NOOSA FM celebrated their longest-serving volunteer presenters on Thursday as part of their 25th anniversary festivities.

NOOSA FM celebrated their longest-serving volunteer presenters on Thursday as part of their 25th anniversary festivities. Founding and long-time members were thanked for their hard work and dedication to provide an on-air service to the community for more than two decades.

Al Hensley and Mel Concepcion (above) are two of the originals and have devoted countless hours to all aspects of the station.

Mel C. started by fundraising for Noosa FM during its inception, “I helped with fundraising in the beginning and eventually joined,” she said. “I love music. It’s great because you establish your name and a lot of people expect you to be there (on air) at that time every week.”

Over the past 25 years, Mel Concepcion has presented a variety of shows and remembered in the early days having an old cassette player compared to the technology the station uses today.

Al Hensley said he has seen a great change in Noosa community, both for better and for worse, over the 24 years he has been presenting. He also recalled how the station fulfilled a purpose in his life and went on to say “It’s opened a lot of doors. I was going through a period back then when I wasn’t doing much then I joined the station and I got a life and feel part of the fabric of Noosa.”
NOOSA FM’s Sibylle Reisch said she was grateful for the hard work of their longstanding volunteers.

NOOSA FM would like to congratulated the following recipients.

20 YEAR AWARD RECIPIENTS:
Al Hensley
Mel Concepcion
Doug Gorman
Wayne Carlson
Kris Waldron
Geoff Colwell

Life Members:
Vicky Riley — Vicky has performed a multitude of roles including music librarian, programming co-ordinator, system maintenance, training and presenter support. Vicky has also created and runs a wonderful overnight program called The Wave.
Gisa Weatherill — Gisa has worked tirelessly for almost 20 years at Noosa FM in a variety of roles including program creation and reception work. For the last twelve months she has also taken on the role of treasurer worked hard to master MYOB.

Retiring Volunteer:
Gayle Nicholson deserves a special mention for more than 14 years of dedicated service to the station. Gayle created a wonderful jazz program and was a popular presenter and mentor to others. She will be sorely missed by many.

Information courtesy of Caitlin Zerafa - Noosa News.
Photos courtesy of NOOSA FM and Noosa News.

Noosa FM's Jazz genre volunteer's successful for over 20 years on air.
Left to right: Karl Kunkel (Monday Drive 4-6 pm), Gayle NIcholson (retiring presenter), Al Hensley (Monday 12-2 pm Blues, Wednesday 12-2 pm Jazz), John Schluter (Thursday 12-2 pm Jazz), Stan Wilson (Wednesday 8-10 pm Jazz, Sunday 8 - 10 pm Classic), Wayne Carlson (Wednesday 12-2pm Jazz, Friday 12-2pm Blues & Jazz).

 NOOSA FM invited musicians of all age groups, professional and amateur, to enter our 21 Summers 2019 song writing competition.

All valid entries received have been posted on our web site (below) and were actively promoted and played on-air
in the lead-up too the live concert showcasing the competition's ten finalists.

The ten finalists will then performed live at The J on Saturday, 3 August 2019
with the concert being broadcast live on NOOSA FM 101.3 and streamed worldwide.

The competition prize winners were then be selected through an audience vote on the night and announced at the end of the concert.

CASH PRIZES:
1st Prize - $1000 + 4 hr recording session with station sponsor Jam Pot Recording Studios
2nd Prize - $500
3rd Prize - $300

CHECK OUT THE 21 SUMMERS 2019 CONFIRMED ENTRIES AND PRIZE WINNERS

Check out the finalist and prize winners from the NOOSA FM 21 Summers 2019 concert.

Have you been listening to NOOSA FM and wanted to comment on something you've just heard, or maybe text your favourite presenter, or simply request a song?

Well now it's easy. You are able to text real time to any program live. So why not get on board
and be more interactive with NOOSA FM. 

NOOSA FM live into studio texting available on:

0451 543 161 

Win a Double-Pass to the 21 Summers 2019 finalists live concert at The J. on Sat 3 Aug
 plus one of our new NOOSA FM T-Shirts.

 Simply enter the 'Draw Perky the Turkey in Action' competition by drawing our 21 Summer's mascot in an activity you might see around Noosa, such as: surfing, bush walking, playing a musical instrument, competing in a sports even, fishing and the list goes on. No restrictions, simply draw Perky doing a Noosa activity and submit your Perky action drawing to us here
at NOOSA FM.

The winner will be announced on our 21 Summers Special program between 2 - 4 pm on Monday 29th July

Congratulations Peter Harvey from Tewantin.

Join us for the Women 2 Women Business Expo on Wednesday 3rd July 4 pm to 9 pm @ The J.

