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Indigo FM Presents is excited to announce two fabulous back to back shows on the weekend of 4 and 5 February featuring the exceptional storytelling and songs of Joel Havea.

The first show is at Kergunyah Memorial Hall on Saturday evening 4 February (6pm start); the second is at Rutherglen Convent on Sunday afternoon 5 February (3:15pm start) and is co-presented with Arts Rutherglen and Destination Rutherglen.

Tickets are on sale now and are strictly limited. You can click the links above to head to the ticketing site for each show.

These shows are a must-see with Havea featuring songs from his 2020 album Ki ‘a Lavaka which explored his Tongan heritage as well as songs from across his career including recent single Feels Like July.

Havea has spent the past 12 years based in Hamburg, Germany with occasional return visits to Australia and his family home in North-East Victoria.

Indigo FM President Scott Landells said that the volunteer-run radio station is excited to have the opportunity to host these shows. “At Indigo FM we have always valued highly original storytelling and songwriting, and Joel is a great exponent of the genre. He is a warm, charismatic performer with an impressive repertoire of songs across several albums as a solo artist and also with his German based band. Joel also has strong ties to north-east Victoria having grown up in Yackandandah, so it’s a great honour to be able to present these shows”, Landells said.

“Supporting Joel is 12yo Staghorn Flat country music sensation Jack Gregory, a very young singer-songwriter and performer who is just beginning what is sure to be a fascinating career.”

“We also love the concept of getting music into funky spaces and venues like Kergunyah Hall and Rutherglen Convent are spaces we just love. There’s so much character and stories these buildings hold and we’re looking forward to adding to that history on 4 & 5 February.”

Further details can be obtained via email addresses below:

• Rutherglen – [email protected] or [email protected]
• Kergunyah – [email protected]

We’d like to say Merry Christmas and thanks for your support throughout 2022. Feel free to tune in any time to our 88.0 FM sites, our internet radio station or a podcast. You can find them here.

2022 was a busy and productive year. Our podcasts were again immensely popular and received thousands of plays and downloads.

We also achieved a long-held goal of setting up live streams for each of our 88.0 FM sites which we offer in conjunction with our Internet Radio Station. Huge thanks to Tony Stockdale and the team at First National Beechworth, Yackandandah Community Centre and Michael Rosenbrock for their invaluable assistance in achieving this goal. In 2023 we aim to tidy up our website for easier access to our streams and current live programs.

Xmas Playlist On Air Now!
This week we have switched across to a Xmas Playlist of around 270 songs that will run for the next few days. It’s on air now at each site as well as on our Internet Radio Station. You can view it here Xmas Playlist 2022

Rather than traditional Christmas Carols, we have selected the many fun and quirky songs that have been written and recorded about Christmas over the years. 

Many presenters will also be re-charging their batteries although a few will opt to continue through the festive season. These next few days we have a special program schedule – see below of by clicking this link. It includes a mix of current and shows from our archives for your enjoyment. These include:

• A Funky Christmas with Chris and Lauren (2015)
• CLAP Christmas Carol Special (2020)
• Eclectic Avenue Christmas Extravaganza (2022, 2020 and 2015)
• Bullfrog’s Roadhouse Stocking Stuffer
• various end of year reviews from Dean (The Blurred Crusade), Bernie (Friday In My Mind), Scott (Everyone Deserves Music) and the team at Aussie Music Weekly

Our volunteer admin team will be taking an official break from 24 Dec – 4 Jan, back on deck on Thursday 5 Jan. We’ll catch you then, all set for a big 2023.

Wishing you and your loved ones an enjoyable, safe and relaxing Festive Season.

Indigo FM’s latest playlist 20.0 has just hit the airwaves in Beechworth, Kiewa-Tangam and Yackandandah (as well as our Internet Radio Station). It’s our 20th Playlist and continues our tradition of championing the cause for independent and Australian artists . Our 900 song playlist has in excess of 650 different artists and boasts a startling 77% Australian content – our highest level yet! Further this latest playlist has 14% Indigenous content, courtesy of more than 70 different artists.

