Author: Scott Landells

Indigo FM’s 2020 Annual General Meeting had been postponed for several months due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, it was eventually held yesterday early evening at the wonderful Wooragee Centenary Hall, with 13 members in attendance.

Indigo FM is excited to welcome Yackandandah’s Nigel Jones to it’s Committee of Management for 2021. Nigel is an enthusiastic supporter of Indigo FM and holds a strong interest in community life, especially in the Yackandandah community, where he lives with his wife Donna and their young family.

Nigel joins a 6 member Committee of Management, with each of the 5 previous Committee members being returned for another term. In a slight re-shuffle, Greg Clydesdale after 5 years serving as Secretary will take on a General Committee role and Jocelyn (Jos) Ceccanti will take on the role of Secretary.

Jos was co-opted onto the Indigo FM Committee of Management in April 2020 following a couple of resignations, to help fill the vacancy. She very quickly demonstrated outstanding communication and organisational skills which led to several positive initiatives. Jos’ extensive background in various levels of radio, as well as her role as a Committee member for the past year will have her ready to hit the ground running in the Secretary’s role.

In addition to Nigel, Greg and Jos, the remaining 3 Committee of Management members Scott Landells, Phil Fraser and Bernie Jovaras, were returned in their previous roles (President, Vice-President and Treasurer respectively) unopposed.

The members did vote for one additional General Committee role, for which the Committee of Management will look to fill at their discretion, throughout 2021.

President Scott Landells is excited to again lead Indigo FM for another year, his 7th as President.

“It’s an honour to lead our progressive, diverse organisation and I’m looking forward to the challenges of 2021. Like pretty much every community group anywhere in the world, the Covid-19 pandemic presented many significant challenges. Indigo FM’s business model adapted though and we are significantly changed long-term for the better, I think, by the experience,” Landells said.

“I will be especially focused on continuing to evolve our organisation, so settling new CoM member Nigel Jones into his role on our Committee as well as Jos Ceccanti into her role as Secretary will be key focuses of mine. They – along with each of our continuing CoM members Greg, Bernie and Phil – bring wonderful skills and perspectives to the table and I am confident we can again provide strong and creative team-oriented leadership.

Whilst the formal AGM Agenda focused on the financial year 1 July 2019 – 30 June 2020, an informal General Meeting held afterwards allowed current Committee members to outline the various positive initiatives – several unexpected – that arose through the second half of 2020. These initiatives have allowed Indigo FM to continue to evolve especially in the areas of themed podcasts and making smart use of technology. From a financial viewpoint, collectively these initiatives filled the breach caused by the loss of Marketing revenue due to event cancellation and have seen Indigo FM reverse it’s financial fortunes considerably from a precarious mid-2020 position to a relatively healthy state in Feb 2021.

These initiatives include a refurbished Yackandandah Community Centre and the talkback Yack Chat program, themed podcasts with Chiltern Lions Amateur Players – CLAP – (Christmas Carols) and Indigo Shire Council Tourism (Weekend Road Trips), Sponsorships with Victorian Seniors Festival and First National Real Estate Beechworth / Bonnici & Associates, the launch of an Internet Radio Station and some very positive engagement with the Tangambalanga community and businesses – most recently at the Family Fun Day in late January 2021 held at the Union Hotel Tangambalanga. Also the support from Ben Quick at ReConnect with “behind the scenes” telecommunications infrastructure on both the Yack Chat program and assisting with live streaming at Beechworth has been significant.

In summary the Indigo FM Committee of Management for 2021 is:

• Scott Landells – President
• Phil Fraser – Vice President
• Jocelyn Ceccanti – Secretary
• Bernie Jovaras – Treasurer
• Nigel Jones – General Committee
• Greg Clydesdale – General Committee
• spare – General Committee

The 2019-20 Financial Statement (Profit and Loss / Balance Sheet) can be viewed here

The President’s Report can be viewed here

Indigo FM is very excited to announce a new sponsorship with First National Beechworth – Bonnici & Associates.

