7 Hot Fm | Hott FM | Station X. I would like to say alot of what is said here is true. But leaves a lot to be ASSUMED. We all know about that saying.
As someone that has slept with one eye (or ear) open waiting for faults with your baby. Plus having the lazy few (often the most roudy) derail the valiant efforts of the quiet majority. The whole concept of Community Radio can take a long walk off a short plankā¦ As far as Iām concerned. Never again unless my name is on the license! Period!!!
That being said, Iām not sure the exact time line mentioned here is correct. The so called āpeople back in chargeā would be mostly those from the TCBL days (the original dream holders). Not the early days of āfull time AM on 1197ā. I know the story behind āthe current presidentāsā return. I know why he did it. Both are VERY honourable reasons!!! I know what the end conclusion isā¦ But never in a million years would I do it, as mentioned above.
Making comparsions to Radio Metro is a dangerous idea. They are more Narrowcast and should be on a HPONā¦ Donāt get me started on that! Iāve suggested Fresh should be watched as an example (I got canned). The big thing that is totally different today is a youth audience doesnāt associate with Vintage Media (this includes FM) plus DAB. With the main excuse being - why would I buy a new DAB radio when i have all my music on my ph? With podcasting being seen as the way of the future. This to me is a massive giggle as i call podcasting ābite size radioā. But the bottom line is - this makes streaming and podcasting way more important than they once were. Iāve pushed this.
Iāve sat in on zoom meetings and paid attention to everyoneās reactions and who does all the talkingā¦ No prize for guessing who that is I leave thinking, yep back on track with the original dream. But is this the right track - for today? Is this the team to pull it out of the 20+ years of FUNK itās created around Brissy? No! Oh hell no!!!
As for funds going to āother interestsā better be careful. Apparently I own a whole island in the pacific somewhere with the money I stole from 95.7 Hot FMā¦ Boomtish!
I know the current manager of Switch and talk with him every now and then, Iām sure he has the best intentions with Switch1197
Iām not saying that the current owner is taking funds away from Switch 1197, but I do think if they can purchase and create studios for Switch FM (A narrowcast station) and create marketing for that project while Switch 1197 flounders without barely any support or funds, let alone a studio, it comes across as unfair to the community at hand in Brisbane.
I donāt agree, I think they do a good job from what I observe, at least they are more active in the community then Switch at the moment.
No dramasā¦ at least we can disagree in this country and not end up shooting each other.
Yes Station X and the wider family of XRN is all me. Iām living in regional NSW these days. I bailed from city life to take up the slower life and fire up some licenses in holes in the market out here. You find out why the holes exist when you get here and find out the local way of ānot thinkingāā¦ Very sad really! VERY!
They have not seen two commercial stations going head to head out here. Itās always been a solus market and now owned by Bill Corallis. Which owns most of the neighbouring markets too. We all know what usually happens when he purchases a station. I canāt be to critical he weathered the whole Corona business with no lay offs (hat tip). The sad truth out here is nothing gets done unless itās with grant moneyā¦ The lack of entreprenurship out here has to be seen to be believed. If the hard done by whinging was natural gasā¦ we wouldnāt need CSG! They also have no concept of the difference between Community and Commercial radio. The local embarissment called 2max fm is your typical block programmed community station (run by old folks). The folks in Narrabri call it āthe local stationā. Where as Now FM (the Bill Commercial for this area) is āthe Moree stationā. No concept that the two are completely different but service the same area.
You mention AM radio here, you get Oh you mean John Laws? The next tip is they still think Slim Dusty is still alive and who is Kieth Urban? Like i said before sad sad sad.
Agreed itās fantastic to have people with lived experience in the station/field sharing their thoughts here in a civilised manner - keep it coming I say!
As someone with literally no lived experience wishing to share a view (itās 2022 so thatās encouraged now), the talk based segments of relevance are a really good idea, pushing the podcasting/short clip elements of it. Youāre right, almost no-one under 30 is going to listen to the radio, let alone AM radio, but if thatās your vehicle for getting pods up of content that people can access through Spotify etc., it might just work, and will build the brand for your station in the process.
As much as people poo-hoo SEN here, thatās exactly what they do with their (relatively) niche sports content. No reason why it canāt also work for a community/narrow-appeal type station as well.
If you read my post again, I said the remaining 2 community FM stations were licensed in 2001. 4EB on 98.1 and Family on 96.5.
They might have been around for a while but they were given full time licenses in 2001, and as a result there were no available FM frequencies for Switch, so AM was the last option, and they were fortunate to get it.
Dance on AM is like a square peg in a round hole, but if they actually broadcast at 5kW, like they used to back in 2008-09, they can get a good sound and signal. Being on DAB helps with stereo and a superior sound quality.
Of course they should but for some unknown reason, they havenāt. There is a gap in the market for a community dance station , such as Fresh or RadioMetro, in Brisbane. The success of Nova in Brisbane since 2005 (it was dominant for the best part of a decade from 2006), was largely because it was the only place to hear quality dance on FM in Brisbane.
Even when i1197/Switch1197 was playing dance 24/7, I didnāt mind that it was on AM. So long as the music was good, the listeners will come (and stream online when possible).
I actually found it quite clever at the time that they played dance on AM as it acted as a tool to drive listeners to stream online - the same way ACE does it today with encouraging 2UE/3MP/Magic/4BH listeners to stream on the app or DAB+.
Meanwhile in Perth, 104.9 which was Radio Spice (mixture of Indian Bollywood tracks mainly) has at some point in the last few months become dance (EDM) music, identifying as 1Dance (One Dance?) - anyway, the signal still only barely reaches Leach Highway heading south from the CBD, so not much of a ripple made I would suspect (especially since itās taken me till now to find out the format and therefore presumably owners had changed).
I leave thinking, yep back on track with the original dream. But is this the right track - for today? Is this the team to pull it out of the 20+ years of FUNK itās created around Brissy? No! Oh hell no!!!
is he now?