Our Indigenous content policy we put in place back in 2020. We set it then at 10% and it’s a hoot that we have easily hit and now exceeded that benchmark. Many current indigenous artists feature including Dobby, Flewnt, Caiti Baker, Charlie Needs Braces, Emily Wurramara, Ziggy Ramo, Miiesha, Dallas Woods, Alice Skye, Electric Fields, Kobie Dee, Yirrmal, Southeast Desert Metal, Tia Gostelow, King Stingray, Benny Walker, Kerrianne Cox, Pirra, Birdz, Sycco, Baker Boy, Mo’Ju, Thelma Plum, Dan Sultan, Briggs and many more. As well we have sourced rare Indigenous content from Wantok Music compilations. If you know of good compilations or sources for Indigenous content, drop us an email at [email protected].

To take a gander through our latest playlist click here

To tune in click here

Indigo FM’s annual Radiothon begins Monday 1 November and will run through to the end of November. It’s our annual opportunity to unleash the best kept secret of NE Victoria onto the radios, media players, devices and events of the many proud and wonderful towns of Indigo Shire as we seek your support for 2023.

This year’s poster was designed by Lydia Forster who has done an awesome job. Look out for it on social media and around town in shop windows during November.

Our Major Prizes, each valued in excess of $200, are:

1. A framed High Country Photographic Artwork from Kev McGennan
2. Tickets to 2023 Yackandandah Folk Festival
3. Tickets to 2023 Stanley Spring Ditch
4. Tickets to 2023 High Country Hop in Beechworth

There are many other prizes too from The Guard, Backwood’s Distillery, Feather and Drum Custom Hat Co, CC Meats, Gum Tree Pies, Beechworth Conservatory, Tanswells Hotel Beechworth, Sluga Gallery, Star Hotel Yackandandah, Billson’s Brewery, Happy Baker and Yackandandah Foodworks among others.

To join up or renew your Membership, head across to the Membership page on our website.

We’ve been out at a few events and markets in November with a great new range of merch that includes, coffee keep cups, stickers, trucker caps, t-shirts and hoodies. You can next catch us at:

• Yackandandah Christmas Fair – 9am on Sun 4 Dec 

The month of November has seen each site conduct a Radio Marathon. Thus far we have had  

• Kiewa-Tangam from 3pm Fri 11 Nov – 3pm Sat 12 Nov (24 hours)
• Yackandandah from noon Sat 12 Nov – 6pm Sun 13 Nov (30 hours)

Next up it’s

Beechworth from 6pm Fri 25 Nov – 6pm Sat 26 Nov (24 hours)

And we’re totally excited to show off our live streams – yes each of our FM sites is now also live streaming. For all the links and other info on this exciting project head to our Streaming page on our website.

We’ll be in touch as the month unfolds with more updates – in the meantime Happy Radiothon 2022!

Indigo FM’s Annual General Meeting was held last sunny Sunday afternoon in Wooragee at the Community Centre.

Members voted to elect a familiar group to manage the affairs of Indigo FM for 2022-23 with office-bearers being:

• President – Scott Landells
• Vice-President – Greg Clydesdale
• Secretary – Tiffany Ellis
• Treasurer – Bernie Jovaras
• General Committee – Nigel Jones

Two further General Committee positions remain open for the Committee to fill throughout 2022-23.

Members attended both in person as well as via Zoom and heard the exciting news that Indigo FM is now testing a live stream from it’s Yackandandah studio in addition to the Beechworth live stream which has been running since Feb 2022. With Tangam live stream to be set up shortly, Indigo FM will then have completed a key long-term strategic goal.

President Scott Landells extended a huge thank you to Tony Stockdale and Will & Penny Bonnici from First National Real Estate Beechworth / Bonnici and Associates for their generous sponsorship of our live streaming and also to Michael Rosenbrock whose IT talents have been crucial in setting up our live streams.

