Alpine Air Waves
Newsletter of Alpine Radio 96.5 FM (Kiewa Valley), 92.9 FM (Ovens Valley)
& 94.5FM (Harrietville)
Summer/Autumn 2014
— “Community Broadcasting – Ordinary People Engaged In An Extraordinary Enterprise” —
Welcome to Alpine Air Waves — Autumn Edition, March 2014
Alpine Air Waves is published twice per
year (winter and summer) to communicate
station news to its members, presenters,
volunteers, sponsors and others interested
in community broadcasting in the Upper
Kiewa Valley.
We are a community radio station that is
independent, not-for-profit, community
owned and operated and is run completely
by volunteers.
We rely on the active support of our listeners, members, volunteers and sponsors for
the day to day operation of the station.
The station is located in the Mt Beauty
Visitor Information Centre Precinct in
north- east Victoria.
Membership
We stand for Access, Diversity, Localism,
Independence & Innovation. Your support
is vital for this unique service to continue.
Family/Couple $20, Single $15, Pensioner/
Student $10, Business $30 & Community
Organisation $30.
Sponsorships
The station has developed a number of
attractive sponsorship packages (i.e. paid
advertising) suitable for all types of businesses. All production is carried out inhouse. We are fully equipped for digital
production using the latest audio editing
software and backing music. Contact
Yvonne on 5754 4554 for more information.
Broadcast Training
New presenters are always welcome and
training is offered. We pride ourselves on
delivering practical training on a one to one
basis.
Alpine Shire
From the Station Manager’s Desk
Sorry this edition is a little bit late (normally published in February), but you will
understand when you read about all the bits and pieces that have been happening in
the last 6 months.
 Harrietville: Yes, the big news is that on 3rd January, our wonderful technicians
Rob, Dick & Paul, with assistance from Harrietville TV Committee, completed the
installation to allow us to transmit into Harrietville on frequency 94.5 FM.
Welcome, Harrietville residents, to Alpine Radio broadcasts. Thanks to all for a
wonderful job.
 Licence Renewal: our licence renewal application was completed and sent to ACMA
(Australian Communications and Media Authority) by the end of February. This was
a huge job requiring input from all the committee and now we wait as ACMA
processes the application. Applications have to be in at least 12 months prior to
licence expiry to give ACMA time to work through the applications.
 Committee: Johnny White has resigned from the Committee citing pressures of
work and travelling. Johnny also contracted a nasty virus prior to Christmas which
affected his ear, so he took some time off from broadcasting to recuperate. Johnny
is back at the console now on Saturdays (At the Hop and American Honey) and we
are pleased to have his golden tonsils back on the Alpine Radio airwaves.
 Emergency Services Broadcasting News: During the summer there were several
instances of possible severe fire days and we were alert to broadcasting warnings
and advices as issued by CFA and DEPI. The Kiewa and Ovens Valleys were
fortunate this year to get through the summer without any serious fires, but we
could do with a little more rain than we have had in the past three months. We take
our emergency services commitments very seriously, and will continue to be on
alert for floods, bushfires, or any other severe weather events about which to keep
you updated.
 Outside Broadcasts (OBs) - We held several very successful outside broadcasts,
including:

