About the Project

Student Radio History is a multifaceted history project.

It is fully independent and is currently being funded by its broke author.

This is the first time student radio history has ever been put down on paper or podcast in Australia.

Hopefully, it will be a gamechanger for the future of student radio.

We’ve never been very good at knowing our own history, even recent history.

That means we make the same mistakes over and over, and we don’t get the benefit of the hard work and great ideas of the past.

Let’s change that!

See below for planned outcomes of the project.

The main outcome will be a full length book that will provide a narrative of student radio from its early beginnings in technical colleges and student backyards, to the thriving FM, stream and podcasting services today.

I will also offer some analysis on the shape of student radio over the years and the effects that government policies have had on the development of youth media.

Research is mostly into primary sources, so I spend most of my research time tracking down physical archives, travelling to view them, argue with archivists/librarians, photograph or otherwise copy them, clean up the copy (eg editing the photo for clarity), transcribing in some instances, cataloguing them in the database and finally pulling facts and quotes from them to integrate into a narrative.

This is only stage one of course; most of the important information is gleaned from interviews with alumni.

I will also be providing access to my research databases online for interested parties.

A Melbourne student radio station has already paid for access to the database, including historical items I’ve gathered over the years, as well as some research notes and metadata.

Depending on the nature of the user (to comply with privacy requirements), the database will include lists of station alumni.

This will empower individual researchers, radio stations and interested parties to see the raw data with full referencing.

For more info, visit the Database.

Attractive Young People Make Radio is a Facebook group I started a few years ago.

It's for people under 30 who are interested in radio or media, and people of any age who are interested in supporting us.

Here's the link if you want to join; make sure you answer the joining questions!

I'm actively looking for group Admin/Moderators, if you are at all interested please message me.

I recently established the r/studentradio subreddit on Reddit.

If you are interested in running the group please contact me.