Bilby Awards 2019

Congratulations to all who entered and especially to those who took home a trophy and silver Bilby.

1. Community Engagement

Community Engagement is the award that sets us apart from other media sectors, how we’re playing a part in our wider communities, connecting with our listeners and our station volunteers.

Runner Up – 1079 LIFE Roadies Bread Tags for Wheelchairs

The Roadies are a group of volunteers that formed 6 years ago to reach into the community and build relationships. Over the last year they’ve been encouraging listeners to not put their bread tags in the rubbish. 20 kg of bread tags were collected and posted over to South Africa and now Bryan in South Africa has a wheelchair that’s improved his quality of life.

Winner – Triple B Busk til Dusk

Triple B joined with the Barossa Vintage Festival to hold the third Busk ‘til Dusk youth music event in partnership with Barossa Council and Youth Advisory Committee. Twenty-two performers from the Barossa Valley and surrounds participated and the celebration of young music performers demonstrated successful collaboration and community partnerships as well as a focus on youth engagement for the station.

2. Youth Contribution

Runner up – Emily Rawlings, Triple Y Whyalla

Emily joined Triple Y 3 years ago when she was 16. She hosts the Tuesday arvo request show and this year took on the training coordinator role. The station was struggling with training and supporting new volunteers & she’s helped enormously with 6 new people in different stages of training and regular reports to the board.   

Winner – Zoe Kounadis from Radio Adelaide

Zoe is a powerhouse. Starting as an intern in 2016 she’s shown professionalism well above her years. As volunteer on the Breakfast show, starting on air at 6am through until 9am every day and then staying on until midday to produce the next day. She producer and presenter of a music show Her which brings ‘girls to the front’ of the music industry featuring all female, non-binary and transgender music and artists.  Zoe is always positively motivating others and a great ambassador for the station – most recently in organising the OBs for the radiothon.

3. Volunteer of the Year

Great volunteers are the lifeblood of community broadcasting – enthusiastic, energetic and passionate about community radio. This is always the most difficult category because we all know the amount of time, energy and commitment people put into making diverse programs and running their stations.

Winner – Julie Francis from Radio Adelaide

Julie only took up radio 7 years ago – despite initial intimidation, she stuck with it and hasn’t looked back. She absolutely loves radio and she’s great at it. Even from her hospital bed and after 30 sessions of radiotherapy and 42 sessions of chemo treatment Julie keeps making good radio for her growing fan club of listeners. Julie is so committed to the program that she managed to come to the Roundabout and Nostalgia Show Singalong event for the Radiothon at the Croquet Club in the Parklands, direct from her last chemo treatment. Rightfully, she was treated like a star by listeners. Julie’s positivity, bravery and commitment is an inspiration to us all.  

4. Sports

Particularly for our regional stations, community radio sports coverage can be a vital element of local programming and community engagement. This year we have TWOrunners up for Sports program.

Runner Up – Friday Sports Drive on GTR Mount Gambier

Kel presents The Friday Sports Drive, the only Sports program of its kind covering the South East Region. The program includes interviews, phone ins, Local Football, Cricket, and Motor Sport and a Sports Quiz. 

Runner up – SANFL coverage on 1079 LIFE.

Life broadcasts 4 hours of live SANFL coverage each season – the only regular SANFL show on radio. Hosted in the studio by Phil Herden it includes Live lead off interview with guests, latest news, reviews of games. After the bounce, the team calls the game with the latest stats and crosses to the studio for score updates, news and reports from the other games plus the wrap to end it all. The show has amazing teamwork and coordination and is where the SANFL comes to Life!

Winner -Siren to Siren/SFL Match of The Day on Tribe FM

The Match of the Day team consists of Gary, Simon, Craig and Katrine. This Dynamic group create and paint a picture for the listener of the intensity of each and every game. Their tenacity and quick witted personalities create a vibe which ensures you just want to listen to them. The whole community from the SFL (Southern Football League) and Tribe FM are proud of the continued efforts of the sports team and the high quality programming they create with their contributions to sport and the community.

5. Outside Broadcast

Outside broadcasts help us get into the heart of our communities – promoting our stations, bringing the event to our listeners and our listeners to the event; one of the main ways we get to show our communities what we’re about. It might be easier to do than ever before, but still really challenging! So this is where we celebrate the efforts that we put in to pull off an OB.

Runner up – Radio Adelaide with the Royal Show

Last September Radio Adelaide embarked on its biggest ever broadcast event, broadcasting for 10 days straight from the Royal Adelaide Show.

The OB acted as connector between audiences and the attendees based right at the centre of the show and featured interviews and showcasing the diversity of people and activities there. It brought together the whole radio Adelaide volunteer community, working together across programs, ages and cultures. In total, 99 different people presented 96 hours of live programs and 75 interviews from 9 to 9 every day. It was the longest sustained OB Radio Adelaide had ever done.