The free event will feature a diversity of innovative local female led businesses in the arts, services and food industries as well as a fashion show, workshops, wine tasting, prizes to be won and much more. So why not come along to mingle and talk with some of Noosa's top local female entrepreneurs from around the Sunshine Coast.

NOOSA FM is holding another trivia night on Friday, 10 May at The J. on Noosa Drive drive right here at the junction. Come along and join the fun, test your knowledge and win some great prizes.

Arrive at 6:30 pm and the fun kicks off at 7 pm. Make up a table of eight or we are more than happy to organise the table for you. Drinks will also be available at very reasonable prices.

This is a major fundraising event for NOOSA FM so why not come along and support your local community radio station.

Entry: $10 per person.
To register you can contact us on 5447 2233 or email us at reception@noosafm.org.

FIND OUT ABOUT TINY HOUSES AND ECO VILLAGES

 Come along and join NOOSA FM's free Outside Broadcast in front of Noosa Community Radio on Saturday 2 March and hear some great music along with a selection of interviews on how this type of affordable, environmentally friendly tiny mobile housing of the future can overcome community isolation and disconnection and be the key to building Eco Villages to transition our way of living to a more meaningful, sustainable, regenerative and effective way to live in the future.

The ticketed Seminar next door at The J will feature Two Days of Workshops, Demonstrations, Stalls, Vegan Food and more with a greater focus on each topic on the respective days.

Family & Vegan friendly, drug and alcohol free event, please bring own water bottle. Water will not be sold in plastic bottles at this event so we encourage people to bring their own fillable water containers for free refills from MultiGen’s Atmospheric Water Generators and the Unity Water Truck.

SEMINAR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
SANDY BOLTON MP // State Member for Noosa, Queensland Parliament
DR BRIAN STOCKWELL // Councillor for Noosa Shire
BRYCE LANGSTON // Living Big In A Tiny House - NZ YouTube Celebrity
BEN O'CALLAGAN // The Ecovillage at Currumbin - Smart Urban Villages
MORAG GAMBLE // Crystal Waters Eco Village - Permaculture Education Institute
and
TIM BURNS // Master of Ceremonies (NZ)

WHERE & WHEN:
Place: The J Noosa - 60 Noosa Drive, Noosa Heads, QLD
Dates/Times: Friday 1 March  9 am - 4 pm 'ECO VILLAGES'
Saturday 2 March 9 am - 5 pm 'TINY HOUSES' and the NOOSA FM Outside Broadcast

*For your 25% discount when booking your ticket, use this promotional code: NoosaFM

*For your 25% discount when booking your ticket, use this promotional code: NoosaFM

A dedicated team of NOOSA FM volunteers started arriving early to set up for another Outside Broadcast for Noosa's annual Australia Day celebrations at the Lion’s Park on the banks of the wonderful iconic Noosa River. With clear blue skies and a welcome sea breeze the stage was set for a special day.

There was a great variety of food from the various cultures as well as classic Aussie fare to be enjoyed to the backing of a constant flow of live music and activities from the stage and around the park to keep everyone entertained throughout the day.

NOOSA FM had a sensational Christmas Hamper on offer this year with a sumptuous array of goodies and vouchers
 from local businesses and listeners supporting Noosa FM's festive celebrations. The response to the raffle has been
overwhelming with listeners still ringing in to buy raffle tickets on the final morning of the draw.

The live on-air draw was hosted by John Watson on his 'Friday Focus' morning show (14 Dec) around 11:30 am
under the guidance of an enthusiastic, and somewhat vocal, NFM delegation (podcast below).

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS:

1st Prize NOOSA FM Christmas Hamper - Jeffna (Noosa Heads)
2nd Prize $100 Voucher Eumundi Meats - Lily (Lake Corroiba)
3rd Prize $50 Voucher Noosa Fish Providers - Des (Tewantin)

We at NOOSA FM would also like to thank those local businesses and individuals  below who generously
donated the amazing selection of hamper items, and of course the numerous volunteers and members
who helped make this hamper one of the best yet.

Hamper Business Donations:

Hamper Private Donations:

1 Deluxe Christmas Cake
Bon-Bons
Ornaments and Christmas Decorations
Cheese and Crackers
Presented in a woven hamper basket

A 21,000 CD Collection is up for sale. The entire collection of well known presenter DJ Ridingpants is an exquisite and diverse selection of World, Pop, Australian, Country, Jazz and Classic music, all donated to NOOSA FM for the station's fundraising sale.

DJ Ridingpants has been synonymous with NOOSA FM for almost two decades. The former Kiwi had wanted to be a radio presenter since he was a lad and his big chance came through a chance meeting in a Noosa music shop where he met a NOOSA FM volunteer who opened the door to kick-start his life long dream. Robs passion was obvious and he was promptly invited to one of the station's first in-house presenter training courses and and went on to deliver the very first of his trade mark program. The rest, as they say, is history; NOOSA FM history.