Members also heard that Indigo FM continued to invest heavily in new equipment and new sites, such as:

• purchase of a Rodecaster – portable Podcast creating unit (with assistance from Indigo Shire Community Grant)
• purchase of a new studio PC at Yackandandah (with assistance from a very generous Yackandandah Community Centre Community Grant)
• relocation to a new site in Sept/Oct 2021 for our Kiewa-Tangambalanga site

Indigo FM has recorded some outstanding results in 2021-22 especially the growth of our Podcasts which continue to experience compund year on year growth for around 6 years straight. In 2021-22 our Podcasts were played or downloaded on average 2866 times each month, compared with 786 for the corresponding stat in 2020-21.

Indigo FM also continues to be very well served by their two Sub-Committees – Marketing as well as Tech-Programming – who allow for crucial delegation of the operational tasks and projects in pursuit of strategic goals.

Indigo FM is excitedly looking forward to 2022-23 and the many opportunities we see to continue to evolve.

Click here to read our 2021-22 Financial Statement and President’s Report

Indigo FM is holding it’s 2022 Annual General Meeting.

Date: Sunday, 16 October 2022

Time: 4 pm – 5 pm

Venue: Wooragee Community Centre (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.

If you can’t make it to the meeting an option to contribute to the Meeting via remote video link will be provided. If you would like another Indigo FM member to represent you by proxy, you may like to use the Proxy Form via link below.

Along with adopting Minutes from 2021 AGM, election of Committee of Management and confirmation of Membership Fees for 2023, these are the only items of business permitted at an AGM as set out in the Model Rules.

The Agenda is below. You can also view our 2021-22 Statement of Income and Expenditure and Balance Sheet, President’s Report and the Minutes from our 2021 Annual General Meeting.

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

Tiffany Ellis
Secretary

AGM Nomination and Proxy Form 2022

Agenda

2021-22 Financial Statement

2021 AGM Minutes

President’s Report

Our popular Music Trivia Night is back and it’s on Saturday 2 July at George Kerferd Hotel in Beechworth.

Tickets are $20 per person, with great prizes to be won amongst a whole lot of fun. Action gets underway at 7pm. Get your tickets here

Tables take 8 people max. You need to book and pay online – so get your table of 8 together and then email us at [email protected] to pass on your table booking name.

We have a couple of early sponsors for the event whose support we are very grateful for. Long-time supporter and sometimes radio presenter Greta Coghill is very excited to bring on board her new massage therapy business Kneading Change. Also Kerin and the team at the George Kerferd Hotel will once again provide a fantastic host venue up at Mayday Hills.

Food and drink can be ordered on the night from your table or you can choose to dine in their Restaurant before the event from around 6pm. 

Our host is Greg Morrison who has expertly hosted our Music Trivia Nights since 2017. As a former radio presenter here at Indigo FM, it’s always great to have one of the family on board to get it all cranking and Greg is exceptional as host.

For enquiries email us at [email protected].

It’s going to be a big night – looking forward to sharing it with you on 2 July!

Indigo FM’s latest playlist 19.0 hit the airwaves in Beechworth, Tangambalanga and Yackandandah (as well as our Internet Radio Station) a couple of weeks back and continues our tradition of championing the cause for independent and Australian artists. Our 900 song playlist has in excess of 650 different artists.

Australian content has always been a major focus, to the point where we enshrine it in our policy with every playlist topping 50% since Sept 2014. Our latest playlist 19.0 goes way further with a startling 74% Australian content – our highest level yet!

Our mission puts diversity and community at the heart of what we do and with this current playlist we are pleased to say that 10% of our playlist is music from indigenous artists. Many current indigenous artists feature including Emily Wurramara, Ziggy Ramo. Miiesha, Dallas Woods, Alice Skye, Electric Fields, Kobie Dee, Yirrmal, Southeast Desert Metal, Tia Gostelow, King Stingray, Benny Walker, Kerrianne Cox, Rillakill, Birdz, Sycco, Baker Boy, Mo’Ju, Thelma Plum, Dan Sultan, Briggs and many more.

