Author: Mia Retallack

This semester, I was privileged enough to work with fbi radio on an incredible oral history of their music library. Established in 1995, and having broadcast full time since 2003, fbi is a community radio station in Eora, Sydney. Driven by a policy to play 50% Australian music, with half of that from Sydney, fbi is a radically inclusive organisation that celebrates the diversity of our local music scene. My project ‘Turn Up Your Radio’, presented on fbi’s website as a multi-media piece, intersperses oral histories with text, photo, and video to reflect upon various chapters in fbi’s history. Oriented towards fbi’s existing listenership, my project is an affirmation of the importance of community radio as the fabric of local culture, arguing for the need of institutions such as fbi to pioneer subaltern voices and experiences.

Conceiving the project in the first place was a creative challenge in meeting fbi’s need for a compelling piece that showcased the diversity of the organisation whilst also producing something within their existing content model. In working with fbi’s team, we decided to hone in on fbi’s library of over 20,000 CDs. In this library, next to the top dance release of 2014, is a demo by an office worker in a pub-rock band that only ever recorded one single. Next to that is a collection of ambient beats made by a student in their bedroom, besides the blues singer that has been gracing Sydney stages for decades.

However, due to the sheer size of the library, I needed a throughline. Even if I carefully went through each CD in the library, being able to grasp its historical significance was impossible within the remits of this project. I needed a creative solution that would make it possible for me to comprehend the library while also connecting with fbi’s vision. Oral histories were the perfect solution. Just as oral histories have historically been used to amplify the voices often neglected in written history, oral history in this project sought to shine a spotlight upon the incredible people who have supported Sydney’s music scene. Recorded in fbi’s studio using the audio-processing software ‘Reaper’, oral histories were perfect for the project as it coordinated with fbi’s identity as a radio station and gave me a way to work collaboratively with fbi volunteers and staff past and present.

My final project features oral histories from from Stuart Coupe, presenter of Wild Card from 2003-present, Stephen Goodhew, music director from 2013-1017, Dan Zilber, music director from 2003-2017, Simon Caldwell, DJ and longtime presenter of Monday Sunset, Cassandra Wilkinson, president of fbi from 1997-2021, Lee Tran Lam, writer and presenter of Local Fidelity from 2007-2023, Caroline Gates, programming director from 2010-2017 and John Ernest Dinamarca, volunteer and project manager of fbi’s social outreach program from 2015-17. Meeting with these incredible, was not only incredibly enlightening from an intellectual perspective, by personally rewarding in hearing the stories of this incredible organisation and the impact they have had on it.

As the first extended historical work done for fbi, this is a significant step in celebrating this incredible organisation, its originality lying in both its novelty, but also synthesis of modalities relevant to the station. As I spoke to many interviewees, they commented on the need for fbi to have a history written about them and how personally beneficial it was for them to reflect upon their time at the station, which has irrevocably transformed their life’s trajectory. I hope that this project, publicly available on the fbi website, will impact fbi by elevating the awareness of the organisation’s historical significance and the need for its story to be officially recorded. My project has told stories about fbi that have otherwise never been publicly recorded and I hope it inspires future historical work about the station. As Stuart Coupe beautifully put it in our interview, “[the] library is a remarkable piece of Music history. We talk about tombs in Egypt and artefacts being buried, and hopefully that library stays together.”

While my article has not yet been published, I have included two oral histories below to check out!

Day One: fbi 94.5 Present: Kill Your Idols (2003)

August 29, 2003. Since 1995, FBi (Free Broadcast Inc) Radio 94.5FM had been broadcast on special occasions from an empty shop next to the Clock Hotel in Surry Hills, on milk crates in a caravan in Bondi Beach or above a suckling pig restaurant on George Street. However, after over six years of lobbying and fundraising, the fbi Idols, constituting Sarah Blasko, Dave McCormack, Spod, Tony Buchen, Upshot, and Front-End Loader performed to a packed foyer at the fbi headquarters. Their live cover of ‘Turn Up Your Radio; by the Master’s Apprentices was the first song to be broadcast on air and was immortalised on the ‘FBI 94.5FM Presents: Kill Your Idols” a compilation of 21 songs (many of which were only demos), that encapsulated the Sydney scene at the time. Check out some footage from the day, alongside Music Director (2003-2017), Dan Zilber’s account of the day and the compilation CD that came out of it, Kill Your Idols.

