Shin Keith is a long-standing volunteer in community broadcasting whose origins in radio and TV span as far as Japan. Shin was also a former volunteer and presenter at 107.3HFM in Gosnells, Perth / Boorloo for eight years, where they were involved in various outdoor broadcasts, boards, fundraisers, grant applications and community events.
At the age of three, Shin immigrated from Malaysia to Perth. After University and short stints in nursing and real estate, they moved to Japan in 1993 where they began in radio on a Japanese talk show and also on Japanese TV. From a young age, Shin was always doing something new as often as possible and believes this to be the key to ‘the road of true wonderment and surprise’.
After 17 years in Japan, Shin returned to Perth / Boorloo and started at 107.3HFM with a Japanese music hour. By 2018, they were running a two-hour Japanese program and interview show ‘Mind & Body’ on mental and physical health. A keen adventurer and lover of things that inspire outside-the-box thinking, Shin explains that ‘[community radio] is not a static place. It is vibrant, curious and knowledgeable…It can make you laugh, tear up, be informed…Over the years it has been a great honour to play a part in the ever changing formats of community radio. It only took a tap on the shoulder!’.
Soon after writing grant applications for the station including for their own programs, Shin was keen to join the Grant Assessor Team: ‘I was curious about how the grants are processed, about the different projects that people were interested in and why they felt there was a gap that their project could fill. It was amazing to see the myriads of program ideas that bloomed from small to large funding approvals.’
Thank you, Shin.