The sale kicked off last Saturday, and naturally, there has been a lot of interest but there are still plenty of CDs available. You can contact NOOSA FM on 5447 2233 for inquiries, or simply pop into the station Saturday or Sunday from 9 am onward and purchase your own CD selection at bargain basement prices.

Sibylle Reisch (President) recently received a national award from Technorama in recognition of her enthusiasm and commitment to developing and upgrading the NOOSA FM technical operations.

Casey and Taylor stepped up to the microphones last Thursday to help aunty Alison present her Thursady Drive program. And as you can hear from the selected audio bites below, I'm sure you'd agree, that both of Alison's guests are naturals on-air.

We are pleased to announce, that the band Bohemian Rogue with their entry 'Ode to Moffs' where voted the winners of the NOOSA FM 21 Summers Song Writing Competition.

And what a night the finalists concert was. Held at the J, a near packed concert hall of happy revellers where entertained by an exciting and diverse selection of local music.

The night started out with a tradition welcome to country from representatives the Gubbi Gubbi people. This included an entertaining and informative introduction to local indigenous culture and traditional perspectives, which was enjoyed by a very appreciative audience.

The evening was ably hosted by two of our NOOSA FM presenters, Therase Burke and Chris Lofven, who kept us entertained with their banter, especially during changeovers. The superlatives to describe the evening are endless with pretty well all of the 'fantastic night'  boxes being ticked.

The other awards on the night where: 2nd Place going to the family band First Bay and their song 'In Your Bones', and
3rd Place went to Stellerize with her composition, 'Be Your Babe'. There was also an Encouragement Award given out to 11 year old Indigo Walsh and her entry 'When The Sun Ain't Out'.

21 SUMMERS SONG COMPETITION 
for Singer/Songwriters.
 Proudly presented by NOOSA FM 101.3
 
The theme is 'Summer' and the 10 best, new compositions, selected by NOOSA FM in-house jury will be invited to perform on Saturday 2nd June 2018.
 
Representatives of the Gubbi Gubbi people will be opening the event with welcome to country,
dancing and traditional insights.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top 3 acts as voted by YOU the audience!
 
* Support your local singers and songwriters*
* Get to vote to your favourite 21 Summers song *
* Come along to celebrate with NOOSA FM and be part of this fabulous live music event *

So leave this date open for a big party!!
 Saturday 2nd June 5.30 pm to 10 pm. at The J Theatre
 
with the assistance of the Community Broadcasting Foundation.

Get your music out there and on-air. An opportunity to preform your original song live.
Prizes to be won and fun to be had...

NOOSA FM is celebrating 21 summers of continuous 24/7 broadcasting and we invite you to join in the celebrations by calling on
all musicians, all age groups, professional and amateur, and especially you casual dabblers, to compose a song for our
21 Summers Music Festival, with of course, Summer as the main theme. 

So why not throw on the kettle, sit down with your fav instrument and get into it...
When you are happy with your creation, record it, and save as a MP3 file. 
It may be a song that you had previously composed - that's ok too. As long as it is your original work and unpublished.

Then simply click the red entry form button below, fill in your details (including your song file) and send.
No entry fees, totally free and prizes to be won. It really is that simple!

Entries close: 12 midnight - Thursday, 10 May 2018

All accepted entries will be posted on our web site as well as being actively promoted and played on-air,
with our listeners having the opportunity to vote for the finalists and the overall winner.

The finalists will be invited to perform live at The J on Saturday, 2nd June,
in the NOOSA FM live broadcast of our 21 Summers celebrations.

Cash Prize Pool:
1st Prize - $1000
2nd Prize - $500
3rd Prize - $300

For inquiries call us on
07 5447 2233

Produced with the assistance of the Department of Communications and the Arts
via the Community Broadcasting Foundation - cbf.com.au

 If you've ever fancied the idea of being a radio presenter, here's your big chance.
Our next 'Presenter Training Course' begins - Wednesday, 23rd May 2018.

Contact us to book your place in NOOSA FM's next training course.

Applications to be submitted by Wednesday, 16th May 2018.

You can phone NOOSA FM for details on
07 5447 2233
or
why not drop in to the station personally.
We are next to The J at 60 Noosa Drive, Noosa Junction.
Note: You will require NOOSA FM membership to apply for Presenter Training

NOOSA FM has concluded the first stage of our 2018 Listener Survey. The information you provide will allow us to create programming you, our listeners, want to hear. 

The next phase of the survey, the public 'Face to Face Questionnaire' will take place a little later in the year (dates to be confirmed).

So do keep your eyes peeled around Noosa for our friendly, NOOSA FM clipboard wielding volunteers, as we would love to get your feedback.

And remember, NOOSA FM is your station. So if you do see, or are approached by one of our friendly survey volunteers, please take a moment and tell us what you think.