Discovering New Talent: Harley, Harley (2011)

At the core of fbi’s mission to play 50% Australian music, is their commitment to amplifying grassroots talent that may be otherwise neglected by commercial; radio or major labels. For example, Music Open Day saw flocks of artists coming into the station hand-delivering demos on burnt CDs, keen for their first radio play. Some of these CDs had cover art, some in an entirely plain packaging straight from Officeworks. Others simply wrapped up their demo in the ripped-out pages of a medical textbook and in the case of Rainbow Chan, brought in her demo in a hand sewn and embroidered fabric sleeve. From a father with a newborn handing in a demo to the station – who later turned out to be a member of rock band and fbi success-story Wolf Mother – or music director Stephen Goodhew being live serenaded in his office, Music Open Day encouraged everyone and anyone to come in and take a shot. With the commitment of presenters, volunteers, and staff to scour the city for new releases, fbi has been responsible for the first radio plays of some of the biggest Australian exports from The Kid Laroi and Julia Jacklin, to 1300 and Nina Las Vegas, and countless invaluable independent artists. One notable story is of a 15-year-old Flume who handed in his first demo under the name ‘Harley’ to the station in 2007.

In the age of streaming and podcasts, has video really killed the radio star? fbi 94.5FM, a community-led radio station based here in Eora/Sydney would suggest otherwise.

In 1995, as the Keating government sought to allocate the remaining radio licenses in Sydney, fbi Radio was established. After several years of test broadcasts, fbi finally gained its permanent, full-time license in 2003 and has been broadcasting ever since. Their aim was simple, but radical: to showcase the diverse music and cultural scene of Sydney with a focus on independent artists. This was made explicit in their policy to play 50% Australian music, with half of that from Sydney.

Over their 21 years of broadcasting, fbi’s impact had spanned beyond the radio waves. In showcasing local and international music talent, with a breadth that defies the constraints of commercial radio, fbi has been integral in keep alive a local music culture trammelled by lock-out laws and corporate interests. No artist, song, or genre is too obscure or ‘left-of-field’ for fbi and they not only showcase, but celebrate subaltern identities and experiences

The shows on fbi range from quintessential breakfast radio to in-depth explorations of subculture and specific music genres. This ranges from shows such Race Matters which involves in-depth storytelling and interviews to explore modern racial identity, to Mosaic which celebrates Middle Eastern, Asian, and African culture and music co-hosted by the University of Sydney’s very own Jonathan Chalouhi. One of their flagship shows, All the Best, is a nationally syndicated program which curates and showcases community submitted documentaries, stories, and interview, demonstrating their commitment to representing the local community – in every form it takes.  From the vast array of shows and content the station produces, at any rate, remains to have its finger on the pulse of Sydney’s culture.

It is because of this that fbi is perhaps the ultimate organisation for a historical project. With thirty years in local scene, their importance spans beyond simply the local acts they have been integral in helping make ‘big’ (Flume, Julia Jacklin and Nina Las Vegas to name a few), but their continual support of the independent acts whose oeuvre may range from krautrock to Detroit house, ambient to grime. Not only is fbi’s local significance undeniable, but their capacity as a treasure trove of Sydney’s cultural history is an unmissable opportunity for a historian.

My work with fbi is centring on their mammoth CD archive of over 46,600 CD’s that they have acquired since their start in 1995. Anyone familiar with fbi will recognise their extensive shelves of CD’s, backdrop to many a photo op across their marketing and social media. This library is a physical manifestation of fbi’s almost thirty-year history. Accumulated over numerous music opens days (monthly events where the station invites local artists to hand in demos), personal collections, and demos from labels, this CD archive tells a story of the many lives of Sydney’s musical scene. By looking at the very history of this library, I hope to be able to help tell a story of the many lives that have walked through fbi’s doors, and the many lives its impacts beyond them.