Station News - January 2009

New Training Facility on the Way…
We have just been successful in gaining a grant for a Training studio Panel. Almost $8,000 has been set aside for us to purchase a new panel for the production studio from the Department of Premier & Cabinet. Hopefully by Late March all will be purchased & installed & then we will run refresher training & be able to implement training identical to that that presenters have in the on air studio with the panel operation. Well done to the Grants committee on this one, and hopefully there will be more to come as Mat, Donna, Perri & Nate continue to research & apply for these things to benefit our community radio station.

Board Vacancy…
Due to the recent standing down of a Board Member, there is a vacancy for a willing person to take on a role on the SECAR (5GTR) Board. If you have ever thought about making that extra commitment for your community radio station then please nominate yourself. Don’t wait for someone to nominate you. All you need is a seconder for your nomination from any member & the board will look at all applicants next meeting & make a decision. Nomination forms are available on the Notice Board in the hallway at the station.

Australia Day…
5GTR will be broadcasting live from the City of Mount Gambier Australia Day Breakfast & Awards. Brad Hutchesson is co-ordinating this & should you want to be involved, please get in touch with Brad. There is also plans to play as much Australian Music on the Australia day weekend as we can. Brad will talk to each announcer, but please start planning now for your playlists. It would be great if we can all get behind this.

2009 Forecast…
The Board has just developed a Plan for 2009 & a copy will be given to each presenter & active volunteer. It is what the station would like to achieve over the course of the year & all members assistance would be great. If you could please look at the 11 areas on the Forecast sheet & see if there is something you believe you would like to assist with (you can offer assistance in more than one). Then put your name & what you can do on a piece of paper & put it in the suggestion box or incident report form box. Next Board meeting the board will try and form some small working groups to get these things moving. Many of then are of little expense to the station, and some have great income abilities while others are just things we need to get done. Please help out & we can achieve great things.

Programme Changes…
What a month for programming changes… Thanks to those who filled in at various times over the Christmas period & thanks to Alan, Jennifer, Pat & Chris for filling the airwaves Christmas Day. 2009 has seen some programmes disappear (some for a temporary break).

Friday Nights have changed. The Hot30 is gone & has now become 2 different shows. Nate will present the Cold Countdown from 7 – 9pm where each week the focus will be on the chart of the week, but from a previous year. There will be information on what was happening in the era, and of course the countdown of that week. Then from 9 – 10pm Mat will return to the airwaves as he brings back the AMRAP Show. This is a focus on the AMRAP cds we get every few weeks of the up & coming artists in this country. Pete Murray started out as an AMRAP artist & now look at his success, lets hope Mat can find some more gems in this show.

Longy has vacated the Friday Hot 30 & Wednesday Drive & has made the move to Tuesday Nights because of work roster changes. Longy Can Be heard from 11 – 1 am on Tuesday Nights.

Longy Can make the move, because Bob has teamed up with Chris for a new LOCAL Current Affairs programme that is about to begin on Friday Afternoons. This will be aired between 2 & 4pm on Fridays and will focus on the issues that affect our region & will be worth a listen to when it hits the airwaves within the next few weeks. Bob has also taken on the Monday afternoons to assist June, so he can be heard between 2 & 4 on Mondays too.

Myrtle is about to finish up Classically Casual on Sunday Mornings as she heads for knee surgery. She will be gone from the airwaves for at least 9 months and we wish her well on her recovery. To fill the gap, Llew Jones will return to the airwaves with some special guests each week with an information programme for all ages. This will be worth tuning in for from 9 – 11am on Sundays starting February 15th. We will run the full programme of Declan with his Irish humor.

Finally, Analease has returned, and is now assisting Tom on Monday drive. Anna was previously involved in Chix Mix on Fridays.

Current Vacancies that need filling at the moment…
The Cauldron (World Music) – Sundays 2 – 4pm to be filled until The Smith recovers following his operation (Approx 3 months)

Saturday Night (Open programme, will include trots until mid march) 6 – 9 pm - Available for someone to do a programme in on a permanent basis.

Breakfast!!!! Wombat is still filling 4 Breakfast shows. If someone would like to take on a day a week, then please make the offer. You can introduce various segments like Nancy has done to make it your own. Even if you can only start at 7am its worth having a go.

