Well I’ve had an interesting two years as N.C.R. President. Major achievements in terms of sound quality have been getting the old Noosa Council along with the builder and plasterers to bring the studios up to better than the original specifications. I thank them heartily for all for their efforts. The bright colors we chose for the repainting have also added life. I would like to also thank the C.B.F. (Community Broadcasting Foundation) for their grant to acoustically treat the studios to eliminate echo and create a nice vibrant, warm sound. Appreciation to our new council for trimming the tree back from our aerial, which helped the broadcast quality too.

Our hugely successful projects have been the creation of 2 great new C.D.’s Noosa Sound Waves Vol. 1 and 2 with music tracks and artwork kindly donated by local artists and musicians including our own presenters. We are now working on using these to market the station and our local talent. (Hands up who wants to help here!). We have podcasting also now on our website, much thanks to the C.B.A.A. and Veronica Lim.

Our most recent achievement was Chris Lofven’s labour of love video about the station, which is up on You Tube. You can find it by typing “Noosa on Air” into your browser or take a look below this message.

We put in a “school/community partnership” submission with Sunshine Beach State High School (S.B.S.H.S) for seed funding to build a newsroom with broadcast training facilities at the school. This grant was successful and we’re very excited about our new partnership. They are the grantee and we are the partners.

We’ve been very busy too with outside broadcasts (O.B.’s) and having a presence at Peregian Originals concerts. I think one of our most successful radio shows was the outside broadcast we recently did at Yandina for the Community Day, where we interviewed a vast range of community groups and put their info and community involvement out to our listeners with heart and spirit. Podcasts are on our website. Check them out. With a dedicated team we developed a strategic plan for the station to implement.

I most enjoyed training two 12-year-old presenters (Anna Bennett and Eliza Grogan from Tewantin Primary School) who just gobbled up the knowledge and showed a lot of flair by creating their own skits. Sadly they’re busy adjusting to High School now and we miss them. I have learnt a lot about computers and software and have even become a fairly good troubleshooter, able to help presenters over the phone. For these skills, I thank Sheng Yee and the “Help” function. It may surprise you to know that when I started at 101.3FM (7 years ago) I had no experience with sound editing software. This has been a great learning curve for me. Now I think I can teach anyone almost anything! Seriously I have also really enjoyed helping presenters with their technical needs, helping them with show promos and passing on leads to people for their shows.

I see N.C.R. biggest challenges as becoming more local and vocal, developing much more team spirit and increasing the involvement of our members. Right now at N.C.R too few are doing too much and I both salute them and thank them from the bottom of my heart. For those who have yet to discover the joys of taking a more active role, I fully encourage you become more involved. Both you and the station will reap the benefit. Positive community involvement always helps the donor more than the recipient. One of the social highlights I got going was “Brekkie on the River” where we all brought along a plate to share. This died with winter and could do with a summer revival, how about it team? With the AGM upon us it’s time for new blood to step up and steer the ship. We need to raise some serious funds, also a bright-eyed & bushy tailed fund-raising/marketing team to keep up with growing costs and developing the future direction of the station.

Whilst I am hanging up the gloves as president, I will still be involved with production and will be co-presenting a locally focused program with Diet Simon to share my passion for music, news, community and the politically ridiculous.

I am also keen to continue working toward increasing our broadcast footprint. We didn’t get the promised transmitter, but can apply for a C.B.F grant when we are ready. There is still an enormous amount of research and technical expertise required to bring this to fruition. So step up if you are ready, willing and able. Additionally I will also help to see the original intention fulfilled to make the main studio more visible (to be the one next to the J with the window to their lounge.)

Thank you all for your support without which I would have struggled. I acknowledge that at times I have been party to unpopular decisions and would love to have had the recipe to please everyone all the time, but have not found great success there. One day I will either find the recipe or realise that it’s not possible. I am happy to say however, that I have given it my absolute best.

I have gained a lot of skills and had much fun along with a few heartaches; but you get that on the big jobs. I am pleased with how I steered the ship for a while and proud to be a hands on contributing member of this station.

Which one of you will be our next leader and who will be part of the next management team to drive this fabulous radio station Fm 101.3?

Do You Love Our Station? I Do!

Mark Rodriquez
President