As a member of the Management Committee of BayFM 99.9, I was at the Station to welcome the Federal Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland and the Member for Richmond Justine Elliott when they popped in for a visit.
It was the first time Michelle had been to Byron Bay and it turns out she's a big fan of community radio. The first bill she presented to Parliament as the Minister was concerning community broadcasting. And her first official visit in the role was to Braidwood community radio station 2BRW ("The Barbed Wireless") which continued broadcasting when all other services were down during the 2020 bushfires.
My sister Tess has a property in Braidwood that was seriously impacted by those very same fires and she knows only too well the importance of localised connectivity in times of crisis.
BayFM had a similar experience during the 2022 floods when it broadcast into pockets of the hills around the Shire that no other radio stations could reach, not even the local ABC network.
“I consider community broadcasting and community radio in particular to be absolutely essential to strong communities” Ms Rowland declared.
BayFM has been broadcasting across the region for over 34 years and has won many awards from the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) for setting the gold standard.
“I see community radio as one of the fundamental elements of the media ecosystem,” said Ms Rowland. “It has succeeded for two reasons - localism and its two way nature of interactivity with the presenters and the people”.
BayFM 99.9 recently received one of its biggest government grants after acquitting its previous 3-year funding round which saw the installation of a new digital desk in Studio 1. This $92,000 upgrade was also funded through subscriptions, fundraising events and donations from the community.
The next goal is to upgrade Studio 2 for the 21st Century so that both presenters and listeners have a better experience of this essential community resource into the future. If you'd like to support uour volunteer run station head over to the BayFM website for more info.