Volunteers Meeting…
Please be aware that there will be a Volunteers meeting in mid February. Once the board can look at the people that want to assist with the forecast, we will hold a volunteers meeting & get everyone together & discuss the year.

SACBA Conference…
5GTR has applied to host the 2009 SACBA (South Australian Community Broadcasters Association) Conference. We jointly hosted it in 2005 with Millicent’s THEFM. & would like to have another go at it this year. If successful it will be in August/September & we would like to have as many people attend conference subjects as we can. There will be a cost for it, but the station will try & keep it to a minimum & will give plenty of warning to get people ready. If we aren’t successful we would like to send about 5 people away to where it is, & will put the call out when the location is known. These conferences are a great way to see community radio in a new light & could be the stepping stone to get you more involved at 5GTR.

License Renewal…
5GTR’s license is due for renewal in May next year, however we have to apply to ACMA 12 months prior to this. Once the paperwork arrives all presenters will be asked to complete some information to assist with the application for renewal. We were one of the first stations to have our’s renewed when the process was changed, and we got through, but since then they have made additional changes and if we do not get it correct we may not be broadcasting after may next year so the board asks you ALL to be ready for this as it is highly important.

Blogspot…
If you are reading the Blogspot, please sign yourself in so we know who is looking. You don’t need to have a photo if you don’t wish, but it would be great to see who is online.

Presenter Profiles for website…
Please get your presenter profile in so they can be uploaded onto the website. If you have a photo, please email it to admin@5gtr.net so it can be included. The website has had some changes recently & is liking good & getting more interactive. Lets keep it up to date & all give it our support.

Volunteers area…
The board has decided that Mat will be moving into the front office/Sales Office shortly. This will free up the current managers office for people to get themselves organised for their programmes & allow an open room for Training & meetings to be held. This will also enable Mat to be more productive without the interruptions from people congregating in the current office & reception interruptions. There will be another computer installed to let presenters research information for programmes too.

Station Computers….
The computers at 5GTRFM are for STATION USE ONLY!!!! Last month our usage was exceeded and the speed slowed down dramatically. This is very inconvenient when there is a need for the speed of the internet as our new music comes via the web (and there wasn’t much of that last month to use it). Please do not use the net for downloading your own music under any circumstance, & do not download large files if you do not need to.

Recently the on-air computer had some errors. It took a few days to rectify these as we had to communicate with America to get the help. Please be aware on what items are clicked on while using this as this computer is our primary income.

The DDN Computer should be operational again soon. We are awaiting on the arrival of a CD from the CBAA’s technical team. Once here all will be up & running again.

Nathan Butler (Chairman)

Lucky Number

!!!!! ATTENTION EVERYONE !!!!!
As a small fundraiser for the station we have started an In-House lottery which will run every month.
For only $1 you have the chance to win $20
All we want is your Name and Number
You choose the square and when the sheet is full we draw the LUCKY NUMBER

!!! IT COULD BE YOU !!!

Garage Sale

ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS

5GTR FM WILL BE HOLDING A GARAGE SALE FUNDRAISER

IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED IF EACH MEMBER COULD DONATE AT LEAST ONE ITEM TO BE SOLD AT THE GARAGE SALE

ALL PROCEEDS WILL BE FOR THE STATION
PLEASE SEE MAT OR JANET IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES AND IF ABLE TO ASSIST IN ANYWAY

Christmas Party - Valley Lakes

A big thank you to all who attended our Christmas function at the Valley Lakes on 21st December.

Plenty of BBQ food, drinks and desserts were enjoyed by all.

Mat Wall gave certificates and chocolates to the following people in recognition of their contribution to the station this year;
Nathan Butler
Malcolm Anderson
Chris Spackman
Shannon Speck
Shane McKinnon
Jane & Bruce Perrin
Daniel Lamey &
Sue Wilkinson

We thank them again and everyone for making our 25th year a great one.

The afternoon was rounded off with a terrific cricket game which lasted till dusk. It was great to see pretty much everyone playing and having a wonderful time. Can't wait for the next one.

Happy New Year!