I think a thing like music is a very, very strong passion and can become a very deep-rooted interest and people can be extremely committed, in some cases to the detriment of their own health and well being.
ABC FM is a national network,funded by the taxpayer. Our equipment is funded out of our own resources through public subscription and is meagre.
Our present equipment, by any standards, could not be classed as sufficient to adequately serve the needs that we see. We are always looking towards upgrading equipment. We are using domestic equipment when we ought to be using specialist equipment. We can afford to purchase a $300 compact disc player, we can't afford to purchase the $6 000 professional compact disc player.
For many of our listeners, I don't think the lack of quality is all that apparent.
I know of public stations in Australia that have gone to air with a total purchase price for equipment of under $15 000. Our first transmission from the Park Royal was on a little transmitter with an aerial hung outside the window, half a watt of power - and we are now [early 1990] broadcasting at 7.5 kilowatts.
We probably got a lot more of the kick out of that half a watt than we ever get out of the 7.5. Our first transmitter was "Big Red", because it was painted red - the remnants of Big Red are now under my house.
Prior to the commencement of full broadcasting, we had four trial broadcasts, which were allowed by the Government under an anomaly under the Wireless Telegraphy Act. We conducted one from a Director's home in Bardon, one from the Park Royal, and two courtesy of Channel 9.
A chance meeting with a friend by the name of Malcolm Cameron, who had been instrumental in the establishment in Australia of Musica Viva, led him to take on the responsibility of finding premises. He and I went to see Dr Peter Batsman and to ask whether or not he could find a little place for us at Kelvin Grove.
There was a large capital investment programme at the College at that time and Kelvin Grove was also eager to become more community based. 4MBS offered Kelvin Grove the opportunity of becoming involved in public radio.
Many things have grown out of our association with Kelvin Grove and I think the relationship has always been a very good one - we've always been good tenants and have always tried to involve them as much as possible in our programming and in the operation of our organisation.
As tenants we started at a rather peppercorn rent and it has slowly crept up; but it is still very small by comparison with any other commercial rent.
We have looked around over the years for bigger accommodation but Kelvin Grove has offered us a central location; it has offered us a place which is known to many people; it has an excellent music school - it would have to be a very good offer for us to break with all that - we have very much put our roots down at Kelvin Grove.
For us the College has its limitations and one would have to visit our studios to see the type of operation we run. From December of 1978 to the March 1979 we slaved day and night to build a broadcasting station with two studios and a library and general office area. We worked very hard over those first few months and in fact every few years we upgrade what we can, depending on meagre resources for further irljzprovements. We have just done a $4000 face-lift to the inside, putting in carpet and blinds. We have paid for this through a deal to provide advertising through our radio guide.
I was involved for many years in the Brisbane Cinema group which has recently, after twenty-nine/thirty years virtually folded, and in fact Kelvin Grove helped to accommodate them through the period about 1982-85/86. I am also involved with the Queensland Bookbinders Guild and they were very lucky to find accommodation at Kelvin Grove for some years.
I think the College has more of that community atmosphere - that was demonstrated when we held a public broadcast at Kelvin Grove during Expo.
We held a fair in the forecourt and we had all the public broadcasting stations in Brisbane, 4ZZZ, 4EB, people from the Darling Downs, and the aspirant group - Women's Radio- they all came together. Lots of us had never met socially before and the spacious forecourt here was ideal - we have used it for other occasions, too.
They have, in many cases, very different political affiliations, different religious affiliations, come from very many walks of life - we used to have an announcer-fireman coming in and professors of music and housewives and unemployed people and stockbrokers - coming on air and then mixing at our social functions, which are held in the forecourt. We hold our AGMs here and usually the station's birthday and Christmas celebrations - and we have had some absolutely marvellous times, two or three hundred people enjoying live music and good food out in the forecourt. Kelvin Grove is to be commended for the generosity that they have shown us.
We have involved Kelvin Grove in our programming and possibly one of the most exciting things we ever did was our first live broadcast. I'm sure most people would not have realised the excitement behind those closed doors when we threw a switch to open the land line laid between our studios and the Performance Room; we had a live audience and various musicians who
had gracefully donated their services to us - and our first live-to-air performance came from the Kelvin Grove Performance Room in the Music Department.
That was in 1982 and was the first of a number of live music broadcasts - most from Kelvin Grove.
This is a second home to lots of us because we spend more of our time there than in our respective homes. In my case that is very true - I think in the last eleven years, I would have travelled hundreds of thousands of kilometres between my home in South Brisbane and Kelvin Grove - sometimes twice a day and at least two or three times every week- sometimes as many as ten or twelve times a week, round trip.
