Forty Years of 2SER

By the time the station finally launched on October 1, 1979, it was a (dream) team effort. Featured here are some of those legends, and reflecting on that time is founding station manager Keith Jackson.

Community radio is an essential way that community musics travel. This image shows 2SER’s country music community literally on the move as part of a short lived but well loved ‘traveling fan’ experience in the early 1980s. Although they don’t happen anymore (or at least, at the moment!), the importance of reaching out across the community for country and other musics remains. Here 2SER and industry legend Barbara Morison explains more.

Cheeky fake ad - 1991We’ve had fun trying to get your attention over the years. Here one of our presenters got well into the swing with a fake ad trying to get you to subscribe. Trying not to be offended, but if the spirit moves you, please do go ahead and subscribe!

Acclaimed journalist Cath Dwyer started at 2SER as a student volunteer and eventually went on to run our newsroom, as well as working on a whole host of other programs. Here Cath talks about her time nurturing new talent and the importance of community newsrooms, as well as sharing some insight into how proper community news can really make a difference. Her love of radio, and how it began, shines through here too.

Podcasting has revolutionised radio in many ways. 2SER is now a world leader in this field, led by the vision of 2SER’s Managing Director from 2011-18. Taking the station’s remit for educational radio into the twenty first century, and with a particular passion for mobilising academic research and content, here Melanie talks about the process of establishing podcasting at the station and the impact the station’s success has had in the sector more broadly.

During its 40 years 2SER has featured a wonderful selection of non-English language programming. Put together by community groups to provide specialist news, events and cultural connection, we have proudly featured these diverse voices and sounds over our history. From an archive point of view, however, this type of programming seems to have never been centrally preserved. While we keep searching, in the meantime we’ve put together just the tiniest taste of these broadcasters – a selection of promos from the 2000 Radiothon appeal, “Yum Cha For Your Ears”. By no means is it complete, but it’s a taste.

In the early 1980s Nicola Joseph helped build some incredibly important parts of 2SER. Drawing on her experience at 4ZZZ in Queensland, Nicola established 2SER’s newsroom - only the second of its type in the country at the time. In this clip Nicola talks about that time, but she’s contributed much more including the important eventual break away of Radio Redfern and Radio Skid Row. For more of the story look for our extended interview series.

Long time volunteer and presenter for 2SER Greg Poppleton has given us so much over the years, presenting every week since May 1985. This piece is “Wordsports”, a quiz show Greg produced and hosted that allowed comedians, great talkers and thinkers to play. Here is a clip from the Wordsports OB at Central May 1991 for Open Mind - there is also an accompanying piece from Greg explaining the show more broadly.

Long time volunteer and presenter for 2SER Greg Poppleton has given us so much over the years, presenting every week since May 1985. This piece is “Wordsports”, a quiz show Greg produced and hosted that allowed comedians, great talkers and thinkers to play. This is Greg’s introduction to the show - there is also an accompanying clip of the 1991 OB as a seperate episode.

Between midnight and 2am on the 13 March 1986 Greg Poppleton made a one hour live recording in the old studio 2 for The Phantom Dancer (though it wasn’t called The Phantom Dancer then). In the band was James Morrison playing double bass, his brother John on drums, Ian Date on guitar and Andrew Speight on sax. The quartet played an hour of standards and improvised two original blues on the spot - Have A Banana Blues and the 2SER Blues. The sound recordist was Helen Bucknall, using only the room (which acoustically was excellent) and the desk mics to create with these musicians a recording that went straight to ancient quarter inch tape without any further editing. Then dubbed to a second quarter inch tape for the announcement inserts, then to cassette (tapes needed to be re-used) and then I dropped it onto CD in 2015. A 7 minute snippet of the“2SER Blues” has been edited by Greg Poppleton and used here with permission. John wrote of the piece, "I can say with no hesitation that you are free to use any (and all) audio and photos etc for the exhibition. Indeed we would be honoured if 2SER saw fit to include our work. Please also extend our congratulations to everyone on the team at the station on reaching this incredible milestone."

