It’s 1am in Sydney, in the middle of the week and people are listening to 2SER 107.3 in Paris, London, New York, Mumbai, Berlin, and a growing number of places around the world. At the helm of a new program called Curved Radio is Gayle Austin, who began her career in 1974 aged 17, and is widely recognised as Australia’s first female rock DJ. Seems she just can’t get radio out of her blood. Gayle Austin talks about her new show and shares her thoughts about community radio and triple j with radioinfo this week.
Redefining the notion of community, Austin and her on air partner Dadamama run a virtual open house on their show thanks to the power of internet streaming. “Locally and globally, everyone is welcome to contribute,” says Austin
Austin and her accomplice spend days each week going through the latest music, forgotten gems, remixes, and obscure tracks across genres and decades. Live to air, they create “an open space, a fluid journey that is responsive to the input of listeners around the globe.”
Austin says community radio is crucial in today’s media landscape:
“It is the only place young people can train and get some air miles under their belts. This places them in a better position to in turn get employment in the main broadcasting arena. Community radio also gives a lot more room to explore and find yourself before you have to button yourself into the straight jackets required in the media these days. It is also a platform for voices other than the few we get to hear in the mainstream.”
Community radio “is a love thing for all who work in it,” she says. “It restores my faith in the possibilities for people to have a voice, and also the room to explore the art of communication and real dialogue with listeners, and engagement with process.”
Why is it still important with so many new stations available on digital and the internet?
“I suppose it’s like the difference between vinyl and CD’s… it’s warmer. It’s about lots of people working together whereas internet and digital stations place less emphasis on the people part. Don’t get me wrong, I also love all the potential that is being opened up through the internet. I am currently having lots of fun seeing how the notion of community can be broadened out into a global thing on Curved Radio, live and streaming.”
Gayle Austin entered the world of radio at the age of seventeen. In 1974, she became a founding member of Doublejay, the ABCs groundbreaking youth radio station. From the beginning of transmission in 1975, the innovations of Gayle and her colleagues set the template for the national FM station, Triple j.
Over sixteen years, Austin’s on-air presence, programming and production skills made her a radio icon, Australia’s first female rock deejay, and an inspiration and mentor for a subsequent generation of Australian broadcasters. After leaving Triplejay, Gayle worked for Radio National as a presenter and commentator on popular culture. She set up Out-FM, Australia’s first GLBT community radio station, and assisted in the development of FBI.
What does she think of Triple J now, and especially the ABC’s new digital Triple j station Unearthed, just launched this week?
“I suspect it may take some of the pressure off them trying to fit the newer stuff into the increasingly tighter playlist. They should now be able to do what the commercial stations do with Triple J (they wait to see what works and then add the top tracks to their own playlists without having to take any risks). Unearthed can test the tracks and Triple J can pick up the winners for play.
“Unearthed will also hopefully give all the independent artists who have become disenchanted with Triple J due to the difficulty in getting their tracks played, a chance to get a foot in the door and then a chance for inclusion in the Triple J playlist, down the track. If it is open to everyone I think it is absolutely wonderful that there is finally this sort of support for Australian talent, on a national scale. FBI is doing a great job for the local Sydney market, as are community radio stations in other states, but Triple J is national. But I’m hoping the unearthed station will not mean there are fewer Australian tracks played on Triple J though.”
Austin’s co-host, the dadamama (aka Dr Maree Cunnington) has been called ‘one of Australia’s most distinctive voices in contemporary pop music’. As a singer, performer, videomaker and photographer, she brings her extensive experience across disciplines to the broadcasting arena. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology, and also lectures in the theories of visual and performance cultures.
Their show airs mid dawn Thursday mornings, between 1am and 4am on 2SER and streamed on the web from the station website (click below).