Bright Spring Festival—October

Rotary Garage Sale, Tawonga South

Harrietville Bush Markets in January to celebrate broadcasting into
Harrietville.
Many thanks to everyone who assisted at these OBs. On the events calendar is
the next OB to be held at the Rotary Garage Sale on Easter Saturday, opposite
Pyles Bus Depot in Tawonga South.
 Living History Project—due to another generous grant from Community
Broadcasting Foundation (CBF), we have contracted Karen Wykes (a member of the
Kiewa Valley Historical Society) to put together a series of interviews with local
identities from the Kiewa and Ovens Valleys to give us a “Living History” program
series about the local history, about farming, gold mining, tobacco, building the
power stations and other interesting topics. We will wait till Karen has a few of
these interviews completed, and then we will start to broadcast them in a time spot
to be decided. Each interview will be about 25 minutes duration. And we can share
these interviews with other community radio stations in the North-East. Karen has
already started on this project.
Alpine Air Waves—Page 2
— Published in summer & winter —
Publisher
Alpine Radio
PO Box 331
Mount Beauty 3699 Victoria
Tel: (03) 5754 4554
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.alpineradio.com.au
Alpine Radio
Committee of Management
- 2013/2014 President
•
Bill Sutton
V-President
•
Yvonne Sutton
Secretary /Editor•
Nick Brown
Treasurer
Wendy Blake
•
Committee
• Johnny White (till February 2014)
• Alex Craig
Don’t forget we now have our own Alpine Radio Facebook page. Look
us up and “like” us on Facebook to be kept up to date with the latest
happenings on Alpine Radio. There’s a link to our Facebook page on
our website www.alpineradio.com.au.
 Program Development Officer— Jo Zananiri resigned from this
position in January to take part in a new and interesting project
about Ned Kelly—good luck with that project Jo, and we look
forward to hearing more about this in the coming months. Leanne
Lance has taken over from Jo, and Leanne presents
“Neighbourhood News” every Thursday at 12 noon, interviewing
local identities or people visiting the area. Leanne will also be
developing several new programs with a community-based focus.
This position was also generously funded by CBF.
 Technical Report—Rob O’Connor and Dick Puttyfoot look after the
technical aspects of running the station, and they recently installed
new equipment to download our networked programs from the
Community Radio Network (CRN). CRN had to switch from using an
old analogue satellite (Aurora) to a brand new digital satellite
(VAST) so we are now all digital and well done guys, swapped over
without a hitch!
• Andrew (Scottie) Graham
• Dick Puttyfoot
Volunteer Positions
Technical Officer
•
Rob O’Connor
Music Library Co-ordinator •
Wendy Blake
Training Co-ordinator
•
Bill Sutton
Maintenance Officer
•
Eric Harvey
IT Officer:
•
Paul L’Huillier
Other
Station Manager :
Yvonne Sutton (paid part-time)
Program Development Officer: Leanne Lance (paid part-time)
Living History Coordinator: Karen Wykes (paid-part-time)
 IT Report—Thanks to Paul L’Huillier who looks after our IT
requirements, including our internet services, PCs, etc. We had a
major problem in January with our main computer hard drive,
which died, and had to be replaced. Thanks to Michal who fixed it
for us in very quick time. As many of you are aware, Alpine Radio
hosts the Mount Beauty Weather Station (located on the roof of
our main studio), with the generous support of our sponsor Mount
Beauty & District Community Bank.
 Be Heard Grant—Local Schools’ Participation in Community Radio
— We will continue to host local Secondary and Primary School
students during 2014 to learn about community radio and present
their own programs live “on-air”.
Life Members
* Mary Smith
* Warwick Randall
* Paul L’Huillier
* Bill Sutton
* Rob O’Connor
* Yvonne Sutton
Presenters— Welcome to Rolf Proft presenting
“Bits & Pieces” on Monday evenings and “Welcome
to My Pad” on Sunday evenings, and also doing
some very important fill-in jobs for us. I also hear
that Rolf will be starting a Classics for Beginners
program on Friday afternoons. Welcome to Crazy
Cath on Saturday mornings with her 80s, 90s and
Naughties program. And a big welcome back to
Teresa Green on Monday nights with Classic Rock,
and Wednesday afternoons with Aussie Rock
favourites. Sad to see Grace Griffith off-air while she
does Year 12 studies—hurry back soon Grace! And
Bill Lowen is taking a year off from his dancing
program on Monday nights. Shirley Quinten has
been off convalescing from her Bletharoplasty (look
it up in your Funk & Wagnalls) - by the time you
read this she will be back on air on Friday nights
(with George the Dog)! Traudy is in training and will
have “Something Cooking” on Tuesday afternoons
real soon!
The photos at right
show:
3rd January 2014:
The view from the hill
where our aerial is
located, overlooking
Harrietville
3rd January 2014:
Rob O’Connor installing
equipment for the
Harrietville broadcasts.
ONCE AGAIN – THANKS TO ALPINE RADIO’S WONDERFUL SPONSORS!!
In acknowledging our Sponsors, we would also ask our members and listeners to support them by
purchasing their products and services whenever possible, and please make yourself known as a
member of Alpine Radio.
**A huge thank you to all our hardAlpine Building Permits – Bright
working presenters and volunteers!**
Alpine Furnishings – Bright
Alpine Insurance Group - Bright
Alpine Valleys Weddings & Celebrations – Tawonga South
Dogged Determination. We seem to
Baker Motors – Albury
have a glut of dog fancier presenters.
Bogong Estate Winery
Alex brings her two whippets into the
Boulevard Motors – Wodonga
studio for her program, Rolf always
Bright Newsagency
has Missy trailing along and Shirley
brings George because he can’t be left
Ceccanti Winery – Mongan’s Bridge
alone at home. Who Let the Dogs In?
Dawsons Rural Supplies
Dederang Hotel
Kiewa Valley Spring Water – Wodonga
Medico Hygiene Services – Sale
Mount Beauty & District Community Bank
Mount Beauty Hardware & Drapery
Alpine Radio is always looking for new sponsors.
Mount Beauty Medical Centre
Contact Yvonne, Station Manager, 5754 4554 if you wish
Mount Beauty Neighbourhood Centre
to become a sponsor of Alpine Radio.
Mount Beauty Post Office
North-East Waste Wangaratta
Old Tawonga Store – Tawonga
Prism Jewellers - Bright
Smith’s Mountain Valley Tyres – Bright
Stones Throw IT - Wodonga
Tate Funeral Services
Tawonga South Butchery
Travelscene Bright
4PeopleMedia - Melbourne
The Old Butcher’s Shop—Harrietville
Above: Scottie, Glenn and Mr P at the OB,
Harrietville Bush Market, 12th January 2014.
At Left: New presenter Rolf enjoying himself with
the roving microphone at Harrietville Bush
Market, 12th January 2014