Member-only story
The Story of the First Time I Was on the Radio
Hosting a radio program was the greatest night of my life
The story of my first on-air experience
1:55 am, 12 January 2014. I was so full of adrenaline my body shut down to everything except the microphone, clock and console in front of me. In five minutes, for the first time in my life, I’d be live on the radio.
And if you think nobody’s listening at 2 am, think again. Shift workers, people heading home after a night out, insomniacs, folk in other time zones. There’s always somebody listening.
The radio station I volunteer for is a community radio station, known for the excellent, multi-genre and little-heard music it broadcasts. Announcers aren’t told what music to play as long as the station plays at least 10% Australian music overall and we avoid commercial hits that get plenty of airplay elsewhere.
I don’t know if you have community radio in your country, but it’s a terrific form of media, unencumbered by ads, repetitive playlists of commercial music and DJs who speak in annoying voices. I reckon Australian community radio is similar to American college or British pirate radio — radio stations that break ground, give unheard artists a voice and discover new gems.
