Three decades of making waves
For almost three decades, one radio station in Australia has blasted out an alternative to the shock-jocks commercial radio.
And now 2SER, one of Sydney’s longest established community radio stations, has moved digs as it celebrates its 30th birthday this October.
The station’s Marketing and Development Manager, Kurt Eckardt, hopes the move will strengthen the station’s content and “inclusivity.”
“So much stuff happens in the city that doesn’t get recorded, or is really for a small audience, and we’ve got an opportunity to broaden that,” he said.
Mark Robinson, 2SER’s news director, says the station has provided Sydney with a different angle on current affairs to the celebrity-driven tabloids.
“I just think it’s important to have independent media and alternative radio because, you know, there’s a lot of media out there which is really quite crap if you ask me,” said Robinson, a former reporter at the ABC.
“[We] try to give people who don’t have access to the media access to the media, try to cover stories that other media outlets don’t cover, and obviously we try to broadcast music and arts that aren’t covered in even the ABC or some more quality press,” he said.
Co-owned by Macquarie University and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), 2SER has spent the past few decades on the 26th floor of UTS’s tower building.
But they’ve finally left the brown carpeted walls behind for a classier home on Broadway’s street front.
“The new studios are so good, the mics sound really good, there’s more light and you can adjust the air-conditioning and just little things that really standout that you didn’t realise were such a problem before,” Kurt said.
To celebrate the move and 2SER’s 30th birthday, the station is looking to have a “party approach” year. And it begins with a launch at UTS’s Loft bar, which will include a tour of the new studios, live music broadcasting and (of course) alcohol.
While 2SER has survived on an alternative voice for some years, Mark and Kurt say there’s always room for new volunteers and stress it’s not just for University students.
“It doesn’t cost anything, it’s free, you can become involved and get free training and get on the airwaves,” Mark said.
Kurt adds: “I just want as many people as possible in Sydney to know that we exist … All we need to do is get more people turning it [the radio] on to 2SER and I think that will result in a wider community of listeners, volunteers and just active participants in the station.”
