Today we are launching our latest Playlist.
This is the 24th Playlist that we have produced. Each Playlist remains active for 6-12 months.
There are 900 songs, 66% of which are by Australian artists. There are also 15% by Indigenous artists. These minimum content percentages, which we have achieved for many years, make Indigo FM easily one of the most diverse radio stations in Australia. This is even more meritorious when you consider that we are 100% volunteer run and heavily reliant on community support.
Our Playlist takes centre stage during those times in between live and repeated shows. Each playlist tends to have its own flavour. This one features around 30 songs from 3 nostalgic compilations. Those being:
- Can’t Stop It! (Australian Post Punk 1978-82)
- I Wanna Be A Teen Again (North American Power Pop 1980-1989)
- Aches And Shakes Volume 2 (The Second Decade Of Popboomerang 2013-2023)
We have a fair few “long songs”. 6 that run for 10 minutes or more and 50 that are 7 min or longer! With 900 songs – there is plenty of room for everything! Whilst most of the 10 minute plus tracks are by Blues/Americana legends like the Allman Brothers, one is by a current day band from Melbourne, the psych guitar band The Silversound who share members with The Woodland Hunters and Sand Pebbles.
Indigo FM has a policy that our playlists cap the number of songs by any artist at 2. Across 900 songs, this provides a playlist with 650-700 different artists.
Many artists from the local area have songs on our Playlist 24.0. These include Patrick Thurtell, Bill O’C, Pete Denahy, Angie Brauman, Ben Chan, Toby Mobbs, Liv Cartledge, Lucey, This Way North, Jack Gregory, The Northern Folk (and their offshoots Paul Dyason, Well Into Winter and Yours, Georgina). We also feature artists who grew up in this area and were very active in the music scene such as Surprise Chef (Jethro Curtain), Rufous Whistler (Vinny Russell) and Lucky (Chelsea Knight).
In 2025 a long list of talented artists toured through the region and several of those are here including Liz Stringer, Rowena Wise & Didirri, David Francey, Oceanique, Minor Gold, Ruth Moody, Wicker Suite, Ben Lee, Ruby Gill, The Audreys, Al Matcott, Charlie Needs Braces, Fred Smith, The Maes, Scott Cook, The High Street Drifters, as well as Cosmic Psychos and Daniel Champagne who have upcoming shows in Jan and Feb respectively and also Floodlights who are headlining the 2026 High Country Hop in Beechworth.
Lovers of Japanese punk music will be pleased to know that The Fadeaways and The 5-6-7-8s have songs here, the latter having headlined the 2025 High Country Hop. Want more Jappo-punk? We also have the headliners for the forthcoming 2026 Stanley Spring Ditch event Buddhadatta with a couple of tracks from their latest album.
Station President Scott Landells elaborated on how each Playlist is created.
“We have championed Australian independent artists from the get-go and they are the foundation of this (and every) Playlist. We set ourselves very high benchmarks for minimum Australian content and Indigenous content. For this Playlist those stats are 66% and 15% respectively. We love showcasing the quality of independent Australian original songwriting and content. Given our Playlist has 900 songs there’s plenty of room to add tracks from overseas artists”, Landells said.
“Several presenters make music available from their private collections for the Playlist. In a world of streaming music, our Playlist is music that we own and therefore have the licensing rights to play on radio.”
“Many independent record labels, distributors and artists send us music directly via email and the odd CD for the purpose of radio airplay. We have a volunteer who goes through these emails and stores the downloads for future Playlist use. That person is live music guru Doug Wallen. Doug has been doing this since 2017. We are extremely grateful to Doug for the time he spends attending to this ongoing important behind-the-scenes task.”
“Some tracks are absolutely odd and quirky. For example, a couple run for less than a minute and are humorous takes on train commute platform announcements by The Blue Stones from their album ‘Metro’. They’ll pop up randomly and might make you check your surroundings!”
Landells signed off with this advice “life’s memorable moments usually come via pleasant surprises and spontaneity. In that spirit, we encourage listeners to dive in and revel in a very unique radio listening experience.”
You can check out the latest Indigo FM Playlist here.
There are 137 songs on our Indigenous Playlist which can be viewed here. This playlist is a subset of our Overall Playlist with approximately 1 in every 6 tracks being by an Indigenous artist.
Featured on this playlist are 2025 National Indigenous Music Award winners Emily Wurramara (Artist of the Year & Film Clip of the Year), Tasman Keith (Film Clip of the Year), Barkaa (Album of the Year) and the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band (Best New Talent & Song of the Year) as well as Hall of Fame inductee Jessica Mauboy. Barkaa was also very prominent at the 2025 ARIA Awards taking our Best Hip Hop Release. Similarly prominent at the ARIAs were Thelma Plum (Best Pop Release), 3% (Best Use of an Australian Recording in an Advertisement), Gurrumul (Best World Music Album), The Kid Laroi (Song of the Year), Briggs, Miss Kaninna, King Stingray and Electric Fields. They’re all here along with Sycco, Baker Boy, Yirrmal, Birdz, Yirinda, Emma Donovan, Nooky and legends such as Warumpi Band, Yothu Yindi, No Fixed Address, Coloured Stone, Christine Anu, Kev Carmody as well as the late Ruby Hunter and Archie Roach.
To tune in to Indigo FM, click this streaming link.
Interested in joining up, hosting your own podcast / show or supporting Indigo FM? Drop us an email here – [email protected].