First National Beechworth’s support will enable Indigo FM to undertake critical work to set up live streaming.

Indigo FM President Scott Landells explained the new sponsorship – for an initial 3 year term – will help Indigo FM greatly in resourcing the volunteer-run, local radio station to meet the considerable costs associated with live streaming.

“Indigo FM is thrilled to announce this new sponsorship. With this support from First National Beechworth we can resource ourselves to achieve our goal to live stream our radio sites,” Landells said.

“Initially, their support will see us focus primarily on our Beechworth site, and we are confident we can have both our Beechworth and Yackandandah sites live streaming in a couple of months time and joining our current Internet Radio Station, as we continue to build the on-line streaming options for our listeners.

“Indigo FM wishes to thank Tony Stockdale from the First National Beechworth office and proprietors Will and Penny Bonnici for their generous and enthusiastic support and having faith in our vision.”

Tony Stockdale from First National Beechworth is very keen to bring their strong brand on board to support Indigo FM.

“Here at First National Beechworth, owners Will, Penny and I greatly admire the community volunteering spirit of Indigo FM. We also appreciate their considerable reach across both FM and digital platforms, to help spread our message of local agents with national exposure via the First National brand,” Stockdale stated.

“When we were approached to come on board as a sponsor, we were keen to embrace the opportunity to recognise the determined volunteer spirit of Indigo FM and help them tackle the exciting opportunities that are offered via technology upgrades such as live streaming.”

 

Indigo FM is holding it’s postponed 2020 Annual General Meeting.

Date: Sunday, 21 February 2021

Time: 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm

Venue: Wooragee Hall, Wooragee.

We welcome your attendance and strongly encourage anyone with an interest in helping with the running of Indigo FM to nominate for our Committee of Management. Written nominations on the form linked below may be scanned and emailed to [email protected] or mailed to The Secretary, PO Box 64, Chiltern VIC 3683. Nominations may also be lodged at the AGM.

Due to COVID-safe protocols, a maximum of 25 attendees are permitted and you will be required to RSVP so that we can track numbers.

If you can’t make it to the meeting and would like another Indigo FM member to represent you by proxy, you may like to use the Proxy Form via link below.

A link for our 2019-20 Statement of Income and Expenditure and Balance Sheet can be viewed here. Along with election of Committee of Management and confirmation of Membership Fees for 2021, these are the only items of business permitted at an AGM as set out in the Model Rules – see page 10 on the link below.

An Agenda can be viewed here

The President’s Report for 2019-20 from Scott Landells can be viewed here.

We will hold a brief informal General Meeting following the AGM for those members who wish to participate.

Greg Clydesdale
Secretary

Model Rules

AGM Nomination and Proxy Form 2020

2019-20 Statement of Income and Expenditure and Balance Sheet

President’s Report

 

Indigo FM has recently launched a Christmas Playlist which will be on air until midnight Monday 28 December.

It’s full of quirky, fun gems from a host of artists including The Killers, AC/DC, Weddings Parties Anything, John Prine, XTC, Bob Marley, Wizzard, Bob Dylan, Paul Kelly, The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, Cheap Trick, Pearl Jam and many others.

You can view the Playlist here

Additionally, this week each evening from 7pm we are featuring the following specials:

• Wed 23 December – 2015 Eclectic Avenue Christmas Spectacular
• Thu 24 December – CLAP Christmas Carols
• Fri 25 December – 2015 Funky Little Christmas with Chris and Lauren
• Sat 26 December – 2020 Eclectic Avenue Christmas Spectacular

Tune in via our media player at www.indigofmradio.com to hear these Christmas specials.

The Christmas Playlist is on at each FM site on 88.0 FM at Beechworth, Tangambalanga and Yackandandah. It is also on our Internet Radio Station stream.

