Friends of FM – September 2018

Ken was born in 1931 in Kogarah NSW. He entered the Air Force in 1951 where he served for 12 years. After working for the Gold Coast and North Sydney Councils, Ken retired to Launceston. He was originally going to settle in Ballarat which he enjoyed very much while stationed there for a while during his time with the Air Force. But it had changed so much from his original time there, Ken decided to head further south and eventually landed up in Launceston in the early 1990s.

Ken got involved with City Park Radio purely by chance. He had previously listened to CPR, and out of curiosity, visited the studios one Sunday morning to see how it operated. He then used to call in regularly on a Sunday morning to observe and chat to the presenters. In those early days, City Park Radio was not that well known, and was in fact quite short of presenters.

So given his interest, he was quickly drafted  to present the Sunday breakfast program as it was difficult to get volunteer presenters to get up so early for the breakfast programs (especially in winter !!). Ken ended up presenting this program for some 20 years. In addition, over the years, Ken presented a Thursday morning and Friday afternoon music program.

Ken had a strong liking for, and interest in, nostalgia music viz. pre 1960s music. He particularly enjoyed big swing band music including Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. His particular brand of nostalgic music was a hallmark of Ken’s programs and he had a loyal following of listeners who enjoyed this genre of music.

Ken remembers his early days at the station where the listening audience was quite small and usually quite elderly. But he notes with pride how the station has become a much more professional and organised operation with a much larger and more diverse listening audience. Ken has also at various times served on the Management & Programming Committees. His fondest memories of City Park Radio are the volunteers. He also believes that the presenters obvious love of music, and the way they put their heart and soul into it, make City Park Radio the success that it is today.

Ken’s service to the station was recognised with Life Membership at the 2017 AGM.

More from our roving reporter Chris Sayer

While recently staying on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, I tuned in to local community station 104.5 Sunshine FM, and it was like listening to a 24-hour  Reelin’  in the Years ͟- Fantastic.

One day we drove to the Eumundi Market, famous for its size, diversity and range of stalls. We found several musical acts performing at various locations throughout the market, and I actually recognised one of them – a guy singing and playing acoustic guitar with another fellow accompanying on bass. They were members of two bands – Afro Dizzy Act and Band of Frequencies, and I remembered recently cataloguing both their CDs into the City Park Radio library.

We received their music through the AMRAP distribution scheme, that promotes new Australian music through community radio stations nation-wide. The guys were very impressed to know that their music had been played in little ol’ Launceston so far away, proving that the AMRAP philosophy does work.

They thanked me for our station’s support and gave me another couple of albums to put into our library. It was good to chat with them, even better to listen to their lovely acoustic performance.

Community Kitchen

A reminder that Community Kitchen at the Inveresk Tavern will be presenting lunch every Sunday through September.

For a modest price, come and enjoy food from around the world. City Park Radio is a participant in Community Kitchen and will be at the Inveresk Tavern on the 30th of September.

So put all of the dates into your diary and support Community Kitchen .See you there!