Chris Deacon has been a valued grant assessor for the CBF since 2017, adding to his extensive roll call of experience in the sector which includes being a a radio presenter, broadcast and recording engineer, trainer, board member and fundraiser!
In fact, Chris has over 50 years’ experience spanning broadcasting and telecommunications in technical, management and consulting roles.
Starting with an early passion for radio while in primary school, he has gone on to amass skills in constructing AM and FM stations (fifty milliwatts to ten kilowatts), while maintaining a distinguished professional career in broadcasting policy, space and telecommunications at senior government and private levels.
He was a voluntary founder of Campus Radio ANU and 2XX in the early 1970s and is currently Manager of Technology at Canberra’s ArtSound FM and CMS FM. He built the broadcast consoles used at ArtSound FM (which are still in service) and was responsible for the design-from-scratch and construction of much of ArtSound’s studio complex in the 1980s. Recent work has included refurbishment of the CMS studios, and installation of transmission facilities for 1WAY FM (5KW) and Australian Muslim Voice (1KW).
As an assessor of both our Development & Operations grants, Chris brings particular experience in broadcast audio, IT and RF design, acoustics, and business development. He enjoys reading the diversity of applications and the chance to see what new ideas are coming through in applications.
“Community radio is an ideal conduit to the future for knowledge transfer and onboarding a new generation of technology enthusiasts,” Chris shared.
An accomplished jazz pianist, Chris has also found time to host a weekly The Music Works slot and since the early 1990s has recorded and presented hundreds of local jazz gigs through his Friday Night Live program which you can tune into at 8pm Fridays on ArtSound FM.
Chris was awarded the Order of Australia in 2009, the Technorama Lifetime Contribution to the Community Broadcasting Sector (2018) and the Lifetime Service Award – Australian Not-for-Profit Technology Awards (2021) for his service to community radio. He was a founding member of the CBAA Technical Standing Committee and has been an enthusiastic Technorama Board Member since its inception in 2009.
Chris is an esteemed veteran of the community broadcasting sector in Australia and is often sought to provide advice and guidance to established and fledgling stations.
Thank you, Chris.