Rob and Meg Davidson are saying farewell to Braidwood next week, after 16 years. We wish them all the best and thank them for their contribution of bringing community radio to the Braidwood airwaves. Braidwood Community Radio’s existence came into being in 2003, when it began broadcasting on air on Australia Day, the 26th January.
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The idea of having a radio station for the community of Braidwood and the surrounding district goes back a lot further than that. When Rob, the founder of Braidwood Community Radio (and it’s President from 2003 until 2015) came to Braidwood to live in March 1999 he noticed the absence of decent radio reception in the area.
Rob had been interested in radio and music all his life, and he began to wonder if it was possible for Braidwood to have its own radio station.
Rob knew that a commercial radio station was not possible in a small town such as Braidwood, but as he searched the internet he came across community radio. He researched as much as he could and visited other regional community radio stations in Goulburn, Moss Vale, Yass, and Queanbeyan to find out how they got started and how they continued to operate. He realised the huge task that he had ahead of him should he proceed with trying to establish a community Radio station in Braidwood, but his passion and desire to do this outweighed what looked to be insurmountable odds.
While at QBN-FM 96.7 Queanbeyan Community Radio the station manager offered Rob a program of his own on their station. He accepted and came in the following week for training.
After 30 minutes of observing, the presenter asked Rob if he would like to read the weather forecast ‘live on air’, which he did. He was then asked to pick a few of his favourite songs, and once he had done that the presenter asked him to swap seats and he could be the presenter and play the songs he had chosen. Rob did that, and was then told to stay there and ‘keep going, as you are doing well’. Rob ended up doing almost two and a half hours on air in his first ‘training’ session.
Rob spent just over two years on QBN-FM and during that time he learned a lot from the station manager and their technician on how to work through the mire of government red tape that was needed to obtain a community radio licence. During that time Rob was also raising the funds needed to establish Braidwood Community Radio, around $20,000. Funds were raised through monthly markets, locals joining as members and paying membership fees, and donations.
The problems with getting a broadcasting licence for the Braidwood area was that the ABA (Australian Broadcasting Authority) had not allocated a licence frequency to the area, and they would have to search for a suitable frequency and there were very few available to allocate.
Their concerns were also whether a community radio station would be viable in Braidwood being such a small population base. They did not want to allocate a frequency to something that may not operate in the long-term.
Rob held public meetings in Braidwood, did letter box drops to encourage people to support it by becoming members, spoke with businesses about being sponsors of the station, and asked for letters of support from the Councillors on Tallaganda Shire Council, the Braidwood Services Club, The Braidwood Central School, the businesses in and around Braidwood. These letters were to accompany the application for the allocation of a broadcast frequency, and a licence to begin test transmissions. They were important in showing the level of community support for the establishment of a community radio station in Braidwood.
It took two years of raising funds and filling in government paperwork when Rob was finally notified that he would be allocated a frequency and could begin test broadcasting. The test broadcasts were limited to broadcasting from the roof of the broadcast studio, however, there was no site for the broadcast studio at that time. Denver Shoemark was quite interested in the prospect of Braidwood having its own community radio station, and showed Rob a room above the Real Estate offices which became the Braidwood Community Radio broadcast studio. This room was generously donated for the radio to use at no cost. In exchange Braidwood Community Radio offered to broadcast sponsor announcements for Shoemark Real Estate.
There was one more thing needed before the station could begin broadcasting. There were still more funds needed to purchase the remaining equipment that was needed to begin broadcasting, and this is where QBN-FM Community Radio played a big part in getting Braidwood Community Radio to air.
QBN-FM had some spare equipment and loaned it to Braidwood Community Radio. They loaned CD players, a small mixer desk, a small transmitter and a mini-disc player, and these items were enough to enable Braidwood Community Radio to begin broadcasting.
Technicians Paul Brodie and Scott Watkins-Sully volunteered their services to help in preparing the station to go to air.
Scott had been involved in radio for several years and had his own program on the ABC. He was also involved in building broadcast studios for stations in Sydney such as 2UE and 2GB. Scott was living in Braidwood so he was close and able to help.
Paul was a radio technician, and had volunteered his time over the years to maintaining and repairing radios and transmitters for the SES and Rural Fire Service among others, and his expertise was in external transmissions.
The licence granted to Braidwood Community Radio by the ABA was a test broadcasting licence and was restricted to transmitting from the roof of the broadcast studio. The station broadcast for a radius of around 10kms from Braidwood and broadcast on 92.3FM.
