The studios of Alive 90.5 FM have never looked more #alive, following the recent completion of major upgrades. The station is proud to offer its new top facilities to members of its local community and dynamic team of volunteers.
For the past four decades, Alive 90.5 FM has been servicing the communities of Parramatta, Cumberland and Baulkham Hills on Dharug Country, providing local content and diverse programs that aim to educate, entertain and inform. Based in Baulkham Hills, the station is run entirely by volunteers who are passionate about community engagement and connection. Alive FM has also been a special opportunity hub for locals who are keen to learn and participate in radio announcing, audio production, music programming and content producing.
For a while, the station was trying to figure out how to convert its underutilised storage and other spaces to meet growing demands for more training space and facilities for pre-recording and creating podcasts and videos. ‘The studios at Balcombe Heights have served us well since the 90s, however the studios were tired and in need of a major upgrade’ explained Chairman, Andsley Dennis.
As part of the new upgrades, Alive FM has installed a new studio 3 for audio and video podcasting, plus meetings and training room facilities for conferences and audiovisual (AV) workshops. These facilities are available for community and corporate use. Upgrades to studios 1 and 2 include new carpets, sound proof batts, DJ decks and more. A new kitchen and bathroom has also been installed as well as a new tower and disability access ramp into the building with restored pathways and a veranda.The journey has also been a transformative one at heart with over forty sponsors and members joining the station’s recent celebration of the newly launched podcast studio. ‘We are proud of our state-of-the-art facilities we have created that will bring Parramatta, Cumberland and the Hills LGAs the very best in radio and podcasting’, shares Andsley.
Alive 90.5 FM was a recipient of CBF’s Round 1 Development and Operations Grant 2022/23 for new studio equipment to support activation of its new broadcast studio, training of new broadcasters, pre-recordings and creation of podcast & video content.