Recalling the days when he began his career on community radio station 3RRR Melbourne, Greg Pickhaver, aka HG, told CBAA Conference delegates “in those days Carlton was the centre of the universe… we were confident that we were leading the country in the arts, music, football and that gloriously uncertain sport of horse racing, if you didn’t like that you could piss off!”

“We started the Festival of the Boot at 3RRR in 1980, but no matter when you climb on board the community radio train it’s the same story, you get to know that the things we cover on community radio matter in a way that other things don’t…

“We did the call from the studio and needed some sound effects of crowds applauding, so we edited the clapping from Hitler’s Nuremberg Rally and put it on a continuous loop behind us.”

Pickhaver said he has been able to turn the skills he learnt from the “simple stupid fun we had with sport” in community radio into “gainful employment.”

He has continued his engagement with sport broadcasting ever since, making the observation that sport “is an appointment event” for broadcasters.”

“That why rights are so valuable, but they’re only valuable when the game is on… once you know the score it’s worthless.”

Listing the changes in technology from: AM, FM, CDs, walkmans, diskmans, VHS, Beta, Facebook, digital radio, twitter, etc, etc, he said “it’s hard to keep up with all these innovations.”

“They all seem permanent at the time but they are only commas in the endless flow of innovation… yet in this fast changing landscape radio seems more useful and important than ever.”

Pickhaver believes the new innovations have given more freedom and flexibility to broadcasters.

“Rapid technological change is a constant, but radio only requires one sense to monitor it – ears. Radio allows imagination to complete the picture…

“At a time when political parties collude with big business to push out the voices of communities, the world would be a lot poorer if community radio did’t exist,” he said.