Merry Christmas from the crew here at Indigo FM

It is with great sadness that we learned on Sunday that Ian Gracie had passed away on Saturday 19 December.

Ian was an Indigo FM CoM member from 2017-18, stepping up to take on the Secretary’s role at our 2017 AGM. He commenced co-hosting radio shows in early 2017 under the guidance of regular presenter Dan Goonan, the two of them forming a very close bond. Through Dan’s encouragement, Ian was able to explore his love of music and together they presented the Sunday night show The Irreverents along with fellow presenter Norm Gay.

Ian was the driving force behind our bid to move our Beechworth studio to Bunya House from Beechworth Secondary College, where we happily have set up our Beechworth base in partnership with BULS (Beechworth Urban Landcare and Sustainability). This move in hindsight was visionary and we are indebted to Ian for his skilled and professional guidance through the tender process.

Ian died from cancer which he had been battling privately for some time. He will be fondly remembered as a very warm and generous family man and friend to many.

He is survived by his wife Beth and two daughters Lilly and Teresa and we extend our deepest condolences to them.

What do Cash Savage, Dan Kelly, Julia Jacklin, The Northern Folk, Fraser A Gorman, Alana Wilkinson and Mitch King have in common?

They – along with about 25 other artists – are all featured in our Fave Aussie Songs Since 2010 Special. A couple of those names above actually voted too. To hear how it all unfolds, make sure you check it out.

It will be available via 4 different methods / timelines:

• 88.0 FM Live – 5-9pm in Yackandandah Sunday 22 November
• Stream / Internet Radio Station – 6-10pm Monday 23 November
• Podcast – it will be available as a series of 4 x 1 hour podcasts from Tuesday 24 November onwards.
• 88.0 FM Replay – 6-10pm Monday 30 November at Beechworth, Tangambalanga and Yackandandah

Yep, Yackandandah listeners will be privileged as they will get first dibs on the show 24 hours ahead of the rest of the world! We wonder how fast good news will take to travel????

100% Australian Music – your / our favourite Australian Songs from our first decade – right here on Indigo FM.

 

 

 

 

Indigo FM is now available to tune into as an Internet Streaming Radio Station!

After a couple of months of testing, the wait is over and we are officially launched.

You can access our stream a couple of ways –

1. via any page on our website www.indigofmradio.com – see the panel to the right
2. via this URL streaming

Our Stream site will include a mix of current and recently aired shows and interviews as well as content from our 10 Year Archive. This will be balanced with announcements and Indigo FM’s innovative, refreshing music playlist which has over 50% Australian content including hundreds of local and independent artists, who otherwise receive little airplay on commercial radio stations. You can view the current playlist here. There are 900 songs delivered by over 700 different artists.

A program schedule is created each month – November’s schedule is here

You can now take Indigo FM with you when you’re in the car commuting to work, nearby towns, holidaying or visiting friends. Anywhere that you can be online, you can listen to Indigo FM!

Indigo FM has plans to build on its streaming portfolio by adding live streams from it’s FM sites in coming months.

 

 

 

 

Indigo FM’s annual Radiothon has been extended one month. It will now run from 1 October through to the end of November. It’s our annual showcase of all that is unique about our great little radio station and how you can connect with us.

Given the year that 2020 has been, our Radiothon theme is to support us to support our communities. There are several projects we have running where we are looking at how we can support community better. We started the year supporting community fund-raisers to aid Bushfire Relief in Beechworth and Yackandandah and in recent months have been offering free announcements via our on-air Business Recovery Billboard.

Sign Up or Renew here

Here at Indigo FM, we have a number of new programs and indeed new ways that you can enjoy Indigo FM with inclusiveness a major focus.

As well as our host of regular programs, several recent new musical programs have been added that focus on genres such as 80s and 90s glam metal, dub/electronic, horn based funk and soul, all things blues and female artists. Plus we will be featuring young local songwriters who were awarded prizes in the recent Indigo Shire Youth Songwriting Competition.