A dedicated team of NOOSA FM volunteers started arriving around 6 am to set up for an Outside Broadcast at the Australia Day celebration at the Lion’s Park, situated on the banks of the wonderful iconic Noosa River.

Uncle Charlie Chambers was born in Cherbourg in 1936. His parents were “Stolen. Generation from Far North Queensland.  He helped R M Williams make his mark at Rocky Bar cattle station. His art is what he sees, not what others expect. It is his own, yet has a familiar simplicity and unique quality, with wondrous ways to depict the beauty of the land.

Champion footballer and boxer, all-round hard worker, softly-spoken and compassionate man, these days he lives to tell his remarkable stories and display his life's work in art, a life which until 15 "..were the best ...", he says, but where to then, no work in Cherbourg?

Uncle Charlie wanted to earn his own way through life, regardless of the limitations imposed upon him and others under the Aboriginal Protection Act, " ...I wanted to be a drover... so I escaped Cherbourg".

He finished up head stockman and manager on R M Williams "Rocky Bar Station" Eidsvold. He was inducted into the Stockman's Hall of Fame and was introduced to the Queen on that occasion. He features in a TV documentary about his life “Man Of Many Talents and renowned for his art.

Uncle Charlie was born on the  Cherbourg mission, just 2 hours North-West of Noosa. On the 4th December 2017 he visited Noosa Heads, on the coastal border of the country on which he spent his early life and spent several hours at Noosa FM, telling his stories and displaying some of his art. In the early days, children from Cherbourg traveled to Halse Lodge for holidays and many would like to visit today to revive memories of what were the few good times, and a welcome break, from dormitory life on the mission.

It was an enjoyable day for Uncle Charlie, who has recently commenced dialysis treatment, but he hopes to return soon with a full exhibition of his art work.

All information contain has been published with the permission of B. J. Chambers. For further information on this and other details, please contact Uncle Charlie's son, Billy Joe Chambers on 0498 686 792.​

Selected photographs from the filming of the TV documentary about Uncle Charlie Chamber's life “Man Of Many Talents".

Congratulations to the Carol Singers from Good Shepherd Lutheran College for their beautiful LIVE performance this morning on NOOSA FM! Well done Tosh, Madeleine, Mijili, Grace, Coco and Bailey! A big thank you to Jo and Simon for having the students on your breakfast show and also to Debra Casey, the students’ singing teacher, for being such a wonderful mentor.

We look forward to seeing you all on Sunday 3 December at the Doonan Community Christmas Carols!

Please note: We are keeping our eyes on the weather for Sunday. There is a chance that the carols will take place inside the large hall, which is onsite at House With No Steps. Phew! Great to have a wet weather option! :)
Still plenty of room for everyone, including a visit by a certain "man in red" on a very exciting "sleigh"!! ;)
See you all on Sunday... Rain, Snow or Shine!

The Wave is our NEW overnight program put together by NOOSA FM’s dedicated and talented volunteers, led by our fabulous music librarian, Vicki Riley.

NIGHT OWLS, LISTEN IN & LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

* The Wave is targeted at shift-workers, night-owls and anyone who's up during the night. Apart from the entertainment value, The Wave will also serve as a useful vehicle for community announcements and emergency services, benefiting the wider community.

* The Wave will broadcast NIGHTLY, from "late night to early light," and consist of hits from the swinging 60’s to the present time, and be a smooth blend of Blues, Jazz, R & B, Indie, Reggae and Soft Rock.

* The Wave will include Australian and Sunshine Coast musical talent, and songs by local musicians, David Flower and Phaedra, will be featured in the promotion, adding a unique Noosa sound to the program.

* The Wave premiers on Monday, 13th November, from 10pm. Tune in and catch The Wave on NOOSA FM 101.3, or stream it live from your computer, phone or tablet.

The Noosa FM Team

The Wave is a new overnight program put together by some of NOOSA FM’s dedicated and talented volunteers (above) led by music librarian, Vicki Riley. The Wave is targeted at shift-workers and night-owls, although once word gets out others will be staying up just to listen in. Apart from the entertainment value, it will also be seen as a useful vehicle for community announcements and a tool for the emergency services, thereby benefiting the whole community.

The Wave will be broadcast nightly; from late night to early light, and consist of hits and memories from the swinging 60’s to now.  It will include Australian and Sunshine Coast talent; songs by local musicians David Flower (Ride my Wave) and duo Phaedra will be strongly featured in the promotion, adding a unique Noosa sound.

The Wave is a smooth blend of Blues, Jazz, R & B, Indie, Reggae and Soft Rock, and will premier on Monday, 13th November from 10pm.

Tune in and catch The Wave on your wavelength at Noosa FM 101.3.

Christine Line for NFM