Taking a punt on a new venture shows quite a bit of courage. John Tebbutt, who would end up working in as a radio scholar, started in those very early days in the tower. Here he talks about the volunteer roles he held during the station’s early days, and his meeting with Keith Jackson one week into the station’s life.

Like all contemporary broadcasting we’ve needed to properly upgrade our systems in the last few years. In this piece the station’s technician, Lachlan Cole, talks through some of that process in recent times. As part of the upgrade we’ve also been able to make some custom-designed podcasting studios too – nothing’s too good for our award-winning pod teams.

There are few places that country music has consistently received support in Australia. One of those rare gems is the work of Barbara Morison. On air since 1981, when she began broadcasting as a school girl along with her mum Irene, the two would walk to the Broadway studio from home in Annandale. Soon they became a dream time, providing essential female voices on air, as well as some very fantastic mother/daughter crate digging services. Ever since Barbara has championed local talent tirelessly and with an unequalled energy – you can still hear her on air every Saturday morning. Referenced here too are founders of 2SER country, Maurie Taylor and Gary Coxhead, and if you listen closely you’ll hear Barb’s regular broadcasting companion, Diesel the dog, on record here too. So many more stories in the extended interview edition to come.

Long term institutional knowledge is fundamental to keeping any good organisation working smoothly. Michael Jones provides that for 2SER – having been part of the fabric of lots of on and off air radio making since the 1990s. Clearly, he knows where all the bodies are buried, but here he shares just some of his experience over time, and some of the aspirations he still has for the place.

The two genres 2SER have been known for over its time on air are country and dance music. While there’s not a lot of obvious crossover between them, here Nik Fish talks his show Musicquarium and the literal crossover when different genre shows were on one after the other on air in the early 1990s. As a pioneer of dance music broadcasting, Nik recalls one guest who moved from one studio to the other in particular. This guest isn’t really the type of person we want to remember now, but the concept is certainly intriguing.

Very few people have seen 2SER from all sides over its forty year history. Steve Ahern is one of those few – if indeed the person who’s seen the most of the station from every angle possible. From a volunteer when the station began all the way to acting General Manager for several stints, Steve has given us much more than money could buy. Here he talks about his time with us, and offers some valuable advice for us for the next forty years.

After the pioneering work of Gaywaves in the 1980s and 90s, 2SER continued its connections with the LGBTQI community into the new millennium and into the proper digital realm. Here Jack Crane explains working on a pop up station for Mardi Gras, Star Observer Digital – a first for the community sector in Australia. Working in connection with iconic print outlet Sydney Star Observer and the support of the General Manger of the time, Melanie Withnall, the pop up went for three years from 2013, getting bigger and bigger each time.

Started by John Potts (now a Professor of Media at Macquarie University), Back to Funk is 2SER in a way no other show is. Under the careful stewardship of Meem (Michael Moebus), the show still delivers a unique blend of funk, soul and other tasty musical morsels. Here Meem talks about his 15 years in charge of the show, the change from live DJing to broadcast and the importance of listener feedback.

Taken over from the forgotten new release show “Because Mum Said So”, Static has now been on air finding the best of the new since 1992. Here host Chris “Burko” Burkley explains the how get got to take the show to the next level, and how important being a fan is to being a great broadcaster and finding the best new thing.

The musical landscape in Sydney shifted significantly in the 1990s and 2000s – and in a word, it got freaky. Here Freaky Loops co-founder Luke ‘Snarl’ Dearnley talks about the beginnings and the subsequent six legendary shows. With partner in crime Seb Chan, the two built a mini empire of tunes, innovation and incredible vibes. In addition to the live shows Luke and Seb also broadcast on 2SER on The Paradigm Shift, also championing the best of EDM and the rest, from 1995 to 2010.

While it’s always an honour to be nominated for an award, it’s even sweeter to win one (or two or three). Here Tamson Pietsch, the Director of the Centre for Public History at UTS, talks about the Centre’s 2SER podcast series and shows GLAMCity! and History Lab (with the later winning a number of gongs at the New York Festivals Radio Awards in 2019). The relationship between the academy and the station has always been vital – but it’s nice to get it recognised at one of the biggest audio events in the world!

