Mount Lawley-based station RTRFM are showcasing the great work of Western Australian women through their podcast HerStory. As part of their ongoing commitment to addressing gender inequity, the station launched a 12-part podcast series using an all female team – both on air and behind the scenes – in late 2021.
Funded through a CBF Content grant, the first season of the podcast features the stories of 12 influential women who have been inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame. All have altered the course of WA history, and continue to shape the state today. Interviewees include the first WA female premier and federal politician Dr Carmen Lawrence, Walkley Award-winning journalist Estell Blackburn OAM, wheelchair racer Louise Sauvage OAM, actor and broadcaster Libby Stone, and many more.
RTRFM was founded back in 1977 at the University of Western Australia, originally as 6UWA then 6UVS, before shifting to Mount Lawley in the mid-2000s. Nicknamed the ‘Sound Alternative’, the station has always promoted great local artists, music, voices and sounds outside the mainstream. Like many community broadcasters the station seeks to give a voice to those who may be underrepresented elsewhere in traditional media.
The CBF have a long history supporting RTRFM content projects including HerStory and the award-winning First Nations Affairs Show, Moorditj Mag.
RTRFM’s General Manager, Simon Miraudo, says the CBF has been a great help over the years, and especially in the last 12 months.
“CBF funding has allowed us to spend a lot of time researching the women in the WA Women’s Hall of Fame and also pay some of those volunteer producers to put together a really in-depth longform show profiling these women”.
In late 2021, the station won several Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Awards. Winners included two members of the HerStory team, host Taylah Strano and producer Fiona Bartholomaeus, who were acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to the station’s programming.
According to Simon Miraudo, the credit for RTRFM’s success at the awards is all down to their staff and volunteers:
“The fact is, like any community radio station in Australia, you really can’t pull off cool things and achieve everything you want to without the support of the volunteers and our wider community.”
You can listen to all the episodes of HerStory on the RTRFM website.
Photos: (top) HerStory host Taylah Strano , (middle) RTRFM HerStory host Taylah Strano with Australia’s first female premier Carmen Lawrence
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