We also are super-excited by a few non-musical shows that our volunteers have been busy developing which include a community phone in chat type program, a book club, reading for the vision impaired and a radio play among various Arts based programs. And we are also supporting the 2020 Victorian Seniors Festival – airing content specific for seniors on a weekly basis.

As a bonus, joining up this Radiothon, you will be eligible for an Accommodation package at Lochwood Cottage B&B Beechworth – placing you within a lovely short stroll of beautiful parks and the heritage streetscape that Beechworth is famous for. We also have runners up prizes from Ceccanti Kiewa Valley Wines and Mount Beauty Music Festival.

Throughout October and November we have some big announcements. Shortly we will unveil our Internet Radio Site, which has been in test mode for the past 2 months. We are just ironing out a couple of small glitches and it will be ready to roll. It will be showcasing all of the great shows you can hear at any one of our sites , a host of shows from our vault, supplemented by our progressive and highly unique playlist which is jam packed with Australian independent artists. All accessible via a media player app on our website (or an internet URL) to tune into Indigo FM from your mobile phone, tablet, laptop, desktop etc. If you’re lucky you might be able to play it from your phone through your car audio system via blue-tooth connectivity.

If you’re new to Indigo FM and wish to join up as a member, you can do that right here.

To renew your Membership for 2020-21 click here.

To view our Program Guides click here for Tangambalanga, Beechworth and Yackandandah.

To keep up with the latest Indigo FM updates head along to our Facebook page or check in here and as always feel free to email us on [email protected] or [email protected].

Here at Indigo FM we’re conducting a poll of your favourite Australian songs of the past 10 years – essentially since Indigo FM has been alive!

Vote here now

So 2010-2020 release dates is what we’re talking about. And the artist must generally be considered Australian (sorry no bending of the rules for our kiwi friends on this one).

You can vote for up to 5 songs and voting is now open. It will run for 5 weeks – closing Sunday 4 October.

Voting is via this online form

To go to the event page and for further info click here

Indigo FM presenters have been busy creating lots of interesting content to help keep your Stay at Home time entertaining. Among the shows available on podcast are:

10 Year Birthday Highlights from our Vault

A selection of bona-fide treasures are dusted off from our Vault and brought back to life for your listening enjoyment. Featuring:

• 2015 From Rock to Music with Norm
• 2015 Covers Special with Andrew
• 2013 Lipstick Blues with Ruth
• 2014 Small Town Sounds Yackandandah Folk Festival Breakfast Special hosted by Lauren and Chris

Lipstick Blues with Ruth

Following a 6 year break, Ruth triumphantly returns and brings her enthusiastic passion for the Blues to our airwaves spinning 90 minutes of tracks from Ash Grunwald, Fenn Wilson, Lachy Doley, John Lee Hooker and many more.

Waste The Alphabet with Doug

Playing the best new independent Australian music.

Everyone Deserves Music with Scott

Modern Australian folk/roots music incl local and touring artists plus we delve into the cave and drag out relics from the past

Bullfrog’s Roadhouse with Mark

You supply the food and drink, we supply the tunes – blues, roots, alt-country. Tune in to hear what comes next.

Monthly Music with Charles

Indigo FM’s youngest presenter Charles selects new music from around the world.

Eclectic Avenue with Bernie, Michael and Sandy

Brings you a smorgasbord of musical delights to titillate your musical taste buds from across the genres loosely brought together each week by a topical, quirky, out-of-left-field, nonsensical, and/or lazy theme.

The Nest with Patrick

A mix including ambient, low fi type recordings but also a bit of boogie and disco, modern electronic pieces too. some contemplation and some dancing.

Interviews

There are interviews with artists such as Grafton’s Tullara and Canadian Tennyson King and also an interview with Indigo FM founder Paul Fitzgerald.

Check them out here