CBF Board Director, Kim Borrowdale, was on the road working and visiting family when the recent lockdowns hit the east coast of Australia. Instead of returning to Sydney, she headed north to Townsville and dropped into the local community radio station Triple t…
There were some upsides to my extended stay in Townsville due to the recent Brisbane lockdown. It meant I had some unexpected time to visit the local community radio station Triple t where I was warmly welcomed by Tee and the team!
As well as checking out the outdoor broadcast at the popular Sunday markets, I got a full tour of the Triple t facilities including the studio with the beautiful mixer that was purchased with CBF support. It was so inspiring to talk through their range of programs – a full roster of live programming! There are some great regular shows produced by presenters some of whom have been volunteering for a couple of decades. I particularly loved hearing about the station’s depth and breadth of ethnic programming.
Like all of us, Triple t has been affected by COVID restrictions so they couldn’t enjoy the usual volume of outdoor event broadcasting this year. But they are full of energy and enthusiasm, ready to jump into action for every event, training opportunity and community engagement they can – including keeping their fingers crossed for the CBAA conference being held in their backyard this year.
As a CBF Board Director, it really is a privilege to be invited into stations to catch up on what they’re up to, see how our support has helped and talk through ideas about what they need for the future.
As someone living and working through COVID in the best way I can – just like everyone else – it’s also really motivating to see community spirit in action. Thanks again Triple t!
In 2019/20 Triple T received Specialist Radio Programming and Development & Operations grants to help them upgrade their old outside broadcast equipment, employ a community engagement officer, launch a new Hungarian program, purchase headsets and other broadcast equipment for presenters, and repairs their back-up generator.
Photos: (top) Kim Borrowdale and Tee Johnson at Triple t, (bottom left) outside the Triple t station, (bottom right) outside broadcast at the Townsville Sunday markets.