The date that was set for Braidwood Community Radio to begin broadcasting was 9am on Saturday the 26th January 2003, Australia Day.
The studio had been set up and everything had been tested on the Friday night before. Everything worked in the studio and with the transmitters on the roof.
On the launch morning of Saturday the 26th January 2003 the studio was full. Rob Davidson was to be the first person on air and he was all set to do a 2-hour program from 9am to 11am. Others had undertaken training at QBN-FM studios in the weeks and months leading up to Braidwood Community Radio’s launch date, and they were also going to do 2-hour programs on the Saturday. Those going to air on the launch day were Michael Gill & Chris Payne; Jill McLeod; Shaunea Reynoldson (Exxon); Paul Brodie; and Scott Watkins-Sully.
9am approached, all equipment was operational, and then….nothing! The station wasn’t broadcasting. A mad rush ensued with Paul and Scott checking everything over, and finally the station went to air around 9:15am, with Rob playing the first song heard on Braidwood Community Radio, John Farnham’s “You’re The Voice”. That song was chosen as it was felt that it represented the station, ‘the voice of Braidwood’.
Everything went smoothly for the rest of the day, and in those early days of test broadcasting the station was on air from around 8am to 8pm, as there was no computerisation, and only a handful of presenters. Some presenters like Shaunea and Rob often did 2 or even 3 programs each day to keep the station on air.
There were some interference problems caused by the station broadcasting from its roof in the main street of Braidwood. For example, the Butcher shop next door to the radio station received only Braidwood Community Radio. Every station frequency they tried to tune in to had Braidwood Community Radio on that frequency. This was caused by the proximity to the transmission aerial and the fact that the Butchers shop was full of metal fridges and freezers. Needless to say the Butcher was not impressed and became quite vocal about it. He later sold the Butcher shop and the new owner became a business sponsor of the station.
Another example were the flats above the Albion Centre, one block away from the radio studios. All the television reception in the flats was interrupted by Braidwood Community Radio’s transmissions. Paul Brodie went and had a look at the flats and found that the aerials were extremely old, and so he installed a filter on their aerial and from then on everything was ok, they could again watch television without radio signal interference.
On the 1st May 2003 the ABA granted a Temporary Broadcasting Licence to Braidwood Community Radio, and on the 25th January 2004 the transmitter was re-located to Mt. Gillamatong and transmissions began on frequency 94.5FM.
The broadcast radius increased to around 50kms from Braidwood, reaching as far as Gundillion, Bungendore, Wakefield Park near Goulburn, Nerriga, Mongarlowe, Majors Creek, and Captains Flat. Transmission were intermittently received as far down the Clyde Mountain to Nelligen, and in parts of Batemans Bay.
Exactly 12 months after Braidwood Community Radio began broadcasting (Australia Day 2004) Rob Davidson was recognised by his community in the Australia Day Awards for Braidwood. He was presented with an award for cultural Achievement for his work in bringing Community Radio to the town and the surrounding district.
Twenty months after Braidwood Community Radio first went to air it was granted a Permanent Broadcasting Licence by the ABA on the 22nd November 2004.
Braidwood Community Radio is a not-for-profit Incorporated Association. Its incorporated name is Braidwood FM Inc and it has an executive committee of 5 people, consisting of a President, Vice-President, Public Officer, Treasurer, and Secretary and is staffed by unpaid volunteers.
Braidwood Community Radio is also known as Braidwood FM, and its call sign is 2BRW, as is lovingly referred to by some presenters and listeners as “The Barbed Wireless”.
When Braidwood Community Radio first began broadcasting its studio was located on the first floor at 141 Wallace Street, Braidwood, and the station.
Braidwood Community Radio obtains the funds it needs to operate through donations from individuals and businesses; individuals and businesses becoming members; and businesses becoming sponsors.
Braidwood Community Radio assists local community groups whenever it is able to, and provided its first donation to Braidwood Junior Soccer in 2004.
Over the years Braidwood Community Radio has provided funds to the Braidwood Central School to assist with the purchase of Safety Play Equipment for the Primary School children, and towards the new school bus, and to Braidwood Scouts and Braidwood SES. It is also an annual sponsor of theBendigo Bank Braidwood Lions Billy Cart Derby, and The Braidwood Quilt Event.
Thanks to Rob’s passion, tenacity and expertise he has built up and maintained the Braidwood Community Radio for our community. Next week find out about the exciting future plans for Rob’s legacy.