FREMANTLE Labor candidate Josh Wilson says his party’s $5.6 million commitment to community radio will keep diverse stations like Fremantle Radio on the airwaves.
The Turnbull government has cut $1.4m in funding for community radio in this year’s federal budget, sparking a 50,000 signature-petition and Labor’s election pledge of $5.6m over four years.
“Media in this state is in danger of becoming very homogenous and lacking character,” says Mr Wilson, who’s dad was involved in setting up community station RTR.
• Josh Wilson, Stuart MacLeod and Kim Newman. Photo by Stephen Pollock
Refreshing alternative
“Stations like Fremantle Radio provide a lot of colour and are a refreshing alternative for people in the community.”
Kim Newman is one of the quirky volunteer DJs at Fremantle Radio, 107.9 FM.
Aged 72 and sporting powder blue jeans, Newman is still full of beans and hosts the 6am breakfast show.
He lived in San Francisco in the 1960s – meeting Charles Manson a year before he inspired an infamous killing spree – and rubbed shoulders with blues howler Janis Joplin.
“I remember my wife saying that Manson had really weird, intense eyes,” muses Newman.
He enjoyed a successful career writing adverts before returning to WA, where his family have lived for five generations, and settling in Fremantle.
He has volunteered at Fremantle Radio, in Hamilton Hill, for the last 12 years.
“Community radio is fantastic and people tell me they love that it’s a bit different from the mainstream,” Newman says.
Before joining RTR as general manager last year, Eskimo Joe guitarist Stuart MacLeod enjoyed an unfulfilling stint as a DJ at a major commercial station.
“No interview could be longer than five minutes and everything I did was restricted by commercial pressures,” he says.
“Without community radio, ethnic groups would have no voice in this country and the airwaves would be bland and lacking diversity.
“We also give an opportunity for people breaking into the industry to cut their teeth and we gave starts to the likes of Gemma Pike, who is now at the ABC.”
by STEPHEN POLLOCK
