KEN BROOKS

One of the real stalwarts of City Park Radio over the past 20 years has been Mr Nostalgia, Ken Brooks. Unfortunately owing to health reasons, Ken has had to finally hang up his headphones.

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!

 

September Schedule 2018 Download

September Newsletter Download

AFTERNOONS WITH

Originally, the afternoon programs had their individual names with their own coordinator, but it was decided after a lengthy program review and a Public Programming Meeting that these afternoon programs should become a station general music format programs and named just that…… Afternoons With…..each presenter being named (much friendlier don’t you think).

The programs are varied with each presenter playing their own choice of music, which does make afternoons quite entertaining for the listener. All presenters for the afternoon program are extremely helpful and co- operative if changes need to be made, e.g. presenters ill or on holiday which does make the job of co-ordination so much easier.

All presenters have a passion for the music they play which hopefully comes across to the listeners, and indeed some listeners do ring or leave text messages which shows that listeners do appreciate what the presenters are trying to do.

As there are more than five presenters for the Afternoons With program, they are  all on a roster basis, which once again makes for variety. The program’s aim first and foremost is to give pleasure to our listeners with the music selected.

So stay tuned to City Park Radio every weekday afternoon between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm for some great music.  Either on 103.7 FM, 96.5FM or via the web stream at cityparkradio.com , or via the Tune-In app on your smart phone.

Can Drive

A big thank you to all our members, volunteers and listeners of City Park Radio who contributed to our part of the 2018 Can Drive.

The Can Drive is a major fundraiser for the Launceston Benevolent Society and aims to provide a yearly supply of food to help those that need it in our community.

 

 

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