My family moved from Heathcote, NSW to Corlette, in 1979 and we were welcomed and became involved with the Corlette Hall/Parks & Reserves community group upon arrival. The community spirit was very strong back then and I was fortunate enough to be elected to Port Stephens Council as a proud, non-party independent for 2 terms for East Ward.
Working in the printing industry and print media, on newspapers and magazines for 50 years and tuning into 2UW Ward “Pally” Austin, 2CH and Holger Brockman in Sydney, I was keen to enjoy music listening to professional presenters.
When an opportunity arose, at a public meeting in 1992 for a potential community radio station for Port Stephens I was excited to attend as a councillor and interested participant.
Our first president, Benni Lind chaired the meeting and we were successful in securing a Test Transmission licence from April, 1st, 1993 out of a caravan off Scott Circuit, Salamander Bay, transmitting on just 30 watts….this is not an April Fool’s Joke. Further Test Transmissions followed. My first Rock ’n Roll Show was in November that same year, after we secured an office in Nelson Bay CBD. We had 2 studios, an office and we progressed to over 1,000 Watts 24/7 on our Community Radio Broadcasting licence. In 2000 we moved to our current studios in Salamander Bay and over the past decades I have been proud to present request programs.
Being a councillor on numerous community and precinct groups right across Port Stephens I realised the need to communicate with our community and keep all informed.
With the introduction of the internet these community groups slowly disappeared and morphed into larger ones.
Our Port Stephens Council was tremendous in assisting us during the early years with General Managers Dr Ted Campbell and Peter Gesling realising the potential of us being an essential service.
I love the fact we present beaut music of various genres, especially the popular ones, those our listeners are able to hum and sing along with.
One of my hobbies over the past 2 years is to note the music we play on air in current TV commercials and I’m now up to 45.
We present local and international news services and also upcoming community events on the world-wide web, a true team effort.