With the gradual return of music festivals in recent years – 3RRR’s ‘Off The Record’ has resumed its popular outside broadcasts (OBs) from music festivals on home soil and all around the world.
‘Off The Record’ is a music program featuring interviews, reviews, news and live performances from local and international musicians. Hosted by Brian Wise OAM since 1987, the long-running program has covered renowned music festivals as well as interviews with local and international artists such as Ella Hooper, Kurt Vile, Lucinda Williams, Emma Donovan, Thelma Plum, Kev Carmody, Jeff Beck and Joy Oladokun.
‘Off The Record’ is aired live on 3RRR and via the Community Radio Network (CRN) – a subscription service that gives community radio stations access to a selection of community-produced content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and on-demand. ‘Off The Record’ offers something truly unique to community stations via the CRN in its special coverage of music festivals and in-studio performances locally and around the world. The original 3-hour program is broadcast on 3RRR while a special one-hour version is produced separately for broadcast on the CRN, twice a week.
‘Off The Record’ has been able to resume coverage of its much-loved Americana Fest in 2022 and 2023, following the festival’s two-year ‘pandemic hiatus’. This year’s program has also included the Old Settler’s Festival (Dale, Texas), New Orleans Jazz amp Heritage Festival (New Orleans, Louisiana), Memphis Blues Awards, plus local OBs at Womadelaide and Bluesfest. 3RRR has its sights set on going live from Womadelaide in 2024 across the network as well as facilitating a national broadcast from Bluesfest 2024 with a NSW community station. Through the program, the station has been able to continue to build and develop a strong rapport with local and global events.
3RRR are a recipient of CBF’s multi-year content grant 2022/23. Funding support has enabled presenters and producers to sustain the hours necessary to prepare the program for the CRN every week. Multi-year funding will also support training for assistant producers and sound engineers to assist up-and-coming community broadcasters in developing their skills. 2023 has seen increased representation of female and First Nations artists in the program – an important priority for the station as it prepares to drive this further in the forthcoming year, with additional production assistance.
Tune into ‘Off The Record’ every Saturday 9am- 12pm on 3RRR or visit here to find out more about how to access content for your station or program via the CRN.
Photo: Abigail Washburn & Bela Fleck at Womadelaide 2023; – Kinky Friedman (American singer & songwriter), Off the Record host Brian Wise, Van Dyke Parks (American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer) & community broadcaster Alicia Sometimes.