Local artists feature heavily with songwriters such as Nick Keogh, Julian James, Liv Cartledge, Toby Mobbs, Brent Shirley, This Way North, Sal Kimber, Surprise Chef, Ellen James, Gordon Dickson all having songs on 19.0. Whilst there are no songs from The Northern Folk, three of their side projects – Yours Georgina, Well Into Winter and Paul Dyason also make an appearance.

For something completely different / culturally diverse how does Egyptian 80s Disco sound? On this playlist we have around 8-9 songs from a project called “Sharayet El Disco” – a selection of Egyptian 80s Disco and Boogie cassette tracks selected by Egyptian DJ Moataz Rageb (Disco Arabesquo), based in Amsterdam, from his vast cassette collection. 

To take a gander through our latest playlist click here

To tune in click here

Neil is a relatively new resident of Beechworth, however, he and wife Robyn for many years successfully ran the Boorhaman North “little oasis” Renaissance Chocolates just a few km west of Rutherglen. So from chocolatier to radio organiser might seem an unexpected leap but there’s that meticulous craft element common to each.

Whilst Indigo FM is Neil’s first official foray into grass roots radio, he almost joined Radio Mansfield (Mansfield Community Radio) a few years back. As Neil explains….

“I’ve always had a big interest in music particularly The Beatles as I am a Baby Boomer and grew up with them. Radio fascinated me and in 2019 when we moved to Bonnie Doon while our house was being built in Beechworth I investigated the local community radio station, but I decided not to progress because we would soon be moving. So when we landed in Beechworth one of the first things that happened was Indigo FM had a street stall drumming up interest for new members and presenters – I met Scott at the station – I was hooked.“

The role of a Site Co-ordinator is a key one here at Indigo FM. Essentially the role is organising and supporting local presenters with their shows while also liaising with the local community to pursue partnerships and opportunities that enhance the programming and keep a strong local community focus.

“I am very community focused and want to do all I can to be inclusive in the community and offer things that will benefit the community as a whole“, said Neil.

For enquiries about all things Indigo FM in Beechworth – be it membership, promoting your business or community group or becoming a presenter – you can drop Funno a line at [email protected]

It’s that time of the year when we say thanks for your support throughout the year. And feel free to tune in any time to our FM sites or to our online radio station or a podcast. There are a heap of them and they can be found here. This article explains a bit about what you might stumble across.

2021 was another very busy year. Like everyone more Covid-adjustments on the run. We did manage to increase our number of presenters as well as our membership. Our podcasts also kicked a lot of goals both in terms of volume and weekly rankings which we have done now year on year for the past 6 years. We also settled in our Internet Radio Station. And a new studio in Tangambalanga.

2022 sees live streaming as our main goal – which our web designer is working on as we speak.

We have purchased a Rodecaster PRO courtesy of an Indigo Shire Community Grant. Inspired by the amazing programs from the Yackandandah Primary School students in 2021, our plan is to use this “mobile studio” to establish regular programs with Osbornes Flat Primary School and Wooragee Primary School as well as local Landcare groups. And we’re planning on adding Pirmary Schools in Beechworth and Tangambalanga to the mix also.

Xmas Playlist On Air Now!
This week we have switched across to a Xmas Playlist of around 250 songs that will run for around the next week. It’s on air now at each site as well as on our Internet Radio Stream. You can view it here Xmas Playlist 2021

It was largely put together by our Tech-Programming Sub-Committee. We decided to opt against Christmas Carols and instead go for the many fun and quirky songs that have been written and recorded about Christmas over the years. 

Many presenters will also be re-charging their batteries although a few will opt to continue through the festive season.

Our volunteer admin team will be taking a well-earned official break from 24 Dec – 4 Jan, back on deck on Wednesday 5 Jan. We’ll catch you then, all set for a big 2022.

Wishing you an enjoyable, safe and relaxing Festive Season