The community broadcasting sector’s Australian Music Radio Airplay Project (Amrap) has been very busy lately producing and distributing a ton of radio content about local music for use on radio stations around the country.
In conjunction with this year’s noise festival Amrap has funded
12 young community broadcasters to produce a series of short radio pieces about new Australian music.
The radio packages are all between 2 and 8 minutes long and cover a huge
range of topics from young classical composers, music instrument inventors,
the ‘new school bush’ genre in Darwin, the Sydney Italian music scene, the
latest mashup mania trend, and the local hip hop scene – a far reaching
range of themes and voices.
Amrap Project Manager
Paul Mason told radioinfo: “We were looking for a way to not only raise the profile of a fresh batch of
musicians but also to encourage the next generation of skilled and
knowledgeable music broadcasters in this country.
“Obviously community radio stations are where you’re going to find those
broadcasters… This initiative puts us in the unique position of
being able to resource those young people to make highly produced radio
pieces, and through noise’s other partners, find new places for that work to
be heard.”
Stations right around the country like 3RRR, 3PBS, 2MCE, 2SER, FBi 94.5,
Radio Adelaide, 4AAA, 6RTR, and over 50 other community stations have all
been using the pieces, along with noise partners like SBS Alchemy, Triple J,
and Radio National.
And you can also hear the pieces online at www.amrap.org.
Mentor Program
Another unique element of the Initiative is its Mentor Program. Each of the
12 Music correspondents selected was matched with a radio professional who
volunteered their time to act as a kind of “supervising producer” giving
feedback and advice about how best to shape and refine the pieces.
Mentors have come from Community Radio, ABC, and SBS and have all been
generous with their time and support.
Tim Ritchie from Radio National was one of the mentors and he was impressed
with the work produced. “These radio works are a breath of fresh air that
may frighten some current radio professionals due to the quality.”
The Music Correspondents are:
Anthony Columbo, 2000 FM Sydney, aged 24
Kelly Fitzgerald, 2MCE Bathurst, aged 20
Sara Fonck, 6RTR Perth, aged 21
Elise Potaka, 2SER Sydney, aged 24
Renee Peterson, 4MET Gold Coast, aged 24
Rico Adjrun, 8KNB Darwin, aged 24
Julia Thomas, FBi 94.5 Sydney, aged 20
Zan Rowe, 3RRR Melbourne, aged 25
Luke Altmann, Radio Adelaide, aged 23
Fiona Black, 3PBS Melbourne, aged 20
Mundanara Bayles, 4AAA Brisbane, aged 19
Simone Ubaldi, 3RRR Mebourne, aged 24
Get the full background on the project and listen to the work online at
www.amrap.org or contact Jacinta Walpole [email protected] for more
information.