Over the past few years, 8CCC Radio 102.1FM have been building on its unique program offerings that celebrate, educate and empower its loyal community of listeners in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, on Arrernte & Warumungu Country.
Amongst its buzzing programs is the popular series ‘Sisters In Law’, a community legal education podcast about the law, women and access to justice. The show is hosted and produced by Sarah, Meg and Grace – three lawyers from the Central Australian Womens Legal Service (CAWLS) who saw a genuine gap in the available local information about legal issues affecting women in Central Australia. On a mission to improve legal accessibility for women in the local community, the series aims to raise awareness about women’s legal rights and initiatives dedicated to improving social justice outcomes. Past episodes have included discussions about family violence, child protection, women’s rights at work, housing, debt and women’s health.
While season two of ‘Sisters In Law’ initially began with eight pre-produced episodes, the series eventually shifted to a live format as the CAWLS team of presenters gained greater confidence and production skills over time. The show has now been broadcasting live weekly for three years.
Featuring local music by female-identifying musicians, ‘Sisters In Law’ promotes the sounds of empowered female artists and its involvement of the local music community has also served to enhance the reach of the primarily talk-based program. This has generated a music library of licensed local music that the station continues to utilise for both the live-broadcast and podcast format of the program.
Through sharing knowledge, stories and expertise, the series has continued to strengthen ties and foster connections within the legal community, local residents as well as community service providers. The growing partnership between 8CCC and CAWLS has also enabled cross-collaboration opportunities, with the station recently presenting at a community legal education conference about the power of community broadcasting in educating communities.
8CCC was a recipient of CBF’s Round 1 Content grant 2019/2020. Under a multi-project funding scheme (no longer available under CBF’s current grants), CBF funding supported three separate projects including the making of ‘Sisters In Law’ season two, the creation of new series ‘Longlines’ and a live-broadcast format of the station’s ‘Radio Reading’ program .
Tune into ‘Sisters In Law’ on 8CCC 102.1 FM or stream via 8ccc.com.au, Radio Garden or the Tune In App.
[Images: 8CCC Radio Reading Team; ‘Sisters In Law’ co-host Sophie Quinn with Tully McIntyre, former Community Engagement Manager at Women’s Safety Services of Central Australia]