The times when we really appreciate the facilities are when we run radiothons; as the coordinator in the early eighties I used to virtually stay there for the full forty-eight hours- maybe a few hours home sleeping. Many
Graham Webster broadcasting from the Kelvin Grove studios of 4MBS
people who know 4MBS also know Kelvin Grove College, from coming to pick up their programme guides every month, to deliver their records, for broadcasting, and for meetings - we do virtually everything, with the exception of the actual transmissions (which come from Mt Coot-Tha), at the College.
Interviewer: Do you directly involve any of the staff or students?
Michael: Over the years we have attempted, with some success, to involve the students in both the design and broadcast of programmes and also, of course, in behind-the-scenes work. I think a lot of people have become volunteers of MBS because they were students or lecturers or in someway affiliated with Kelvin Grove - they saw the 4MBS sign and realised that we worked hard at Kelvin Grove, although we are a separate institution.
As far as the official course work goes we have attempted over the years to involve Kelvin Grove more, particularly the Music Department. We initiated a prize at the Conservatorium of Music in 1984, at the University of Queensland in 1988, and we hope that 1990 will see the launch of the Kelvin Grove music prize. We haven't selected a name as yet, but we hope that it will keep the bond fairly strong between the Music Department and our organisation.
Interviewer: Will the transition to the University of Technology be a smooth one for you?
Michael: Well, I don't really see things changing all that much - Kelvin Grove will stay where it is geographically. There may be some administrative changes but I think we've always had good affiliation with QUT, and our relationship with it will flow as it has with Kelvin Grove CAE over the years.
That development and change will continue and I hope we don't lose that community aspect, that friendly "Hello". We know the security people, we know the administration people, we know the people in the various departments - all the computer services are provided to us through Kelvin Grove. Many of the facilities that we now enjoy and share are ones that come with the position we hold at Kelvin Grove, so I would not like to see that diminished in any way.
As far as the future goes, we would obviously like larger studios-we operate on the smell of an oil rag and
if
we had to pay all the people that contribute it would cost us well over a million dollars a year to run. Since we have a very small paid staff- two people - and a very large staff of volunteers we are able to keep our costs to a minimum. It costs us about $150 000 per year to keep a public radio station operational for 365 days of the year.The thing that you find about Kelvin Grove is that it goes through its seasons based on the academic calendar - students come, they have lectures and exams, and then they go - but we are still there. Christmas Day is very quiet at Kelvin Grove - there is only 4MBS and the caretaker. So you might say that of all organisations and people involved in the College, 4MBS is the one organisation that never leaves. We only leave between the hours of 12 midnight and 6am and we intend to go fairly soon to a twenty-four-hour operation! With that in the offing MBS would be on the campus twentyjour hours a day providing a presence there even at times when all but one or two of the security people are off-campus. So in many ways we can claim to be more representative of Kelvin Grove than anybody else because we are there the longest!
It will be eleven years on 1March1990 since we commenced broadcasting.
We have never never failed to keep the station on the air. Someone has always been there - through sickness and natural disasters, in the worst storms - someone has always got out of bed to turn the transmitter on and to put a record to air.
Interviewer: Is your birthday 1 March?
Michael: Yes - that was the first time we went to air in 1979. I might tell you what happened. That evening I came back to put the first official programme to air and we commenced regular broadcasting (from 6 until 10pm in those days).
I remember our joy at throwing the switch and making the announcement and putting the recording on. We all raced outside and were listening to it and suddenly the stylus got caught in a groove. I stood there petrified - I knew what I had to do but it felt like hours until I was able to get back inside, into the studio, and rectify the problem.
From then we have gradually increased our hours per day and we have also provided for broadcasts for Radio for the Print Handicapped ( 4RPH). We gained a licence at the same time as 4EB but they were not in the state of preparation that we were. So we gave 4EB time on Sunday morning to broadcast from our studios at Kelvin Grove and that went on until the end of 1979. And for many years between 1 lam and 12 midday we did the same for the Print Handicapped Radio, until they obtained their own licence and
became part-public radio in Brisbane.
I think that is what public radio is all about - we are not competing with each other, we are not competing for the advertising dollar; our only interest is our listenership which demands a concentration on one type of programme - fine music, both classical music and jazz.
I think what makes public radio much more a living thing, in a sense, is the fact that its volunteers become involved in every aspect of the operation. Not only in putting the programmes to air but in the management, owning the company, operating the organisation, running the station. The Board of Directors are all volunteers, elected by the members of the Company. The members of the Company are members of the community. The community is made up of the individuals who listen to the station and want to be involved. Many of those people have had a long association with MBS, and through MBS with Kelvin Grove College.
He speaks here from an interview with Susan Pechey in 1990.
Peter Botsman