An important part of community radio’s job is to provide a platform local musical talent that may otherwise not get a go (or at least, not get a go yet). No one was more aware of this than Tracee Hutchinson, one of the presenters and most passionate champions of local music on 2SER. During her time here in the early 1980s she presented the Australian Independent Music show, which set her, and the industry, up for a long term love affair with quality local tunes. What an honour to be there as she began.

Gaywaves was an incredibly important part of the broadcasting landscape in Australian generally, and 2SER specifically. The show provided an outlet for LGBTQI people and issues well before the acceptance we have today – with Gaywaves’ creators showing the wider community what diversity was really all about. One of the show’s contributors, Prue Borthwick, talks here about a particularly controversial segment, the 1982 “Lesbian Sex” special. It saw 2SER up before Australian Broadcasting Tribunal and found guilty of indecency. The show, and the station, continued boldly on, undeterred, for many years to come.

2SER’s LGBTQI+ community has always been one of our proudest. Although the station included specialist programs like the iconic Gaywaves, we’ve also been lucky enough to enjoy strong support from the extended, diverse and integrated community as well. This clip is our friends at the Gay Liberation Choir wishing us Happy Birthday in 1985.

Our first general manager contributed many important things to 2SER. In addition to his time active at work for the station, he’s also returned to talk at events, and recall important pieces of the station’s history. This clip from his speech at the station’s tenth anniversary shows his wit (and sorry, dear listener, it’s a bit sweary).

In the pre-digital era time on the airwaves was scarce, but the means to record your work was even more so. For a while there were a series of bomb threats aimed at UTS, which also effected the 2SER studios on the 26th floor of the tower. While the station was just an innocent bystander, our position wasn’t helped by some of the messages announcers and others were leaving each other as instructions to not reuse those precious tapes.

Now a veteran of the Australian broadcast media, Ian Coombe learned the ropes as 2SER was being born. Here he tells about going to the very first pre-broadcast workshop before the launch, as well as details of life in the Macquarie University studios. There are many more stories from his time though – so have a look at the extended interview if you can.

In addition to presenting awesome music show, Jumping the Gap, for the last 11 years or so, Paris Pompor has also organised and run some amazing live events for us at 2SER. These “In Conversation” pieces have seen local and international artists from across genres talk candidly and warmly for an adoring and accessible 2SER crowd. Here Paris talks about the Martha Wainwright event - but here’s to many more!

Names like The Herd and Elefant Traks are now legends of the local and international music scenes. Here one of the founders of both, Kenny Sabir, explains the early crossovers between the band, label and the station, back in the day when people started just making stuff in their bedrooms on CD-Rs and hoping for the best. As another great Australian music collective would say, ‘From little things big things grow’.

Michele Bawden’s time at 2SER during the 1990s was a dominated by change. Technology was rapidly moving away from analogue towards digital, and the sound of 2SER was also moving away from genres that had so supported it, to look towards new eras. It took a steady hand to navigate these developments, and as Michele explains here, it wasn’t all without heartache. Managing the needs of the station, while also the passions of the community, was a huge task that required great leadership and clear vision for the future.

Razor’s Edge has been bringing in depth and original news to 2SER for almost all of the station’s life. Pioneer of the show, Sharon Davis, talks here about the makeup of the show, giving us an incredible insight into the variety of news and current affairs that any one episode could contain. The range of issues covered, and the fearlessness with which they were explored, paved the way to inspire so many generations (and launch so many careers) to come.

As the current Chair of the 2SER Board, as well as DVC and VP (Innovation and Enterprise) for UTS, Glenn Wightwick is a very busy man. However, his passion for 2SER goes beyond these job titles, as is clear in his commitment both personally and professionally to the station. Here he talks about the crossover between the community and getting academic research out into the airwaves; as well as giving students the best experience to build the next generation of media makers.

Some amazing artwork has supported the sounds of 2SER. Some of the earliest and still most impressive is the work done by Harridan, Marla Guppy and Anne Sheridan (Beard). Here they talk about making work for Crystal Set and 3600 seconds, but there is so much more to their contribution and story as individuals and part of a collective. Make sure you go to the full podcast to hear the rest.