Winner – 2DRY Broken Heel Festival

The Broken Heel Festival THE major event in Broken Hill’s social calendar. It’s a three-day festival which celebrates “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” at her spiritual home in Broken Hill. The OB was centred around the free activities in Broken Hill’s main street and town square. This included performances by nationally renowned drag queens and a street parade “Main Drag in Drag”.

The party atmosphere and 2DRY’s broadcast was heard via two PA systems set up along the main street with around 2000 people joining in the festivities. 

6. Small Station of the Year

Runner up – 2Dry Broken Hill

Winners of last year’s award, they have continued to go from strength to strength. 2DRY services Broken Hill, an isolated community of 18,000 in outback NSW. There are 18 active volunteers, no paid staff. This last year’s major achievements included relocation of the transmitter to improve coverage, building of a second studio, completion CMTO training for volunteers, consolidating the gains made from previous year’s activities and continuing to work through the goals set out in the Five Year Plan which aims to lift the profile of the station and provide a genuine alternative local media.

Winner – TRIPLE Y Whyalla

Over the last year, they’ve had massive changes in the building and broadcast technology, involving planning, budgeting & grants from the CBF, city council & state government for a range of improvements.

They built a second studio for recordings, guests and back up. Board room renovations were mainly built by volunteers, who also revamped the kitchen and admin areas. New OB equipment was purchased in October and since then they’ve done 16 OBs in the community. The station has impressive new signage & Solar panels and on top of all that they introduced a 5 year planning group to focus on community engagement, membership & gender representation.

6.   Promo/ID

Runner up – 1079 Life

Produced by Aiden Grant & Zac Spencer for ‘Aiden in the Arvo’ – creative & slick production.

Winner – 2DRY

A funny, memorable, and well placed promo. It’s a parody of the Victoria Bitter ads from the 80’s and 90’s. Voiced and produced by Adrian Eckert who is blind. He uses Wave Pad as it is compatible with his screen reading software.

7.   Sponsorship

A good sponsorship message is really hard to make – something that appeals to both the listener and the sponsor.

Runner up – 1079 Life, Mr Clip

A fun mix of voice work, and creative production by Ian Bone, Zac Spencer & Doug Oakley

Winner – Fleurieu FM, Safehouse Asbestos

How do you make asbestos interesting? This message was So simple & So memorable!

Voice talent: Mick Turner

Production: Jim Bickers

8.   Interview

On community radio, we hear diverse voices and stories. As ever, the quality was super high and there were lots of entries for this category so we have 2 runners up.

Runner Up – Tribe FM, Trevor Garard

Trevor Garard interviewed Jeff Simmons from Adelaide’s Chapter of Extinction Rebellion, giving insight into the scale of global climate emergency and the activism that’s raising awareness right here in SA.

Runner Up – Triple B, Jordan McKenna

Jordan McKenna interviewed Olympian Ben Harradine, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and gave a really engaging discussion about Ben’s experiences as a young athlete working through mental health issues

Winner – 1079 Life, Aiden Grant

Aiden’s interview with neuroscientist Brad Huddleston was engaging and informative. Talking about brain development in young people and the effects of screen time on brain development.

9.   Local Music

This award is for the program that best supports music in your own community.

Runner up – WOWfm, Homebrewed Goes Hip Hop

Winner of last year’s award, the Homebrewed Show comes in again with collaboration – Homebrewed Goes Hip Hop. Anthony Sims and Craig Phillipsmith co-hosted a dedicated Hip Hop themed show focusing on local South Australian talent. The show featured local Hip Hop artists live in the studio to promote their work, discuss the local scene and perform a track or two.

Winner – 5PBA, This is our Sound

This Is Our Sound represents, highlights & specialises  in non-mainstream genres including experimental music, post-rock, underground hiphop, extreme metal, regional/country South Australian artists, and a balanced gender representation. The program has a constant stream of local musicians dropping in to share about their musical journey, forthcoming gigs, and if they’re up for it, a song or two live.

10.Can’t get out of car

Runner Up – 1079 Life,

In August 2018, through CBM Miracles Day, 1079 Life were able to send their breakfast radio team to Vietnam to document and witness surgeries administered to those in need. These patients come from extreme poverty and due to severe cataracts cannot farm, work or support their families and loved ones. One of these patients was La Thi Noi. Bec was able to visit La Thi Noi in her home and interview her through an interpreter on site. It was really difficult to hear how devastated La Thi Noi was to not be able to feed her family or even feel like a contributing member. The opportunity to speak to La was amazing and to see her journey and share it with our listeners back home who actually funded this amazing miracle was something Bec won’t forget. Listeners of 1079Life were moved and followed La’s journey during the trip and then donated towards others in need.

Winner – Radio Adelaide & Service Voices

Fascinating storytelling from 2 incredible women, skilfully interviewed by Fiona White.We hear from Kate who migrated to Australia in 1968 taking off from a Scottish airfield for a journey that was peppered with rogues; thieves; bribery demands; bad weather; war torn countries and petrol rations;  but also good and kind-hearted people who helped the young couple through perilous times and conditions.