Callum Moncrieff, Volunteer
I started writing copy for a program called Contemporary Landscapes encouraging contemporary Australian composers’ music. There were some interviews and some pre-recorded live performances as well as a database on Australian composers. It won the Community Broadcasting Award in the Contribution of Australian Music category in 2015.
It is important to learn how to work with volunteers. Someone who volunteers their time is special and unique. They are doing it because they want to do it. I learnt that the station was driven by the volunteers and without them there would be no station. Sometimes they can create instability with management but generally, they are a positive part of what 3MBS does.
Since I have been presenting the Daybreak program once a fortnight, I have learnt that you have to like the sound of your own voice as it’s something you can’t change. The other thing I’ve learnt is you must imagine your audience. I imagine a person listening in their kitchen and having someone talking to them. Radio gives people connection and 3MBS pushes that each listener is important.
3MBS is so good because each program is programmed by a different volunteer who has a different knowledge and interest in music from everyone else, so you don’t have a standard canon. At 3MBS you’re not constrained in choices compared with what you are on ABC Classic.
Another project I was involved in was the Female Australian Composers project, which was funded through the Community Broadcasting Foundation. It was multifaceted and we interviewed many Australian women composers and took over the airwaves on International Women’s Day.
I don’t have time to program my Daybreak program so Joel Crotty does it for me. He knows I love women composers and Australian composers, so he programs a lot of those.
Author: Nick Sharman: So, he has to program things you know reasonably well?
No, I’m pretty good at faking it. I don’t write a script myself. I don’t have time. In between pieces I am googling information about the composer or something else interesting to say as well as the pronunciations. Each time you go on there is a big adrenalin rush, I love it.
Image credit: Samantha Meuleman / Laura Pemberton