2SER’s second station manager John Martin saw the station through it’s ‘difficult second album’ phase. He did this by working fearlessly and with great ambition. One example of his vision was the collaboration between stations like ours and other community broadcasters. Without compromising quality or local relevance, with John’s guidance we were able to network to become more than the sum of our parts.

Former station manager Kaye Blackman took hold of 2SER in the 1980s and 90s, serving 14 years in the role and as its first female leader. During that time she inspired many with her energy and passion, as well as pioneering new spaces for groups who may have otherwise been overlooked. One of these achievements was the establishment of ‘New Horizons’, a show which featured older people in all aspects of radio making. It inspired many others who may have otherwise been overlooked to get in and just have a go. Featured in the accompanying image for this piece are volunteers Doug Denham and Bette Duncan.

2SER is built on the tireless enthusiasm of its volunteers. There has to have been thousands who have come through our doors in 40 years. Just one of note is David Jobling, who was with us from 2000-2005. In addition to being Volunteer of the Year, he also launched The Daily, contributed to The Alternative Law Show and recorded some amazing arts and theatre interviews for us during his time.

2SER’s station magazine, Listening Post, was first published the month before we launched in 1979, and ran until 1997. Prior to his work at 2SER Keith had a history in educational radio in other regions, notably working for the ABC in their educational division in Papua New Guinea. This experience inspired not just the founding of the station, but also its publication, designed to be a program listing but also much more than that. Here Keith explains the process, as well as some of the key personnel who helped get the magazine off the ground. If you're super keen, you can also browse all of Listening Post online now via https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1447219380?fbclid=IwAR3WoWvL7R6dET8u_fi6Qh5bvAZ2yxLPTJYdMTdzfS_tTRJUhb-sTl2tLe8

Easily the best shot of 2SER’s early days – Bill Anthes and his colleagues take a very close look at the broadcast antenna as it was being tested for broadcast. The event clearly took place well before OH and S was a thing, and also included a helicopter ride to get the shot just right. Here Bill explains the process to Jess and Liz at 2SER’s Pop Up Archive Day in September 2019. We’re still a bit nervous now as he talks about it!

One of 2SER’s pioneering music programs, 3600 was started by Virginia Madsen, joined by John Potts. Both are now acclaimed academics at Macquarie University in the Department of Media, Music, Communications and Cultural Studies. As Virginia recalls here, the show was about genre hopping and going beyond high and low art, while also including some “playful advice” for listeners hard or broken of heart.

The celebration for 2SER’s fifth anniversary was led by two of the station’s powerhouses at the time – Virginia Madsen and Jill Emberson. Although they were technically sharing one job, both were so committed they were at the station “all the time,” in order to keep the station going. As Virginia explains, both women went on to have fantastic careers in the media, as well as continuing to inspire new generations as teachers and advocates respectively. This is just a tiny reminder of their energy and achievements – we are so proud (and lucky) to have had them. Also mentioned here is Leah Haynes, who we haven’t been able to track down – but let us know more if you can!

There’s so much to say about the work of Yarraka Bayles’ family and the influence they have had. In this piece Yarraka talks about her grandmother, the broadcaster, poet, activist, artist and feminist Maureen Watson, who was on 2SER in the 1980s. She paved for not just Indigenous Women, but so many people in industry. Hearing again about way she was treated at times is really uncomfortable, but also an important reminder of the strength, vision and talent of this incredible person. What an amazing gift we had – and how sad that we didn’t better recognise this at the time. The images and stories here are shared with permission by the family.

Some of the pioneers of 2SER, and more importantly, of the Australian media generally, are Tiga Bayles and Maureen Watson. Tiga’s daughter and Maureen’s granddaughter, Yarraka Bayles, talks here about the energy, legacy and fearless leadership of her family’s work in the 1980s and beyond. While sadly these pioneers have now passed on, we are indebted to the time they both gave to 2SER on air, but also to those they trained and inspired to push forward and ask for more. In this piece Yarraka speaks specifically about her father, Tiga, and his career and legacy. The images and stories here are shared with permission by the family.